John Valentin

From SoSH

John William Valentin (born Feb. 14th, 1967) was a SS and 3B for the Boston Red Sox from 1992-2001. He wore jersey number 13.

Contents 1 Overall Career 2 Awards & Achievements 3 Moment in the Sun 4 Trivia 5 Transactions 6 External Links

Overall Career

After a standout career at Seton Hall University, the Red Sox drafted Valentin with the 121st pick in the 1988 Amateur Draft. Valentin spent his first professional season in the New York Penn League with Elmira. Over the next five seasons Valentin would slowly but surely make his way up the organizational ladder, getting time in Winter Haven, Lynchburg, New Britain and Pawtucket, culminating in 1992 with a July call-up getting him 185 big league ABs. Valentin would hit .276 with the opportunity, sending 5 HRs and impressing the team with his defense at SS.

Valentin was the starting SS in 1993, taking over for veteran Luis Rivera after a poor season for the Red Sox. Valetin was a bright spot for the Sox in '93, posting a .278 BA with 11 HR, a .274 EqA and an 8.6 WARP3. Valentin progressed yet again in the strike shortened 1994 campaign, posting a .400 OBP, a .304 EqA and 9 HR in 301 ABs. In addition, the Sox had improved in every season of John's career, going from 7th in 1992 to 5th in '93, and 4th in 1994.

1995 was John Valentin's best season across the board, setting career high in HR (27), RBI (102), SB (20) and posting a career best 10.0 WARP3 as a standout offensive SS. John's OPS was an impressive .931- good for an OPS+ of 139, which was the best of his career. Not only did Valentin finish in the top ten in the MVP voting that season (9th), which was won by teammate Mo Vaughn, but he helped the Red Sox to their first post-season berth in five years, winning the AL East title by 7 games over the New York Yankees. Valentin had a solid series, but the Sox were swept by the powerhouse Indians in three games. Among great seasons from Vaughn, Tim Naehring, Troy O'Leary and Jose Canseco, Valentin lead the team in runs scored (108), 2Bs (37), BBs (81) and SB (20).

1995 was the beginning of what was John's four-year peak, and while it was his best season, 1996-98 were very solid for John, showing him posting WARP3's of 7.0, 9.1 and 9.6- the latter two well above average.

1996 marked the arrival in Boston of minor league phenom Nomar Garciaparra, who battled John in spring training for the starting job at SS. Garciaparra spent the majority of that season getting a bit more seasoning in AAA, though the path was set- Nomar would eventually take the SS position, with Valentin moving to 3B in 1997 with Tim Naehring's injury after trying a number of games initially at 2B. 1997 was Naehring's last with the team, and so John assumed the role of starting 3B full time in 1998, posting his last truly valuable season with a .270 EqA, 23 HR, and 73 RBI. His BA started to dip, however, and at 31 he'd played his final full season as a major leaguer.

Playing in only 113 games due to injury and decreased production, Valentin eventually broke through in the postseason after Boston won the new Wild Card slot and went up against the excellent Indians team featuring a record-setting offense. Valentin hit 3 HR in 5 games with 12 RBI, including huge HRs in Games 3 and 4 to keep the Sox alive after falling behind two games to none. His hot hitting continued into the ALCS, which the Sox eventually lost to the Yankees. A .348 BA, 1 HR and 5 RBI weren't enough to win but one game.

After a poor start to the 2000 season, Valentin tore his knee on May 30th against Kansas City. On June 1st, Valentin had season ending surgery. The injury was bad enough to keep him out all the way through to May of the 2001 season. It didn't last long, however- after a June 6th game in Detroit he went back on the DL with further injury to his knee, and never played a game with Boston again.

John managed to get 114 games in a comeback with his hometown New York Mets in 2002, but with limited playing time and production, Valentin never made it back, despite subsequent spring training tryouts with Baltimore and Houston.

Valentin finished his career with 124 HR, a .279/ .360/ .454 line and 1,093 total hits.

Awards & Achievements

• AL Silver Slugger Award Winner (1995/SS)
• AL Doubles Leader (1997)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 2 (1995 & 1998)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 1 (1995)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 2 (1995 & 1998)

Moment in the Sun

Outside of individual accomplishment, Valentin's moment in the sun came in the 1999 ALDS. After a disappointing campaign where his bum knees got the best of his swing, Valentin delivered in the post-season. With the Red Sox quickly down 2 games to none and facing elimination, Valentin had his finest postseason game, homering in the sixth to even up the score at 3-3, and then delivering the hit of the game doubling off of Ricardo Rincon with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh to break that tie. The next day, with Indians young ace Bartolo Colon pitching, and the Sox down 1-0, he hit a first inning HR to give the Sox an early lead and added another HR later in the Sox 23-7 drubbing of the Indians. And to finish things off he tied game 5 at 8-8 with a sac fly in the fourth inning before the Pedro Martinez/ Troy O'Leary dramatics finished off the Indians. He also hit well against the Yankees in the ALCS but it wasn't nearly enough as the Sox lost that series to the Yankees and the umpires 4 games to 1.

Trivia

• The only player in major league history to both turn an unassisted triple play (7/8/1994) and hit for the cycle (6/6/1996). Also had a three HR game.

Transactions

• June 1, 1988: Drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 5th round of the 1988 Amateur Draft. Player signed June 27, 1988.
• November 5, 2001: Granted Free Agency.
• January 30, 2002: Signed as a Free Agent with the New York Mets.

External Links

• Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis
• Home Sale: The story of Valentin's mansion sale