George Valera - Page 2 - MLB News, Rumors, & Updates

Recovered from offseason surgery Valera is starting in center field and batting eighth in Sunday's spring training game against the Rangers.

Impact He underwent surgery for a broken hamate bone in his right hand this offseason but was fully healed for the start of spring training. Valera went 0-for-2 in Saturday's spring game. He is on the 40-man roster but will likely get optioned to minor-league camp before the end of spring training.

FEBRUARY 26, 2023 • ROTOWIRE

Guardians Prospect George Valera Breaks Down His Mindset In The Box Cleveland Guardians prospect George Valera has plenty of confidence no matter who’s pitching to him.

FEBRUARY 24, 2023 • NEWSOBSERVER.COM

'I'm a winner': Valera moving toward Majors GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Second-ranked Guardians prospect George Valera is anything but timid when he digs into the batter’s box. Armed with his p...

FEBRUARY 23, 2023 • MLB.COM

Recovering from hand surgery Valera recently underwent surgery for a broken hamate bone in his right hand, reports Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Impact The expectation is that Valera will still be in recovery mode when Guardians camp gets underway in Arizona next month. This type of surgery usually requires around two full months of rest and rehab. One of the top position-player prospects in Cleveland's system, Valera slashed .250/.353/.463 with 24 home runs and 82 RBI in 132 games last season between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus. If his health cooperates, he could make his MLB debut at some point in 2023.

JANUARY 26, 2023 • ROTOWIRE

Guardians top-prospect George Valera recovering from surgery on right hand Outfielder George Valera, Cleveland's top position player prospect, underwent surgery on his right hand in December.

JANUARY 26, 2023 • CLEVELAND.COM

Should Guardians count on power from down below? Hey, Hoynsie Oscar Gonzalez, George Valera, Bo Naylor and Jhonkensy Noel have power potential to help the big-league team.

NOVEMBER 5, 2022 • CLEVELAND.COM

Mixed results after promotion Valera batted .221/.324/.448 with nine homers and a 22:45 BB:K across 42 games following his promotion to Triple-A Columbus.

Impact Valera's full-season numbers look better -- he hit .250/.353/.463 with 24 homers in 132 games -- but his fairly high strikeout rate and inability to hit for average in the minors combine to offer some cause for concern. However, he did get bitten by the BABIP bug in Triple-A, so it's reasonable to consider that .221 average an outlier -- and it's also worth remembering that this was his age-21 campaign, so just reaching that level is impressive. Nonetheless, while Valera's power carries his profile, he hasn't posted a slugging percentage north of .500 since High-A. Valera remains a valuable prospect, but it wouldn't be surprising if it were to take him a few years to develop into a productive big leaguer.

OCTOBER 28, 2022 • ROTOWIRE

MLB prospect notes from Altoona: Brayan Rocchio, Liover Peguero and George Valera Nine of Rocchio's 12 home runs have come since the beginning of June. There's been improvement in the field, too.

AUGUST 9, 2022 • THEATHLETIC.COM

George Valera Gets Big Promotion, Bo Naylor Joins Top 100 Prospects George Valera gets called up to AAA Columbus and Bo Naylor joins Top 100 prospects list.

AUGUST 8, 2022 • STAR-TELEGRAM.COM

Elevated to Triple-A The Guardians promoted Valera from Double-A Akron to Triple-A Columbus on Monday, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports.

Impact Cleveland recently bumped up two of its top position prospects (Tyler Freeman and Will Benson) from Triple-A to the majors, so Valera will move up a level to help Columbus fill one of the vacancies in its everyday lineup. The 22-year-old lefty-hitting outfielder supplied a .264/.367/.470 slash line to go with 15 home runs and two stolen bases in 387 plate appearances for Akron this season.

AUGUST 8, 2022 • ROTOWIRE

Appears in Futures Game Valera represented the American League in the Futures Game on Saturday, going 0-for-2 with a strikeout and a groundout.

Impact On the bright side, the overall picture is far rosier for Valera now than it was earlier in the season, as he's posted a sharp .302/.374/.564 batting line with 11 home runs and 43 RBI across his last 45 games. It took Valera a while to settle in at Double-A, but he's finally starting to deliver the stats we expect from a prospect of his caliber. His overall line (.272/.373/.484) is excellent for a 21-year-old in Double-A, considering that he's three years younger than the average player at that level.

JULY 17, 2022 • ROTOWIRE

George Valera, Jhonkensy Noel held hitless during All-Star Futures Game in LA Valera and Noel represented the Guardians among the top prospects in baseball at the Futures Game.

JULY 17, 2022 • CLEVELAND.COM

George Valera, Jhonkensy Noel to participate in All-Star Futures Game representing Cleveland Guardians Two of Cleveland's top hitting prospects will be in Los Angeles on All-Star Weekend.

JULY 7, 2022 • CLEVELAND.COM

Not hitting much in Double-A Valera is batting just .229/.372/.352 with two homers and a 23:33 BB:K through 31 games for Double-A Akron this year.

Impact It's nice that he's drawing walks at a healthy 18 percent clip, but that's about the only positive to be found in Valera's batting line. He hasn't homered since April 19, he hasn't put together a hitting streak longer than three games, and he hasn't collected a single stolen base. It could be that Cleveland was simply too aggressive in moving him up to Double-A last year, as he didn't do a whole lot then either (.747 OPS in 23 games). At just 21, he's still one of the younger players at that level. There's still a lot to like about Valera, but this first month-plus has done a lot to kill any notion that he might be on the fast track to the big leagues.

MAY 18, 2022 • ROTOWIRE

'I'm trying to be electric': George Valera might be the best Cleveland outfield prospect since Manny Ramírez The 21-year-old aims for nothing less than what Ramírez accomplished: a resume worthy of consideration for Cooperstown.

APRIL 18, 2022 • THEATHLETIC.COM

Optioned to minors Valera was optioned to minor-league camp Sunday.

Impact Valera was added to the Guardians' 40-man roster in November and spent the early portion of spring training with the big-league club. The 21-year-old had a .978 OPS last season at High-A Lake County to earn a late-season promotion, and he hit .267/.340/.407 in 23 games for Double-A Arkansas, where he's likely to open 2022.

MARCH 27, 2022 • ROTOWIRE

Rewarded with 40-man roster spot Valera was added to Cleveland's 40-man roster Friday.

Impact Cleveland's second-best prospect and best outfield prospect, Valera was a lock to be protected from the Rule 5 draft. He combines plus power with a very selective approach and has a chance to be a middle-of-the-oder masher in a couple years.

NOVEMBER 20, 2021 • ROTOWIRE

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