Pat Valaika

Orioles Select Pat Valaika, Place John Means On Injured List

By Jeff Todd | July 23, 2020 at 11:10am CDT

The Orioles have selected the contract of infielder Pat Valaika, per a club announcement. He’ll join the 40-man and active rosters to open the season. Baltimore also placed lefty John Means on the injured list alongside righties Hunter Harvey and Dillon Tate.

A career .214/.256/.400 hitter who has shown plenty of pop from the right side of the dish, Valaika has experience at each of second base, shortstop and third base. However, he’s also punched out in nearly 29 percent of his trips to the plate in the big leagues, which has contributed significantly to his inability to reach base at a passable rate. Valaika does have a minor league option remaining and a career .275/.315/.498 slash 695 Triple-A plate appearances, making him a reasonable depth option for the rebuilding Orioles to carry on the roster even if he doesn’t break camp with the club this spring.

Means, last year’s AL Rookie of the Year runner-up, would’ve been Baltimore’s Opening Day starter but has been slowed recently by some arm fatigue. The organization has downplayed its severity and noted that Means had a similar issue last year that caused him to miss only one start. For the time being, there’s no indication that they expect the absence to be lengthy, but it’s nonetheless a tough blow to the young lefty, who enjoyed an out-of-the-blue breakout last season and was surely honored by the Opening Day nod. That start will go to journeyman left-hander Tommy Milone instead.

Harvey, once one of MLB’s top prospects, has seen his career decimated by injury but has worked his way back into Baltimore’s bullpen mix after several lost seasons. He could very well be in the team’s closer mix at some point this year or next, assuming he’s healthy. Tate, too, is another former high-end prospect and was a top-five overall draft pick that simply hasn’t developed as hoped. The Orioles are his third club — he went from the Rangers to the Yankees in the Carlos Beltran swap and then the Yankees to the O’s in the Zack Britton trade. At this point, the hope is that Tate, like Harvey, can emerge as a late-inning bullpen piece.

East Notes: Phillies, Werth, Harper, Mets, Gimenez, Orioles, Martin

By TC Zencka | February 29, 2020 at 10:08am CDT

Jayson Werth was not surprised when his bromantic partner Bryce Harper signed with the Phillies exactly a year ago yesterday, per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. After years of traveling together, yukking it up from stadium to stadium, Werth knew Harper’s feelings about the league about as well as could be expected, and given his own positive feelings about his time in Philly (he won a ring there in 2008), Harper taking a shine to his mentor’s former club definitely tracks. Werth impacted both franchises in their most recent championship endeavors, directly for the Phils as he hit .309/.387/.582 during their ’08 run. For the Nats, he provided legitimacy to the franchise at the outset of their current run of competency. The Nationals have posted a winning record in each of the last eight seasons back to 2012, Werth’s second year with the club. That’s enough reminiscing for today. Let’s stay in the NL East and check in on some spring training news…

New York Mets prospect Andres Gimenez added a leg kick to his swing this winter in an effort to get more lift, per Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News. Gimenez will have to push the envelope to make his presence felt at the major league level this season, but he’s breathing down Amed Rosario’s neck. Robinson Cano is owed big money over the next four seasons, but there’s certainly the possibility that one of the Mets’ young shortstops could eventually move to the keystone. Despite some uncertainty regarding Rosario’s performance at the big league level, shortstop is a deep positional field for the Mets organizationally. Gimenez is the Mets’ 2nd-ranked prospect, per Fangraphs, behind only Ronny Mauricio, who trails Gimenez in timeline by roughly the same margin between Gimenez and Rosario. For now, Rosario, 24, will keep the position warm until Gimenez, 21, can take it. That is, until Mauricio, 19 in April, can get to it first.
Jumping to the junior circuit, the Baltimore Orioles expect 2020 to be a development year for Richie Martin – out of the spotlight. With defensive wizard Jose Iglesias in-house to hold down shortstop – until July at least – Martin can make up for lost time in Triple-A. Last year’s Rule-5 selection from the A’s, Martin was pushed into a full season with the big league club last year, and his naïveté showed. Martin put up -0.6 rWAR and a 50 wRC+ in 2019 as their more-or-less everyday shortstop. Still, Martin isn’t giving up the possibility of winning a job at second base or in a utility role, per MASN’s Roch Kubatko. The team lacked middle infield depth last season, but they at least have more players vying for those roles this spring – likely leaving Martin on the outside looking in on opening day. Hanser Alberto has his name on one roster spot, while Andrew Velazquez and Ramon Urias are contenders for utility roles, while Stevie Wilkerson, Pat Valaika, Jose Rondon, and Dilson Herrera are all in camp as non-roster invitees.

Orioles Claim Ramon Urias

By Jeff Todd | February 11, 2020 at 12:47pm CDT

The Orioles announced they’ve claimed infielder Ramon Urias off waivers from the Cardinals. Fellow infielder Pat Valaika was outrighted after clearing waivers, the team further announced.

It’s the latest in a long-running string of infield additions for the O’s, who’ve collected young glove-men at nearly the same rate the Giants have claimed relief pitchers. Urias and Valaika will both be among the camp competitors for utility roles, presuming there is no further action in the next week.

Urias spent most of his developmental time in the Mexican League, impressing there before jumping to the Cards. He’s primarily a second baseman but also has logged substantial time at the hot corner.

Though Urias has shown well with the bat at times over the past two seasons, he hasn’t yet forced his way into the majors. Urias slashed .263/.369/.424 in 375 Triple-A plate appearances last year — a touch below average in that high-powered offensive environment — but has since struggled quite a bit in Mexican winter ball.

Orioles Claim Pat Valaika, Designate Branden Kline

By Steve Adams | January 30, 2020 at 1:05pm CDT

The Orioles announced Thursday that they’ve re-claimed infielder Pat Valaika off waivers from the Diamondbacks and designated right-hander Branden Kline for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Baltimore designated Valaika for assignment earlier this month, surely hoping to pass him through waivers and retain him without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to the 27-year-old. Instead, the Diamondbacks claimed him and briefly hung onto him until needing a roster spot of their own following the acquisition of Starling Marte. The O’s have been on the lookout for infield depth since losing Valaika, and they’ll now welcome him back into the organization at Kline’s expense.

The 28-year-old Kline made his MLB debut in 2019 but was hit hard, logging a 5.93 ERA and a 34-to-19 K/BB ratio in 41 innings of relief. He averaged a hearty 96.3 mph on his four-seamer in that time but generated below-average spin and yielded hard contact at far too great a clip (49.2 percent, per Statcast). Kline has had some success up through the Double-A level but has yet to post strong numbers in limited time with Triple-A Norfolk or in the Majors.

Diamondbacks Designate Pat Valaika For Assignment

By Steve Adams | January 27, 2020 at 3:17pm CDT

The Diamondbacks announced that they’ve designated infielder Pat Valaika for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to new center fielder Starling Marte, whose acquisition from the Pirates has been formally announced by the team.

It’s the third time this winter that Valaika, 27, has been jettisoned from a 40-man roster. The former ninth-round pick began the offseason with the Rockies and was briefly property of the Orioles before being claimed off waivers by the D-backs just 11 days ago.

The younger brother of former Reds, Marlins and Cubs infielder Chris Valaika, Pat has spent his entire career in the Rockies organization, appearing in the big leagues in each of the past four seasons. He’s a career .214/.256/.400 hitter who has shown plenty of pop from the right side of the dish and some infield versatility.

However, the younger Valaika brother has punched out in nearly 29 percent of his trips to the plate in the big leagues and generally struggled to get on base at a passable clip. He has a minor league option remaining and a career .275/.315/.498 slash 695 Triple-A plate appearances, so it’s possible another club will take a look at claiming him as a depth option. If not, he’ll remain in the D-backs system and presumably head to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee to Major League camp.

Arizona will have a week to trade Valaika, place him on outright waivers or release him.

Diamondbacks Claim Pat Valaika

By Mark Polishuk | January 16, 2020 at 2:29pm CDT

The Diamondbacks announced that they have claimed infielder Pat Valaika off waivers from the Orioles and sent right-hander Jimmie Sherfy outrighted to Triple-A after he cleared waivers. Sherfy was designated for assignment last week. Arizona didn’t need to open a 40-man spot for Valaika, as their roster stood at 39 players following this week’s trade of Matt Andriese to the Angels.

This is the second waiver claim of the offseason for Valaika, as Baltimore grabbed him off the Rockies’ roster at the end of October. Valaika was then designated for assignment earlier this week, when the Orioles took Richard Urena from the Blue Jays on another waiver claim.

Valaika is headed back to the NL West after spending his entire seven-year professional career in the Colorado organization. A ninth-round pick for the Rox in 2013, Valaika appeared in 231 games for the team between 2016-19, hitting .214/.256/.400 over 433 plate appearances. Over a quarter of those PA were in a pinch-hitting role, though Valaika has also been a versatile bench piece, playing all four infield positions and a handful of games in left field.

This defensive flexibility will help Valaika battle Ildemaro Vargas, Domingo Leyba, Josh Rojas, and Andy Young for utility duties in Arizona, as the D’Backs continue to sort out their infield mix. With Ketel Marte increasingly likely to spend much of his time in center field, the Diamondbacks can go with Eduardo Escobar at second base and Jake Lamb at third, or move Escobar back to third to spell Lamb whenever a left-handed starter is on the mound. Or, Lamb could be relegated to bench duty himself if he can’t get on track following a pair of subpar seasons, leaving one of second or third base (whichever Escobar isn’t playing) open for a platoon situation.

Sherfy was designated for assignment last week when the D’Backs signed Hector Rondon. Sherfy showed some glimpses of promise over 27 innings in 2017-18, though his ERA ballooned to 5.89 over 18 1/3 frames last season. Still looking for a longer stint at the big league level, Sherfy can offer some solid numbers in the minors, with a 3.59 ERA, 11.9 K/9, and 3.07 K/BB rate over 303 career relief innings in Arizona’s farm system.

Orioles Claim Richard Urena, Designate Pat Valaika

By Jeff Todd | January 10, 2020 at 4:11pm CDT

The Orioles have claimed infielder Richard Urena off waivers from the Blue Jays, per a club announcement. Fellow infielder Pat Valaika was designated for assignment to create roster space.

Urena becomes the latest young infielder to earn a look in Baltimore. Of course, the same would’ve been said of Valaika, who was claimed earlier in the offseason but now ends up back in DFA limbo. He could still get a shot in camp if he clears waivers and remains with the Baltimore organization.

The O’s will hope that there’s still some development left for Urena, who hasn’t quite grown into the promise he has shown at times. He’s still over a month shy of his 24th birthday and hasn’t received consistent opportunities in the majors, though he has struggled about as much at the plate in the upper minors as he has at the MLB level.

Urena has turned in a .367 OBP through 159 plate appearances in the Dominican Winter League. But that’s driven by a lofty batting average (.292) and hasn’t come with much power (2 home runs, .365 slugging percentage). Perhaps he can squeak onto the roster as a utility player even if he doesn’t show an uptick with the bat. Otherwise, the out-of-options Urena could end up being exposed to waivers once again.

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