Valencia is the latest example of catchers sometimes needing more time to develop, though his development seemingly came out of nowhere. Far from a top prospect, the Venezuelan was a 2018 international signing for a $10,000 bonus. After five seasons in the States, he had played one game above A-ball, often serving as a backup or platoon mate. Then came 2025, when he got in better shape, looked for more launch angle, found his power stroke at the plate at Double-A Erie, then carried it to Triple-A Toledo. The breakout earned him a spot on Detroit’s 40-man roster in November, at the additional position of first base to help keep his bat in a lineup.
Valencia, with help from Tigers instructors, changed his swing after the 2024 season to lower his hands and add more lift. A big leg kick helps with his timing, but he also became more selective with pitches, looking for balls he can launch after struggling with ground-ball rates for years. He has solid pitch recognition and can read what pitchers are trying to do against him, though he still struggled against breaking balls. Defensively, Valencia receives well but isn’t especially agile, and he struggled to control the running game in Toledo.
Valencia’s work ethic and resulting rise made him one of the more popular players in the organization among coaches and instructors who worked with him over the years. He’s clearly in the Tigers’ sights, possibly even as a third catcher behind Dillon Dingler and Jake Rogers if he continues to hit, but shoring up his work behind the plate could be his best ticket to the big leagues.
Valencia joined the Tigers organization for only $10,000 out of Venezuela in April 2018 but didn’t stick out through his first six seasons in the system while missing time to the 2020 pandemic and a raft of injuries, including those to his hamate, hamstring and elbow. Entering 2025, he hadn’t played more than 62 games in a single season. His big breakout came in his age-25 campaign as he hit .311/.382/.559 with 24 homers (double his career total coming into the year) over 103 games between Double-A and Triple-A. The Tigers added him to the 40-man roster in November, protecting him from the Rule 5 Draft.
The 6-foot-2, right-handed slugger worked on improving his pitch selection and bat path in ’25 to cut down on some of the groundballs that had dulled his power output earlier in the decade, and the results were evident. He saw his GB rate drop nearly seven points year to year, ran a 105.3 mph 90th-percentile exit velocity at Triple-A and hit .400 with a 58.8 percent hard-hit rate against pitches at 95 mph or greater with Toledo. There is some swing-and-miss in the zone still, but the improved directionality when there is contact helps make up for it.
A well-below-average runner, Valencia has moved between catcher and first base throughout his career and saw more time at the cold corner than behind the plate at Triple-A in 2025. He threw out only 13.5 percent of attempted basestealers when he did catch due to accuracy issues. The Tigers were protecting Valencia’s bat at any rate, and the slugger could provide thump in a bench role.
These run values are leveraged, meaning the base/out situation at the time of the event does impact the run value (thus introducing context outside the batter's own contribution).
Note: xHR tells how many of this player's batted balls would have been out of other stadiums. The "Adjusted" view here accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects using Statcast Park Factor data.
Standard
Year
HR
2026
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
Player
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
Note: xHR tells how many of this player's batted balls would have been out of other stadiums. The "Standard" view here accounts for different wall heights and distances but excludes environmental effects. It is based purely on the observed trajectory of the hit.
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift: three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of their typical responsible slices of the field. Learn more about how positioning is defined here
