Skip to main content

Prospect Nation 2013: #11 Catcher Sebastian Valle

Sebastian Valle, a righty hitting catcher, has proven himself worthy of high praise during his time in the Phillies’ minor league system. Displaying considerable power and crucial skills behind the plate, Valle could be an option to help the big league club in the near future.

After signing as an international free agent at the age of 16 in 2006, Valle began his pro career playing in the Dominican Summer League, where he batted .284 and sported an .802 OPS in 54 games. The following year, Valle played with the Gulf Coast League Phillies and posted a .281 average with two home runs and 18 RBI in 48 games, helping the team lock down a championship.

In 2009, Valle split time between Class A Lakewood and short-season A level Williamsport. In 50 games for the Williamsport Crosscutters, Valle shined, posting a .307 average with six home runs and 40 RBI in 50 contests. In addition, Valle sported an .866 OPS with the ‘Cutters. With Lakewood, where he backed up eventual Roy Halladay trade chip Travis d’Arnaud, Valle batted .223 with a homer and 15 RBI in 45 games.

The 2010 season presented a chance to play more with Lakewood and Valle produced very solid numbers, as one of the leaders of the team’s offense. Valle began the year a bit slow, notching just a single home run in his first 40 games. Once he heated up, though, Valle slammed eight home runs over the next 18 games and kept it going through the remainder of the year. In 117 regular season games, Valle posted a .255 batting average, while mashing a team leading 16 homers and driving in 74 runs to help his club lock down its second consecutive South Atlantic League title.

With Class A Advanced Clearwater, in 2011, the 6-foot-1 205-pounder posted a .284 batting average with five home runs and 40 RBI on the way to becoming a Florida State League All-Star, despite dealing with a sprained thumb, among other ailments, that prevented him from driving the ball as he normally would.

Last season, Valle started out with the Double-A Reading Phillies, where he tallied a .261 average with 13 home runs and 45 RBI in 83 games before earning a promotion to the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs. With the Pigs, Valle struggled with his average, hitting .218, but launched another four homers in 22 games, which gave him a single season career-high in the category.

Valle, who is a strong, aggressive hitter, displays excellent bat speed and has shown an ability to really drive the ball during his time in the minors. The area where Valle needs the greatest amount of improvement is being more selective at the plate. His walk rate of 3.2% in 2012 and 3.6% in 2011 leaves a large amount to be desired.

On defense, the Mexican born Valle is athletic and has a quick release when throwing the ball to the bases. The Phils’ developmental coaches often rave about the youngster’s footwork and ability to move behind the plate. Valle’s quickness hopping on dribblers and bunts out in front of the plate has improved during his time in the minors as well. He has also taken strides in helping his pitchers with his “frame work” behind the plate.

His speed is fairly typical for a catcher. “Below average” is a suitable description of Valle’s movement on the base paths.

The Phils have loads of depth at the catcher position in their developmental ranks. Along with the likes of Tommy Joseph, Cameron Rupp, Gabriel Lino and others, Valle could find himself as a hot commodity on the trade market in the coming months, due to the amount of talented backstops in the organization including an All-Star at the Major League level in Carlos Ruiz. Where ever Valle might be playing this year, if he can show the same progress at Triple-A as he did at previous levels, he could be ready for a promotion to the big leagues this year.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Diekman a Late Addition to Mesa AFL Roster

On Wednesday, Phillies lefty pitching prospect Jacob Diekman made his Arizona Fall League debut. Diekman, who was drafted in the 30th round of the 2007 amateur draft, was assigned to Mesa late, in order to increase his 2010 innings total, according to Mesa hitting coach Mark Parent, who managed Diekman in Lakewood this past season. Diekman, 23, posted a 2-0 record with 1.90 ERA in 21 games with Class A Lakewood before being promoted to High-A Clearwater on June 24th. In 24 games with the Threshers, Diekman went 0-2 with a 3.66 ERA. Combined, Diekman tossed 55 2/3 innings and held opponents to a .187 batting average against at two levels in 2010. However, after not pitching in an official game since he threw a shutout inning to wrap up the Clearwater season on September 5th, Diekman was unable to record an out as all seven batters he faced reached base, six with hits, one on an error. Diekman was charged with 5 earned runs in the outing. Diekman had spent time at instructional ball from

2022 Phillies Top Prospects Countdown: #24 RHP Cristian Hernandez

Venezuelan born right-hander Cristian Hernandez has begun to earn recognition as one of the Phillies most promising pitching prospects. Signed as a 16-year-old in 2017 for a reported $120,000, Hernandez got his professional career started the following summer as a starter for the Phillies' Red Dominican Summer League club.  There, in 13 starts, Hernandez tallied a 2-3 record with 2.57 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP as well as a 7.0 K/9 mark. An injury sidelined Hernandez in 2019 and the 2020 season was cancelled due to the global pandemic. In 2021, Hernandez saw his first regular season action in the United States, starting his season in Florida Complex League.  After two appearances there, the six-foot-three 185-pounder was promoted to the Class A Clearwater Threshers.  In 20 combined outings (17 starts), Hernandez notched a 2-7 record with a 3.57 ERA, a .228 batting average against and an 11.2 K/9 mark. Projectability is something that baseball folks like about Hernandez.  His size, consistent

Who is Your Favorite Willie 'Mays' Hayes?

PhoulBallz.com is wondering which individual who has portrayed Willie "Mays" Hayes is the favorite of the public. Hayes, of course, is the character made famous in the Major League motion picture series. In Major League , Willie "Mays" Hayes was portrayed by budding Hollywood actor Wesley Snipes, who would go on to action movie superstardom. Snipes has starred in major motion pictures like the Blade trilogy, Passenger 57 , Undisputed and many more. Snipes remains an impact Hollywood actor, despite legal troubles related to income tax evasion. Snipes was replaced for the sequel, Major League II when his busy career, and possibly the film's budget, would not allow him to return, by Omar Epps. Another budding actor, Epps had previously worked with director David S. Ward, on the film The Program , and landed the role of Hayes, who had become a Hollywood action star over the off-season that occured between the two films. Epps' career portraying athletes rolle