Chris Valaika

Chris Valaika was a National League infielder from 2010 to 2014.

Christopher Andrew Valaika was born August 14, 1985, in Santa Monica, California. He had three younger brothers, all of whom went on to play professional baseball; brother Pat is currently in AAA after spending parts of several seasons in the majors. Chris attended William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, then went to UC Santa Barbara. After his freshman year he played on the US national team; in June 2006, after his junior year, he was drafted in the third round of the amateur draft by the Reds. He signed with them, receiving a $437,000 bonus, and was sent to the Billings Mustangs of the Rookie class Pioneer League. There he had a 32-game hitting streak and hit .324/.387/.520 in 275 at-bats in 70 games, playing shortstop, and was named the league’s MVP.

Chris started 2007 with the Class A Dayton Dragons of the Midwest League. He was hitting .307/.354/.493 and had played in the league’s all-star game when he was moved up to the Sarasota Reds of the Advanced A Florida State League on July 3. With Sarasota the rest of the way he hit .254/.310/.332, playing shortstop and batting third in the order.

Chris returned to Sarasota in 2008. On May 7 he was promoted to the AA Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern League; in 32 games with Sarasota he hit .363/.393/.585. He was chosen to play in the Futures Game, part of All-Star Weekend at Yankee Stadium. His Chattanooga stats were .301/.352/.443 in 379 at-bats in 97 games, and he was chosen by Baseball America as the Reds’ minor league player of the year.

In 2009 Chris got invited to spring training with the major league club and homered in an exhibition game for them, but got sent to the minor league camp the next day. He spent the season with the AAA Louisville Bats, where he had an off year, hitting .235/.271/.344 in 95 games. In November the Reds purchased his contract from Louisville, meaning that they were putting him on the off-season 40-man major league roster to protect him from the winter draft.

During spring training 2010 Chris was optioned back to Louisville, where he rebounded to hit .304/.330/.408, now playing mostly second base. In late August he was called up to the Reds, and he made his major league debut on August 24 in San Francisco; he pinch-hit for reliever Nick Masset in the sixth and singled off Santiago Casilla, then stayed in the game at shortstop and struck out against Jeremy Affeldt. He got another at-bat the next day, then made his starting debut at home on the 27^th against the Cubs; he played second, batted second, and hit a home run and a double off Tom Gorzelanny.

Chris played five games at second in place of an injured Brandon Phillips, then returned to the bench, being used mainly as a pinch-hitter and pinch-runner the rest of the way. He hit .263/.282/.368 in 38 at-bats.

In 2011 Chris was sent back to Louisville during spring training, but was recalled on April 25 when Scott Rolen went on the disabled list. He played in eight games, half at third and half as a pinch-hitter, before being sent back down when Rolen was activated on May 13. He finished the season with the Bats, hitting .261/.302/.355 in 109 games, then returned to Cincinnati. He got into six September games and wound up with major league stats of .280/.333/.400 in 25 at-bats; his last game was on the 11^th, after which he had surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

During spring training 2012 Chris was again optioned to Louisville. He hit just .223/.268/.347 in 85 games, mostly at second base, and did not get called up to the Reds. In November he became a free agent, and signed with the Miami Marlins.

Chris made the Marlins roster in 2013. He played in 22 of the team’s first 34 games, 16 as a starter, all over the infield—including his first games at first base in his life. But on May 7 he broke his wrist in a collision with Padres baserunner Yonder Alonso. After surgery and a recovery period he was sent to Jupiter on a rehab assignment—the Jupiter Hammerheads of the Florida State League. In eleven games there he had eight hits in 40 at-bats, and then he was moved to the New Orleans Zephyrs of the Pacific Coast League. From the New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 19:

 “So far so good—knock on wood—everything’s been going well,” Valaika said. “It gets sore from time to time, but that’s expected being in my hand and wrist, but it feels good and feels strong.”

Valaika said his wrist has been sore in the few weeks following his surgery, but he’s been progressing well through rehab and hopes to be called back up to the big leagues soon.

The UC Santa Barbara product started at third base in his first game with the Zephyrs on Thursday night, but is primarily used as a utility man around the infield. He was used at every position in Miami’s infield—sans pitcher and catcher—during his short time with the team before his injury…

“I was up with Cincinnati a few years ago and then being with Miami, it’s been a different experience—they’re a younger team,” Valaika said. “It’s been a lot of fun. It was a struggle to start, we didn’t start so well, but it’s been fun to watch the way they’ve been playing lately and hopefully they can keep it up.”

Chris was not called back up to the Marlins when his rehab assignment was over; instead he was assigned outright to the Zephyrs. He finished the season with them, hitting .246/.308/.362 in 130 at-bats in 37 games, playing mainly at second; while with the Marlins he had hit .219/.261/.344 in 64 at-bats. At the end of the season he became a free agent again, and in November he signed a minor league contract with the Cubs.

Chris went to spring training 2014 with Chicago but was sent to the minor league camp in late March and played for the PCL’s Iowa Cubs. He had his best offensive season in several years, hitting .278/.344/.423 in 352 at-bats in 102 games, and then was called up to Chicago in early August. He played in 44 of the Cubs’ last 54 games, starting 29 of them; he played all four of the infield positions, most frequently first base (during an injury to Anthony Rizzo), and hit .231/.282/.339.

After the season Chris became a free agent again, then signed another minor league contract with the Cubs. Again he was assigned to the minor league camp during spring training 2015, and again he went to Iowa. He played all around the infield, most frequently at shortstop, and hit .267/.324/.401.

Chris then became a free agent once more, but did not re-sign with anyone. In December it was announced that the Cubs had hired him as one of two hitting coaches for their Arizona Instructional League team; an online biography says that after his playing career ended he went back to UC Santa Barbara to finish his degree and serve as an assistant coach, so I’m not sure what the chronology was there. He then went to work at Sparta Science, a movement health company in Menlo Park, California. In 2018 he became an assistant coach for the Iowa Cubs, in 2021 the assistant hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs, and in 2022 the hitting coach for the Cleveland Guardians. As of this writing he has received a great deal of credit for the Guardians’ offensive improvement over 2021.

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