We’re inside of two months away from Opening Day so we’ll start taking a look at some potential 2010 BlueClaws. First up, Sebastian Valle…

Up, down, and back up for Valle in 2009. He began the year in Lakewood, hitting .217-1-15 in the first half, went to Williamsport to play for the Crosscutters, where he hit .307-6-40 in the NY-Penn League, and then finished the season with the BlueClaws.

Why did he struggle in Lakewood? Competition or playing time? Probably a bit of both. First, he was just 18 (turned 19 in July) and in this country for the second year. But don’t underestimate playing time.

• In the first half, he was in the lineup four-five days a week and catching only one or two behind Travis d’Arnaud.
• In the second half (when he was with Williamsport), he was playing and catching every day.

Valle had an outstanding winter, hitting 11 home runs in just 160 at bats in the Mexican Winter League, and he is now (after d’Arnaud was traded) the top catching prospect in the system.

Farm director Steve Noworyta on Valle from a recent ClawCast:

He’s probably better off going to Lakewood to make sure that what we saw at the end of the year is what we’ll see going forward. He had some nice power numbers in Mexico for a young player. We say Lakewood now, but sometimes those types of players change your mind in Spring Training. He came back and did what we expected, but we want to make sure it’s that way going forward.

Valle was ranked 31st in the system by Baseball America headed into 2009, and is now ranked 7th. He’s got a big bat, especially if they can keep him behind the plate. I would figure he’s the Opening Day catcher in Lakewood this year.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 2:27 pm and is filed under 2010 BlueClaws. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.