Indians Top 100 Prospects: #17 Luis Valbuena

17. Luis Valbuena - Second Baseman
Born: 11/30/1985 - Height: 5'10" - Weight: 200 - Bats: Left - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2003	17	Aguirre	R	50	167	26	38	11	4	1	22	20	25	3	.228	.323	.359	.682
2004	18	Aguirre	R	61	216	44	78	24	6	2	34	27	15	11	.361	.444	.556	1.000
2005	19	Everett	A-	74	287	47	75	10	3	12	51	31	37	14	.261	.333	.443	.776
	19	Tacoma	AAA	3	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
2006	20	Wisconsin	A	89	325	45	93	16	6	3	38	44	44	21	.286	.371	.400	.771
	20	Inland Emp	A+	43	163	18	41	10	1	2	10	14	26	1	.252	.315	.362	.677
2007	21	West Tenn	AA	122	444	55	106	23	3	11	44	48	83	10	.239	.311	.378	.689
2008	22	West Tenn	AA	70	240	43	73	12	2	9	40	31	37	8	.304	.381	.483	.864
	22	Tacoma	AAA	58	212	41	64	9	0	2	20	28	32	10	.302	.383	.373	.756
	22	Seattle	MLB	18	49	6	12	5	0	0	1	4	11	0	.245	.315	.347	.662
	23	Career		570	2058	319	568	115	25	42	259	244	301	78	.276	.355	.417	.772

History:  Valbuena was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Venezuela in August 2002 by the Seattle Mariners, and the Indians acquired him from the Mariners as part of a three team deal on December 10, 2008.  He just turned 23 years old on November 30^th, and after a down year in 2007 he had a sensational 2008 campaign splitting time between Double-A, Triple, and the majors to put his name back on the prospect map finishing with career highs in several categories namely batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.  In addition to his career numbers, Valbuena had a very good performance in the Venezuela Winter League where he hit .291 with 5 HR, 20 RBI and had an .862 OPS in 49 games.  In a strange coincidence his keystone combination in Venezuela was shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. 

Strengths & Opportunities:  Valbuena's biggest upside as a player is his bat, which is the main reason the Indians acquired him.  He has a good approach at the plate, and has demonstrated good bat-to-ball ability with a quick bat with a nice line-drive stroke.  He is not intimidated by anyone when he steps into the box and profiles as a top of the order hitter because of his ability to work counts, never give away an at bat, take walks, make consistent contact and showcase decent speed.  Coming into last season he had shown the ability to control the strike zone throughout his minor league career from 2005-2007 with a 192-138 strikeout to walk ratio (1.4:1) and 6.3 AB/K ratio, and showed an improvement with his approach last season with a 6.6 AB/K ratio and 69-59 strikeout to walk ratio (1.2:1).  He currently has doubles power and is a gap hitter, but he continues to get stronger which is a reason he saw his power numbers improve last year.  While he is only considered an average runner, his overall game and ability has often been compared to Ray Durham and his physical look is a lot like Juan Uribe. 

Valbuena has a reputation as being more of an offensive player, but he has dedicated himself the past few seasons in improving his defense.  The fruits of his labor started to show last season as Seattle officials raved about his improvement on defense.  He has now pushed himself up to a fringe above-average defensive second baseman that makes all the routine plays while displaying very good range, a strong arm, and the ability to make consistent, accurate throws.  He works well around the bag showing good footwork and is mechanically sound turning the double play especially with his quick pivot.  With his offensive and defensive skills, he should end up at worst as an average big league second baseman. 

That said, Valbuena lacks really any versatility to play another position - much in the same vein as Josh Barfield - so at this point the only way he will make a roster is as a starter at second base and not as a bench option unless he is in some sort of platoon with another player at the position.  There is also some concern about his body because of his very stocky build which could give him some problems with his weight down the road, but so far this has not been an issue for him. 

Outlook:  Valbuena's acquisition fills a huge void in the middle infield in the upper levels of the Indians minor league system.  At the moment, after the acquisition of Mark DeRosa to fill out the big league infield, the plan for Valbuena is to open the season as the everyday second baseman in Triple-A Columbus.  He still needs to be polished off, and has some development and upside left, but he provides the Indians good middle infield depth for this season and beyond and could potentially become the starting second baseman by the middle of the 2009 season. 

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr 

Luis Valbuena MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page 

Luis Valbuena Baseball-Reference page 

Luis Valbuena MinorLeagueSplits.com page

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