American League
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4 articles
CLE • Outfielder • #35
about 2 months ago
Brito’s case was pretty obvious, but this is actually a second straight extra option year for Valera. He never used one in 2025, though, since the Guardians non-tendered him and then re-signed him to a minor league contract. He finally made his major league debut in September and performed well enough overall to keep himself in the Guardians’ plans for 2026. However, now there’s no pressure on the team to save room for him on the Opening Day roster. The Guardians will still have Nolan Jones, Jhonkensy Noel, Brayan Rocchio and Gilbert Arias as out-of-options players, which could make it more difficult for C.J. Kayfus, Angel Martínez and maybe Daniel Schneeman to make the team, depending on how the rest of the offseason goes.
CLE • Outfielder • #35
4 months ago
Valera took Casey Mize deep to give the Guardians a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The 24-year-old has shown flashes of why he was once widely considered one of the best prospects in baseball, but this was obviously the biggest hit of his (very) young career.
CLE • Outfielder • #35
4 months ago
Cleveland is now one game up on Detroit. The fates really put the exclamation point to their AL Central preference tonight, as Valera hit a rare one-ballpark-out-of-30 homer at Progressive Field. That can only happen in an area a bit to the right of dead center, and Valera made it happen with a 393-foot fly just over a jumping Parker Meadows. He has two homers and a .242/.359/.485 line in 39 plate appearances since debuting at the beginning of the month.
CLE • Outfielder • #35
4 months ago
Valera pulled a ball 358 feet to right against Joe Ryan. He’s started three out of the last four games at DH after being included in the lineup just five times in his 15 games on the roster, and he’s gone 7-for-26 overall. He’ll probably continue to start against most righties, especially now than Nolan Jones is out.