In his first spring training with the Red Sox, Enmanuel Valdez is doing his best to keep things simple. He’s trying not to do too much or worry about proving himself every day. He’s not overthinking his role or his future.
“For me, I’m not trying to impress anybody,” he said.
Too late.
In the earliest days of spring training, Red Sox batting practice groups were never based on who was in the lineup on a given day. They weren’t built around seniority or status, either. On some of those days, Valdez would show up to JetBlue Park, look for his name on the daily schedule, and find himself hitting with the best player in the organization.
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And Rafael Devers was impressed.
“I hit a couple of times with him,” Devers said. “Very good swing, bro. Nasty. With pop to both sides — pull (and) left. And he’s a good guy, too.”
Devers had never seen Valdez before last month. They’re both from the Dominican Republic and only two years apart in age, but while they’ve been emerging almost simultaneously, they’ve been doing so in completely different worlds. Valdez made his professional debut the year before Devers arrived in the big leagues. While Devers was establishing himself as one of the best young hitters in the big leagues, Valdez was hitting his way onto the prospect radar and eventually onto the Red Sox 40-man roster. He was part of the return from Houston in the Christian Vázquez trade last season.
Now, if the Red Sox reach midseason and need a left-handed hitter at second base, third base or an outfield corner, Valdez may very well be the first man up. That is, if he’s not on the major-league roster already.
Because Devers isn’t the only one who’s been impressed this spring.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself about midseason,” manager Alex Cora said. “This kid is a good player. I’m not saying he’s going to break camp (in the majors), but I’m not saying he’s not going to break camp with us. He’s a good player.”
It’s worth noting that Devers first mentioned Valdez on his own. He wasn’t asked to say something nice about a young kid in camp and simply responded by saying all the right things. No, Devers brought up Valdez’s name unprompted, for no other reason than to let a reporter know the kid can hit.
“First of all, for me it’s just an honor and I feel very happy that someone like Rafael Devers talks highly of me and thinks that I’m going to be a great player,” Valdez said. “… one of the things he gave me as advice when we were talking is that you have to respect the game. Play with your head down and good things will happen. That’s one of the things I keep in the back of my mind, and that’s the model I’m trying to go by. For me, it’s just an honor that Rafael Devers speaks like that about me.”
Enmanuel Valdez makes hard contact and has a decent approach against right-handed pitchers although he struggles against lefties. He'll have to hit to hold value given defensive limitations. The 24-year-old is #17 on the https://t.co/wyTmyE13If pic.twitter.com/6aYCvW3dlU
— SoxProspects.com (@SoxProspects) March 6, 2023
It’s not without reason. Valdez isn’t some can’t-miss prospect — he did not make Keith Law’s Top 20 Red Sox prospects, though SoxProspects.com has him at No. 17 and Baseball America has him at No. 19 — but he makes a good amount of contact with legitimate power. He hit 28 home runs between Double A and Triple A last season, and he hit 26 in a breakout season the year before. He’s already homered once this spring, and he has more walks than strikeouts. While there are questions about the quality of his defense, Valdez’s defensive versatility is valuable, and his ability to play all over the field gives him several paths to Fenway Park should the team need him.
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“He reminds me a lot of (former Angels All-Star) Erick Aybar, his body and how he plays the game,” Cora said. “This guy has more pop, but we’re very pleased with the progress.”
Defensive questions aside, if Valdez can hit, he could be the type of next-in-line position player the Red Sox have lacked in recent years. Aside from Rob Refsnyder — who signed as a minor-league free agent, basically a known commodity — the Red Sox’s most notable midseason position player call-ups the past two seasons have been Jarren Duran, Franchy Cordero, Jonathan Araúz, Connor Wong and Jeter Downs. None produced better than an 83 OPS+, 17 percent below league average (Triston Casas exceeded that last season but wasn’t called up until September when the team was well out of contention). Most of the additions fell well short of that offensive standard. When the Red Sox have found themselves short-handed the past two years, they’ve had to scramble to fill the holes, and often with very little offensive production to show for it.
“We tried last year, (but) it was hard,” Cora said. “The guys that came up, it was a challenge for them. I don’t think they were prepared for that, but that’s where we were at roster-wise, and we struggled. There’s a lot of confidence (in Valdez). He’s not afraid. The defense part of it, people have their question marks, but he makes the routine play, he turns the double play. There’s a few things we need to work with him, but we’re very pleased.”
Assuming he ends up in Worcester, the plan is to play Valdez mostly at second base, which he said is his most comfortable position. But Valdez also has more than 1,000 minor league innings at third base, and the past two years he’s been playing the outfield corners, mostly in left field. He said he spent some time working at shortstop this offseason, too.
“I just want to be ready for when the team needs me,” Valdez said. “Even if it’s going to be a bench role, I want to be ready. That’s why I prepared so hard in the offseason, not only to play second base but to play all over the place.”
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Needs are inevitable over a 162-game season, and Valdez is in the early conversation to fill several that might arise. The front office went after him in trade talks, the manager already likes him, and the best player in the organization says he’s “nasty” at the plate.
Not bad for a kid not trying to impress anyone.
(Photo: Rich Storry / USA Today)