Valencia is up

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Roger King

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Jul 9, 2026, 4:07:40 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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Dingler is day to day so Eduardo Valencia has been called up. 

As a result, Jahmai Jones will no longer be batting for Keith or Carpenter in the 5th inning.  See ya JJ!


Roger King
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Peter Welch

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Jul 9, 2026, 4:15:25 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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Not surprised by this since Dingler might need a break from catching for a couple of days because of the sore hand.  Rogers will probably catch most the remaining 4 games before the AS break.  I'd be surprised to see Valencia get any starts behind the plate.  He really is more of a 1B/DH than catcher.  Teams will run like crazy on him if he's behind the plate.

Can't say Jones didn't get enough chances to get going.  He just stopped hitting this year.  His job was to beat up on lefties but he failed at it this year.  He's reportedly popular with his teammates so I'm sure it was tough for Hinch to let him go.

Peter


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Subject: Valencia is up
 
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David Panian

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Jul 9, 2026, 4:34:39 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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On Thu, Jul 9, 2026 at 4:15 PM Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Not surprised by this since Dingler might need a break from catching for a couple of days because of the sore hand.  Rogers will probably catch most the remaining 4 games before the AS break.  I'd be surprised to see Valencia get any starts behind the plate.  He really is more of a 1B/DH than catcher.  Teams will run like crazy on him if he's behind the plate.

The starting pitchers have done a good job lately of limiting baserunners, so maybe that won't be much of a concern.

David

Roger King

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Jul 9, 2026, 8:43:30 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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Haven’t been following the game but I just looked at the Tigers Twitter feed and Valencia homered in his first major league bat!  

4-1 Tigers in the 7th. 


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On Thu, Jul 9, 2026 at 4:15 PM Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Jason Rice

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Jul 9, 2026, 8:47:06 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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Roger King

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Jul 9, 2026, 8:51:38 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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I see Jake Rogers also homered, for the second night in a row.   

Dillon who? 😆


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Peter Welch

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Jul 9, 2026, 8:54:56 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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Jahmai Jones couldn't do this the whole season, but Valencia gets called up and in 1 at-bat against a lefty he hits a homer.

Peter
From: 'Jason Rice' via Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 9, 2026 8:47 PM
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Subject: Re: Valencia is up
 

Peter Welch

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Jul 9, 2026, 8:56:56 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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Reverse Voodoo works its magic again.

Peter
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Subject: Re: Valencia is up

Peter Welch

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Jul 9, 2026, 9:04:55 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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I'd actually like to see Valencia get some time at catcher just to see if he really is terrible there.  The scouting reports about his defense aren't good. 
However, if he's not terrible defensively, I think with his hitting he can be a good backup who can provide some decent offense and also fill in at 1B and DH.
(I also think he might be able to hit better than Tork).

Peter
From: David Panian <dpa...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 9, 2026 4:34 PM
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Subject: Re: Valencia is up

Roger King

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Jul 9, 2026, 9:24:31 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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But it turns out Valencia got that at bat because he was of course pinch-hitting for Carpenter! 

Lol. Poor Kerry probably thought with Jones gone, he could finally play an entire game… But NO! :-)

Paul Meloche

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Jul 9, 2026, 9:30:23 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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Valencia got plunked by Mark Leiter Jr in his next AB on what the Athletics announcer said was a “sinker that got away from him.” The ball caught him in the upper arm, near the shoulder. 

Valencia was understandably quite demonstrative on his home run trot but to me it didn’t look at all like he was showing up the pitcher. But IMO the HBP looked intentional. 

Paul M.

On Jul 9, 2026, at 6:24 PM, Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com> wrote:



Michael W

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Jul 9, 2026, 9:52:22 PM (2 days ago) Jul 9
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I'm happy to see Valencia, a player who has certainly earned his chance with a great season in 2025.  This year he got off to a terrible start, batting .135 through April 11th, which has colored his stats for the season.  But he's figured it out, slashing .300/.368/.538 since then.  Admittedly, using a hand-picked cut-off date is always a bit fraught, so I'll add that he hit .360/.438/.640 in June.

In the role of right-handed DH/PH he can't possibly do worse than Jones has, so he will help the Tigers.  Long term, it'll be hard to find at bats for him, unless they decide to dump Rogers.  Jake's 3 homers recently will probably keep him around for awhile.

Michael

Peter Welch

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Jul 10, 2026, 1:46:09 AM (23 hours ago) Jul 10
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I could see Valencia hitting better than Tork.  Might make Tork expendable (especially if they go with a Keith/Valencia platoon at 1B).

Peter
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Tanvir Shaikh

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Jul 10, 2026, 3:39:18 AM (21 hours ago) Jul 10
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On Fri, Jul 10, 2026 at 7:46 AM Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com> wrote:
I could see Valencia hitting better than Tork.  Might make Tork expendable (especially if they go with a Keith/Valencia platoon at 1B).

Are we sure that Keith will be an asset at 1B?  

I don't want to give up on him, but if he's playing a traditionally offense-oriented position like 1B, he's going to be the weak link unless he gets himself straightened out.  

-Tapu

Peter Welch

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Jul 10, 2026, 9:38:25 AM (15 hours ago) Jul 10
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True, if Keith maintains his current level of production, he's below-average at 1B (plus we don't really know about his defense at 1B yet over a larger sample size).  I'm just holding out hope that Keith will eventually start hitting similar to what he did in the minors.

Just thinking Tork might be expendable if Valencia shows he can hit well over a larger sample size.

Of course, if we ever trade Tork, you just know he'll hit 40+ homers and slug .500+ for somebody else.

Peter

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Cal Lord

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Jul 10, 2026, 9:43:10 AM (15 hours ago) Jul 10
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Best scenario in 2027 IMO new first baseman, new third baseman, Keith at Second, McGonnigle at short. 
Dingler at Catcher
Greene, Anderson in Center and Carpenter  at right.

P

Tapu Shaikh

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Jul 10, 2026, 4:33:09 PM (8 hours ago) Jul 10
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Valencia's post-game interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMak0z3aS0I


David Panian

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Jul 10, 2026, 5:59:24 PM (7 hours ago) Jul 10
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Valencia expected to start at catcher Saturday:

David


On Fri, Jul 10, 2026 at 4:33 PM Tapu Shaikh <taput...@gmail.com> wrote:
Valencia's post-game interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMak0z3aS0I


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Michael W

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Jul 10, 2026, 6:07:54 PM (7 hours ago) Jul 10
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Well he does have a 5.000 lifetime OPS.  I'd start him.

Michael

Peter Welch

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Jul 10, 2026, 8:01:15 PM (5 hours ago) Jul 10
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I think .5000 OPS makes up for bad catcher defense.  😏

Valencia has a poor defensive reputation but I don't know what are his supposed weaknesses.  I think teams were running on him a lot in the minors but it's also easier to steal bases in the minors.  Is he poor at blocking pitches?  Is he poor at framing?  From what I've read he has a good relationship with his pitchers.  He goes out of his way to get to know his pitchers.
So how bad is he really?    

Peter

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Mark Pattison

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Jul 10, 2026, 8:17:44 PM (4 hours ago) Jul 10
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It's going to  be tough to dislodge Jake Rogers from the lineup. He's gotten on base eight times in a row (and counting) as of the top of the sixth inning Friday.

Mark Pattison


Peter Welch

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Jul 10, 2026, 8:30:07 PM (4 hours ago) Jul 10
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Jake showcasing himself fir a deadline trade.

Peter 

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David Panian

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Jul 10, 2026, 9:55:28 PM (3 hours ago) Jul 10
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I sometimes wonder if scouts and others, when they evaluate catchers, have some sort of implicit bias that makes them think guys who hit well aren't good defensively and vice versa. It just seems like we've seen guys who hit well in the minors but have a poor defensive reputation get called up and, surprise!, they're actually not that bad defensively. Or they're considered good defensively but their offense is questioned when it's actually OK. For example, Dillon Dingler has always had a good defensive reputation, but there were questions about his bat. That's despite raking at Ohio State in his last two years there and improving each time he repeated a level in the minors. Before he was called up in 2024, he hit .308/.379/.559 with 17 homers in 71 games at Toledo. Was he old for that level? Kind of, but he's a catcher.

Alejandro Kirk has always been a good hitter, but he wasn't supposed to be a good defensive catcher because he's kinda short and rotund. He was a Gold Glove finalist last year.

Ivan Herrera DH's a lot for St. Louis, but is there any evidence that he's a poor defensive catcher? Is Pedro Pages such a good defensive catcher that the Cards can justify starting his .590 OPS bat? I suspect they would be just fine defensively if Herrera was their full-time catcher and pretty much anyone else besides Pages was their DH. OK, Herrera hasn't thrown out any of the 26 guys who've attempted steals against him this year, but, so? We know that base stealing isn't that important overall to an offense. Herrera's offense is so good that his overall WAR is 2.2. Pages has thrown out 33% of the 48 steal attempts, but his overall WAR is -0.1. He's a replacement-level player who's starting on an MLB team.

By the way, Herrera has no passed balls against him in 303 innings. Pages has three PBs in 387.1 innings.

Maybe I'm wrong about how player evaluators feel about catchers with good bats, but that's my perception.

David


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Peter Welch

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12:16 AM (22 minutes ago) 12:16 AM
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Good points about possible bias against good-hitting catchers.  

I still wonder how bad Valencia is defensively.  Is he letting a bunch of pitches get away from him?  Does he throw the ball away all the time? Is he a passed ball machine?  Does he not communicate well with his pitchers (that doesn't seem to be the case from what he said in interviews)?  Does he call for the wrong pitch all the time?  He's thrown out 22% of opposing baserunners in AAA this year (Dingler is at 23% with Detroit) so his arm doesn't seem that bad.

Rooting hard for Valencia to show he's not that bad defensively in his start on Saturday.  He'll be catching for Mize.

Valencia might also benefit defensively from being around Dingler and Rogers in Detroit if he stays on the roster.  I'm sure being a teammate of 2 of the better defensive catchers in baseball (and in Dingler's case, perhaps the best defensive catcher in baseball) could help him learn a lot and help improve his defense.

I like Valencia's hitting potential.  Maybe he could be like ex-Tiger farmhand Liam Hicks with the Marlins and switch between DH, 1B and catcher equally and provide above-average offense.

Peter


From: David Panian <dpa...@gmail.com>
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