George Valera #12

George Valera...Born in Queens, moved to the Dominican Republic with his family at the age of three...Lived back and forth between the Dominican Republic and the Bronx growing up...Favorite singers are Eladio Carrion, Bad Bunny and Anuel.

2025

Made his Major League debut in September after seven seasons in the Minors...At one point was the Guardians' No. 1-ranked prospect and a consensus top-100 prospect in MLB before injuries slowed his development (has been on the MiLB IL seven times)...Began the year on the IL rehabbing from Sept. 2024 right knee surgery, with a rehab assignment in Arizona on May 15...Activated on June 3 in Triple-A Columbus, but was placed on the IL on June 6 (after two games) with a left oblique strain...After another brief rehab stint in Arizona, was activated on July 23, spending the next five weeks in Triple-A, batting .310 (13-for-42) with six extra-base hits and seven RBI over his last 11 games from Aug. 15-31...Promoted to Cleveland on Sept. 1, making his debut that day at designated hitter in Boston (0-for-1, R, BB)...Singled in a pinch-hit appearance two days later in Fenway off Dustin May...Belted his first career home run on Sept. 20 at Minnesota (G1) off Joe Ryan...Overall made eight starts at DH and four starts in right field for the Guardians, reaching safely in nine of the 12 starts (nine starts in two-hole)...Over his last nine games, from Sept. 17 on, he was 6-for-24 with four extra-base hits, four RBI, five walks and a .962 OPS...Was on the AL Wild Card Series roster vs. Detroit, belting his first career postseason home run in the first inning of Game 2 off Casey Mize...Made two starts in right field vs. Detroit.

2024

Season limited to 90 games around a pair of IL stints to start and end the season...Began year with a strained left hamstring suffered in Spring Training, playing his first game on May 1...Improved as the season went along after a slow May (.214/.327/.381/.708), increasing his OPS over the subsequent three months (.759 June/.801 July/1.018 Aug.)…Among IL hitters he was third in HR (7) and OPS in August...On the year he made 34 starts in RF, 31 in LF, 21 at DH and one in CF...Recorded a 15-game on-base streak, Aug. 21-Sept. 6...8/21/2024 - 9/6/2024...Season ended on Sept. 10 vs. St. Paul after suffering a torn right patella tendon making a catch at the outfield wall, undergoing season-ending surgery to repair the knee tendon on 9/18 at the Cleveland Clinic (Dr. Lutul Farrow; 6-to-9 month rehab. projection).

2023

Spent the season at AAA Columbus, owning a .211 (54-for-256) batting average with 10 home runs and 35 RBI in 73 games… Entered season ranked 51st among top 100 MLB prospects and third in the CLE system (MLB.com)... Missed a majority of the first two months of the season due to a right wrist injury sustained during Spring Training coming off surgery in Dec. 2022… Returned to action on May 11 and played five games before being placed on the Injured List again on May 20 with a hamstring injury… Following a rehab assignment, he was activated on June 17. After a dispute with an opposing catcher on July 6, Valera was given a six-game suspension on July 7 that kept him out until July 19. Enjoyed a solid stretch from Aug. 16 to Sept. 3, posting a .322 (19-for-59) batting average with six home runs, 15 RBI and a 1.053 OPS over a stretch of 15 games… Produced back-to-back multi-home run games on Aug. 17 and Aug. 19 at AAA Syracuse.

2022

Spent majority of the season in AA Akron, leading the system in runs (89) while finishing third in the system in HR (24), TB (224) and RBI (82), fourth in hits (121) and fifth in OPS (.816)…At the time of his Aug. 8 promotion to AAA Columbus, he was T7th in the Eastern League in RBI (59), 6th in BB (52) and OPS (.837) and seventh in on-base pct. (.367)…Named an Eastern League Postseason all-star...Season got off to a pedestrian start, hitting .220 (22/100) thru this first 30 games thru May 15 before hitting .360 (45/125) over his next 32 games with 9 2B, 3B, 10 HR and 37 RBI thru June 24…Participated in the XM Futures Game in July at Dodger Stadium…Enjoyed a pair of consecutive 18-game on-base streaks at AA Akron...Enjoyed three two-homer games including two in a week’s span for Columbus (8/19 & 8/25)…Recorded just five PA against younger pitchers all year and was 5.3 years younger than the average Triple-A age...Underwent right hand surgery (hamate cleanup) on Dec. 2022 to address previous injury...Had wrist pain most of the year.

2021

Split the year between High-A Lake County and Double-A Akron, finishing tied for second in the Cleveland Minor League season in homers (19) and walks (2nd, 66) and third in RBI (65)…Opened the year in Lake County, missed nearly a month with a right oblique strain (May 13-June 7), and was promoted to AA Akron on Aug. 23...At the time of his promotion to Akron, he was tied for fifth in the High-A Central in homers (16) and third in walks (55)…Improved as the season went on after he was injured in the seventh game of the season...Batted just .194 (7-for-36) with a 3B, HR and two RBI over his first 12 games...After hitting just two homers over his first 26 games (through July 8), clubbed 14 homers over his final 37 games with the Captains, batting .259 (30-for-116) with 14 HR, 33 RBI, 42 walks and 33 runs over the span (.463/.664/1.127)…Led the High-A Central in homers, OBP, SLG and OPS over that span prior to his promotion...Had some impressive moments in Akron, hitting .333 (10-for-30) with nine RBI over his first eight games and enjoyed a nine-game hitting streak (11/34, .324, 5 XBH, 10 RBI), Sept. 7-16... Went 6-for-13 (.462) over the three postseason games for the RubberDucks, helping lead them to the league title (2 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI)…Combined on the year he batted .264 (61-for-231) off LHP (24 XBH, 53 RBI, .946 OPS)...Defensively, he appeared in 48 games in right field, 17 in left field and 16 in CF at LC and Akron...At 20 years of age, was nearly four years younger (3.9) than the Double-A Northeast League average.

2020

Spent the season at the Alternate Training Site in Lake County...Named Cleveland No. 5 prospect entering 2021 according to MLB Pipeline, the top overall prospect according to Baseball Prospectus (48th-overall prospect in all of MLB according to BP).

2019

Named prospect in Cleveland system by MLB.com and Baseball America...Finished seventh in the New York-Penn League in home runs (8)...Named to the NYPL postseason all-star team... After the season was named the sixth-best prospect in the NYPL according to BA.