Cleveland Guardians’ prospect George Valera should worry less about punching and more about hitting

Cleveland Guardians prospect George Valera sure seems to have a lot of free time for someone struggling to hit.

What’s more embarrassing; being a top-rated prospect in the Cleveland Guardians organization who can’t hit a baseball, or being a top-rated prospect who started a fight and couldn’t land one clean punch? It appears only George Valera can truly go hitless in a minor-league game.

Valera got ejected in an away game against the Nashville Sounds after he started a fight with Nashville catcher Alex Jackson. Valera not only threw some god-awful punches at Jackson but also pushed the game’s umpire, Tanner Moore, out of the way to start the fractus. And while his haymaker was worse than his swing, it is important to note that, despite the clever wordplay, he left the game having gone 1-1.

His batting average in Triple-A is now .187 for the season.

While some people seem to be supporting Valera, don’t listen to them. Valera’s inability to control his emotions will cost him money, games, and opportunities. The Guardians don’t need guys like Valera, who care more about their ego than they do about winning games. This type of “fight” kills teams and morale, it doesn’t improve it.

Valera proved to everyone he’s too immature to be called up.

George Valera seems more focused on starting fights than improving his swing

Valera’s ego would almost most certainly keep him from being called up to the majors if he was playing well. Despite being limited early in the year after re-aggravating his surgically repaired hand, Valera has not played well at all in 2023. He has 21 strikeouts to just 14 hits, his power is gone and the sad part is, this isn’t on his hand.

Valera, despite his presumed value in the minors, is a historically bad hitter. He’s got terrible stats for a top prospect, with a slash of .245/.365/.454 and an OPS of .819. Keep in mind, Valera is technically the top-ranked prospect in the Guardians system with the recent callup of starting pitcher Gavin Williams.

The Guardians don’t need this kind of headache and would be wise to move on from him sooner, rather than later.

Heck, maybe Valera can finally live up to his potential by landing the Guardians a major-league talent of value.

• Published on 07/07/2023 at 15:00 PM
• Last updated at 07/07/2023 at 15:00 PM