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One of the most fun things about covering the minor leagues and prospects is when a previously unheralded player suddenly puts it together and goes nuts. Eduardo Valencia wasn’t even a mention on most prospect rankings the past few years as injuries, struggles at the plate, and slow defensive development left him looking like an org catcher who would never amount to more. There were always flashes of power and some stretches of good production as he slowly grinded his way through A-ball and into the upper minors, but no one predicted the monster campaign Valencia put together in 2025.
Valencia was signed by the Tigers as an international free agent out of Valencia, Venezuela way back in 2018. He broke out of the rookie ball levels a little late, as a 21-year-old, and then battled injuries in 2022-2024, playing just 126 games over that span. He always walked a good amount and had the bat to ball skills to make plenty of good contact, but he didn’t hit many homers, and he struggled to develop behind the plate. The latter remains an issue that may limit his major league utility.
The big revelation was Valencia’s bat. Finally healthy and getting regular reps, he erupted for a combined 24 home runs and a 159 wRC+ evenly split between Double and Triple-A in 2025. Even better, he improved his strikeout and walk numbers upon advancing to the Toledo Mud Hens roster, and tapped into even more power at the higher level. He posted a 12.6 percent walk rate and a good 19.9 percent strikeout rate for the Hens, and looking through his Statcast numbers it’s hard to find a major weakness.
Valencia demolished fastballs all season long and handled better velocity well. Offspeed stuff gave him no trouble at all either. He hit left and right handed pitching well, showed off plus raw power, and really the only flaw was some modest struggles against good breaking stuff. That didn’t really show up until pitchers started spamming the softer stuff once it was clear that throwing him too many fastballs was a terrible idea. Valencia’s discipline and consistent hard contact started getting attention in Erie, but he just kept getting better in Toledo and poured it on with a finish that left many hoping for a call-up to try and jumpstart the sputtering Tigers’ offense in September.
There’s a lot to like in him as a hitter. Valencia is a well built individual with a lot of rotational power, and his adjustments toward quieter hands and a bigger leg kick helped him to get on time and drive the ball in the air a lot last year. He can juice it out to the opposite field as well, but he tends to line the ball to right field and pull it in the air, which is the preferred combination. He doesn’t chase much and while he’ll take his hacks early in counts and against mistakes, he can also shorten up to spray the ball once he’s deep in a count. If he can lay off more breaking balls and wait out pitchers trying to get him to chase, Valencia likely has a long career ahead of him as at least a solid power hitter. The issue remains finding his defensive home.
The Tigers started playing him more at first base last year once he jumped to Toledo. He wasn’t all that adept at picking throws out of the dirt and needs improvement there and in his footwork. He’s decidedly not fleet of foot, and needs plenty of reps at the position to improve both around the bag and just in terms of handling harder ground balls. Still as a catcher making the move to first base, it’s probable that he’ll eventually be roughly average at the position and he hasn’t really spent much time focusing on it yet.
Behind the plate, Valencia still lacks the framing, blocking, and pop times to play the position regularly at the major league level. He stands 6’1” but he’s quite stocky at this point, with below average speed and agility, which doesn’t bode real well for his ability to improve behind the dish. Gabe Alvarez, his manager in Toledo, preached some patience considering the injury history and lack of reps, and that carries some weight, but we’ll just have to see how he’s improved this spring after an offseason in which defense was a major focus for him.
On a club that highly values catchers for their defensive ability, it’s hard to imagine Valencia getting much catching work without some real improvements. He’s clearly put a ton of work into it already, and so the odds of a major transformation at age 26 are slim.
So, the Tigers have an intriguing bat-first power hitter, whose lack of a true defensive home may stall his major league debut a while longer. They added Valencia to the 40-man roster back in November, knowing there was no way he’d get through the Rule 5 draft. If he can continue refining his work at first base, it’s possible he could take some playing time from Spencer Torkelson, and if he continues to mash the Tigers will find a way to get him into the lineup one way or another. He could also make for an interesting trade chip this summer if the Tigers don’t really need him at first base and another team thinks they can get a little more out of him as a catcher at the major league level.
For now, Valencia is probably bound for Toledo to continue playing first base, working part-time as a catcher, and trying to improve his defensive profile overall. The combination of plate discipline, power, and contact ability is exciting, but the Tigers will probably let him simmer a while longer. Still, the bat was getting close to being undeniable last September, and he’s already homered and hit well in his few looks in Grapefruit League action so far this year. If he comes out raking this spring he’s going to force the Tigers’ hand, even if his optimal role is more of a DH and pinch-hitting specialist if the defense doesn’t improve.