Does anyone know who the Guardians’ best hitter in the playoffs was? Not José Ramírez, not Steven Kwan, nor Kyle Manzardo. It was George Valera. The former top prospect made such an immediate impact in the Guardians lineup,
you wouldn’t believe the adversity that he faced in the last year. On September 10th, 2024, George suffered a ruptured patellar tendon while playing in AAA Columbus. That is a tough, tough injury to come back from. With that in mind, the Guardians decided to DFA George Valera and resign him to a minor league contract.
Valera was not fully healthy yet to open the 2025 season, so he was placed on the IL and then sent on a rehab assignment to the Arizona Complex League on May 14, where he slashed .441/.487/.765 with an OPS of 1.252 in 10 games. He then made it back to Columbus on June 3rdm but was only able to play two games before being placed on the IL with left flank soreness. At this point it didn’t appear that there was any possibility that Valera would make it to Cleveland in 2025.
Valera was then sent back to the Arizona Complex League for another rehab assignment before rejoining Columbus on July 23rd. It took him a couple games to get back into a rhythm against AAA pitching, and then he exploded. In the month of August, Valera slashed .280/.365/.533 with an .898 OPS and earned himself a promotion the big leagues.
The transition from AAA to MLB has never been harder for young hitters, but that didn’t stop George Valera from showing us everything that made him Cleveland’s top prospect for years. He does two things extremely well that this organization has a huge shortage of, he hits the ball extremely hard and he does not chase out of the zone. He slashed .220/.333/.415 with a WRC+ of 113 in his 48 regular season plate appearances. He also hit a massive go ahead HR against the Tigers to help win the division. He showed more than enough in the regular season to warrant getting everyday ABs next season, and that’s before what we saw him do in the playoffs.
For a team that seems to always struggle to hit in the playoffs, what George Valera did after only a month of MLB experience can not be overstated. Down 0-1 in the series in the first inning of game 2, Valera hit a massive home run off of Tigers’ starter Casey Mize. As someone who has been following Valera since 2018, and watching him play in the minors since 2021, words cannot describe how happy it made me to see him not just hit that home run, but the excitement he showed rounding the bases, the pure joy he had after all the adversity he has faced in his career, it was truly an incredible moment. Valera would go on to slash .286/.286/.857 with an OPS of 1.143 in 3 playoff games. It was obviously a small sample size, but seeing a young guy step up in the biggest moment is extremely exciting, and not something we’re always used to as Guardians fans. I cannot wait to watch this kid next season.
