EDGEAI

MLBcontact quality barrel edge

20% barrel

Esmerlyn Valdez has barrelled 20% of his batted balls this season across 284 plate appearances — about 2.67x the league rate of 7.5%. His hard-hit rate is 49.6%. He's facing Shota Imanaga, who has allowed 16 home runs in 78 innings this season — 1.85 per nine. A barrel is contact at the exit velocity and launch angle that produces home runs, so this measures the contact itself rather than the results it has produced so far.

Published Friday, September 11, 2026

Esmerlyn Valdez has barrelled 20% of his batted balls this season across 284 plate appearances — about 2.67x the league rate of 7.5%. His hard-hit rate is 49.6%. He's facing Shota Imanaga, who has allowed 16 home runs in 78 innings this season — 1.85 per nine. A barrel is contact at the exit velocity and launch angle that produces home runs, so this measures the contact itself rather than the results it has produced so far.

THE NUMBERS

angle
barrel_edge
player id
699013
player name
Esmerlyn Valdez
team
Pittsburgh Pirates
matchup
Pittsburgh Pirates vs Chicago Cubs
headline
20% barrel
barrel rate
20
hard hit rate
49.6
plate appearances
284
opposing pitcher
Shota Imanaga
opposing pitcher hr9
1.85
detail
Esmerlyn Valdez has barrelled 20% of his batted balls this season across 284 plate appearances — about 2.67x the league rate of 7.5%. His hard-hit rate is 49.6%. He's facing Shota Imanaga, who has allowed 16 home runs in 78 innings this season — 1.85 per nine. A barrel is contact at the exit velocity and launch angle that produces home runs, so this measures the contact itself rather than the results it has produced so far.

This record was written when the finding was first published and has not been edited since. The numbers and the wording are what our engines produced on the day.