For the entire 2009 season, Twins fans have viewed Danny Valencia the savior at third base. I just don’t see it. His defense is good but not great, and he has repeated both A+ and AA ball. Here are the wOBA’s from his first year in each league:
.342, .361, .335
The guy has a .335 wOBA in AAA and we’re going nuts over the guy. Granted he has 100 less plate appearances than Valencia in AAA, but Alexi Casilla’s wOBA in Rochester this year is .364. Matt Tolbert’s? .335. Repeat after me: Matt Tolbert has been as good of a hitter this year as Danny Valencia. Granted in the long run I completely expect Valencia to have a better career than Tolbert, but he’s not the guy to come up and take us into the playoffs. Here is Valencia’s minor league equivalency line, or the line he would be expected to produce in Minnesota based on his AAA numbers:
.259/.279/.397
That is terrible. Valencia has also walked just 8 times compared to 34 strikeouts in AAA. And those numbers are closer to the norm than the exception. Oh a Twins prospect without plate discipline? You don’t say.
Folks: Valencia isn’t the answer at third base. We need to keep looking.