Farmers only swim in Valaika

by Rick House on May 2, 2008 3:12 AM EDT in News

Valaika

Triple-A: Jay Bruce was 0 for 3 with 2 RBIs and Kevin Barker homered as Louisville beat Richmond 11-8. Paul Janish was 1 for 4, and Ryan Hannigan, Andy Phillips, Luis Bolivar and Adam Rosales all had two hits. Todd Coffey gave up 2 runs in his first AAA appearance of the year. UP NEXT: Bats at Richmond, 7 tonight.

Double-A: Josh Roenicke got out of a pinch in the eighth but ran into trouble in the ninth, allowing two singles and a walk-off double as the Lookouts lost 7-6 at Mississippi. Shaun Cumberland was 2 for 4 to improve his league-leading on-base percentage to .468. Cody Strait and Tonys Gutierrez had 2 hits apiece. UP NEXT: Game 3 at Mississippi, 8 tonight.

High A: Chris Valaika's ownership of the Florida State League lingered into another month, although the S-Reds lost 5-2 to Tampa. Valaika was 2 for 4 with a homer and now leads the FSL in batting average (.388), OPS (1.014), slugging percentage (.612), total bases (71), RBIs (29), home runs (6) and hits (45, 10 more than the guy in second). Most of those are organizational highs, too. He was a third-round pick in 2006 and started hot in Billings, with a .907 OPS. He started well in Dayton last season before struggling at the end of the year in Sarasota. He's had no problems thus far in 2008. There's another guy in our system who put up similar numbers in his first three years. UP NEXT: Tampa rubber match, 7 tonight.

Low A: The Dragons were off, although Todd Frazier homered in the second game of a doubleheader on Wednesday. Game 1, Game 2. UP NEXT: Burlington at Dayton, 7 tonight.

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re: Valaika and Bruce—I see a few differences. 1) Bruce was two years younger when he was drafted. 2) Bruce spent his entire second season in Dayton, and Valaika was promoted to Sarasota, where he pretty much bottomed out. He fell from No. 10 to No. 13 in BA’s prospect guide, and had he stayed in Dayton and performed the way he did to start the season, he probably would be around No. 6, 7 or 8. 3) Bruce is a plus defender in the outfield, and Valaika’s defense is supposedly suspect at short. He’s committed 4 errors so far this year, the most on the team. Despite those things, Valaika’s and Bruce’s numbers to this point in their careers look very similar. If Valaika puts up another month of this jose castro has to take a seat to make room for chris in chattanooga.

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by boobs on May 2, 2008 3:30 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

Andy Phillips...

...got his first “play of the game” last night, for his RBI single.

He started at 3B. He had been playing only 1B before he got injured. Now he’s playing a mix of 1B, 2B, and 3B.

Former Phillie/Yankee/Blue Jay etc. Sal Fasano came in in the 9th, got on base with a walk, and scored from 1B on a double. He is not fast, so that must have been something to see. I wonder if “Sal’s Pals” (his groupies) ever travel down to Richmond to see him these days?

The pride of Marietta College, former Yankee Matt DeSalvo, pitched a couple of innings for the R-Braves. Not a great outing for him. He gave up a single and a double, and also had a wild pitch and a throwing error. The first baseman failed to catch a pickoff attempt, too, allowing a run to score.

One-time Cincinnati Red Scott Williamson just signed with the R-Braves. He pitched only one inning, but it was three up, three down.

The pitching wasn’t great, as you might guess from the score. The best pitcher of the night for either team was…Gary Majewski.

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by BubbaFan on May 2, 2008 7:33 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

Questions on Valaika

So, I know that Valaika has hit well, except for when he moved up to Sarasota at the end of last year. Does anyone know what scouts are projecting for him, as far as a major league upside? He seems to have a little power. Does he run well? If he’s not a major league SS, where would they move him? I’ve been intrigued with him since his hitting streak in Dayton but haven’t found a lot of scouting info on him. Does anyone know more?

by nighthawk32 on May 2, 2008 7:48 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

An excerpt from John Sickels's 2008 Prospect Book

Valaika dominated rookie ball in ‘06 and the Midwest League in ‘07 due to his very quick bat. His strike zone judgment, which is mediocre at best, wasn’t an issue at those levels, but it became one after he was promoted to the Florida State League, where he hit with much less authority. Despite the struggles at Sarasota, most scouts expect Valaika to hit for average with a touch of power, as he makes hard contact even on pitches that he shouldn’t swing at. Some guys get away with that if they have good bat speed and an eye for contact, but we need to see if Valaika is one of them. Limited range at shortstop may make him a second baseman eventually, which would make the bat even more important. Grade: C+

John likes to point out that a C+ grade is a very good grade from him and that it usually means that the player has some very good skills but also has some holes in his game. Often times a player ends up in the C-range because they haven’t had enough time in pro ball to get an accurate judgment of what their skill level is. Sometimes C-range players turn into stars, but usually they are bench or role players or they don’t make it at all.

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by Slyde on May 2, 2008 9:36 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs