When the 2013 season is over, and it’s time to reflect on the year had by members of the Baltimore Orioles, obvious names will jump out as ones who had a good season individually.
Chris Davis exploded onto the national scene with a barrage of long balls that had many bringing up Roger Maris, Barry Bonds, and a possible assault on the American League and Major League home run records. Manny Machado’s glove work made him a regular on highlight shows and with the bat he proved more than capable of handling the second spot in Buck Showalter’s lineup.
Adam Jones is currently just two home runs shy of his career high (32). He’s already established a personal best with 100 RBI and, barring a late-season slump, will finish with his highest batting average for a single season. Chris Tillman looks ready to assume the role of ace of the Orioles’ pitching staff and earned his first trip to MLB’s All-Star game, joining Davis, Machado, and Jones at Citi Field in July.
He isn’t in the lineup nearly as often as those mentioned above, and naturally doesn’t receive the same acclaim, but the reclamation of Danny Valencia in his role as a situational player against left-handed pitching has been a story worth noting.
Valencia’s major league career began with the Minnesota Twins in 2010, when he finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting. He followed that up with 28 doubles, 15 home runs, 72 RBI, and a .246/.294/.383 line the next year. 2012 was largely one to forget as he was traded to the Boston Red Sox in August and hit just .188/.199/.299 in 44 games between both teams.
A better hitter against left-handed pitchers, Valencia was acquired from the Red Sox late last year to be a designated hitter option for 2013 against lefties. And so far he’s filled that role admirably when given the opportunity, especially of late.
Through September 7 Valencia had appeared in 33 games (27 starts) for the Orioles. 23 times he’s received a start versus a left-handed starting pitcher and overall he’s hitting .375/.400/.694 versus lefties, including four of his seven home runs and all eleven of his doubles.
Based on the distribution of pitches (courtesy of Brooks Baseball) Valencia has seen it doesn’t really matter what kind it is. If a left-hander is throwing it, Valencia is hitting it.
Since the first of August Valencia has been even better, producing a .563/.576/1.031 line with six doubles and three home runs over nine games. In eight of those games the 28-year old has recorded multiple hits.
During Friday’s 4-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox Valencia launched his seventh home run of the season, earning him a shaving cream pie to the face after the game.
Last year Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette had this to say about Danny Valencia: “His real strength to a team is his capability to hit left-handed pitching. At his age and his experience level, there is no reason he shouldn’t be able to regain the level where he was a top vote-getter for Rookie of the Year.”
To this point Valencia has done pretty good job proving Duquette to be accurate in his assessment and is looking like another one of those “right button pushes” for the Orioles, one that has played a pivotal part in helping the team towards playoff berth for a second consecutive season.
