Valentin made his MLB debut as the starting shortstop against the Texas Rangers on July 27,1992. He had one hit in four at-bats in his debut,with his first hit coming on an RBI single to short in the bottom of the 8th inning off of the Rangers Terry Mathews. He hit his first home run on August 22,1992,off of Mike Schooler of the Seattle Mariners.
On July 8,1994,Valentin turned the 10th unassisted triple play in MLB history,in a game against the Mariners.[a] Playing shortstop in the 6th inning,Valentin caught Marc Newfield's line drive,tagged second base before Mike Blowers could return to tag up,and tagged out Keith Mitchell who had been attempting to advance to second base.[3]
His best season was 1995,when he batted .298 with 27 home runs,37 doubles,20 stolen bases and 81 walks. Valentin finished ninth in the American LeagueMVP voting,and helped lead the Red Sox to its first division title since 1990. Valentin had a .971 fielding percentage in his first three years as a shortstop for the Red Sox.
On June 6,1996,he hit for the cycle. During the 1996 season,Red Sox prospect Nomar Garciaparra battled for the spot of shortstop with Valentin,who had held the position for his entire career. Garciaparra took over the shortstop position in 1997,forcing Valentin to second base. Later that season,he shifted to third base after the regular third baseman,Tim Naehring,was injured. Valentin spent four more seasons with the Red Sox (playing only a total of 30 games over his last two years in a Red Sox uniform,the 2000 and 2001 seasons)
He signed with the New York Mets as a free agent after the 2001 season and played in 114 games for them in 2002.
Valentin is the only Major League player to have pulled off an unassisted triple play,hit for the cycle and hit three home runs in a game.[4]
Post-playing days
In January 2008,Valentin joined the Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino (the High-A minor league affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers) as hitting coach for the 2008 season.[5] Shortly after accepting this assignment,manager Dave Collins resigned for personal reasons,and Valentin was promoted to manager of the 66ers Archived 2008-02-06 at theWayback Machine . On Friday,October 31,2008,he was named manager of the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern League (AA). After one season at the helm of the Lookouts he was demoted to hitting coach for the 2010 season. In 2011,he was promoted to the coaching staff of the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes. On November 13,2012,he joined the Dodgers Major League staff as the Assistant Hitting Coach.[6] In 2016,the Dodgers reassigned him as the hitting coach for the Class-A Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League.[7]
↑ Feuer, Alan. "He's a Team Player. Just Ask His Neighbors.", The New York Times, March 28, 1999. Accessed March 15, 2011. "By all accounts, Mr. Valentin, who has an unpublished number in Holmdel and is now working out with the Red Sox in preparation for the baseball season, was a pleasure to deal with, Mrs. Flinn and others said."
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