Breyvic Valera, Part of Machado Deal, Has Mixed Results in O’s Debut

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Breyvic Valera, one of the “Machado Five”, had mixed results in his Orioles debut at Yankee Stadium. The Orioles did, however, win the game 7-5.

It seems like a long time ago but the Manny Machado trade has turned out great for the Baltimore Orioles, at least so far. They’re actually playing good baseball, their direction is crystal clear now, and they have a bunch of new guys to develop — including the infamous ‘Machado Five’. In total, they shipped out six veterans in return for 15 players.

A quick aside here: If the O’s had so many desirable pieces, and the team is playing better now, doesn’t some blame need to go on Buck for not getting enough from his stars? Something to think about…

Anyhow, of those 15 players they got back, many have question marks, a few are top-line prospects (ie: Yusniel Diaz), and a few are actually MLB-ready bodies (ie: Jonathan Villar). You can see a full, in-depth write-up here from Ben Palmer of The Baltimore Wire. One of the MLB-ready bodies is Breyvic Valera, a guy who came over in the Machado trade and has some experience in the bigs.

On Wednesday, with Jonathan Schoop in Milwaukee, Valera made his first appearance with the Orioles at Yankee Stadium in New York City. The 26-year old started at second base and hit ninth in the batting order after spending the first 10 games of his Orioles’ career in Triple-A Norfolk. Unfortunately, he didn’t set the world on fire. Instead, he had a roller-coaster performance.

The best thing he did was an RBI single in the third inning. While it technically was an ‘infield single’, he hit it hard and earned it. More importantly, he worked the count well during his four AB’s and looks like he knows what he’s doing. He’d probably hit in the mid-.200’s over a full season. Watch below:

The worst, though, came in the field on the first ball his way. It was a hard-hit liner but it looks like the worst E4 in history because of how far it bounced. Watch below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl9orxOlehC/?hl=en&taken-by=slackiebrown

Here’s a breakdown of the highs and lows for Valera:

  • Top 2: Struck out swinging with runners on second and third.
  • Top 3: RBI infield single in between SS and 3B.
  • Bottom 4: Ugly error on sharp liner from Austin Romine.
  • Bottom 4: Part of a 6-4-3 double-play to end the inning.
  • Top 5: Ground-out to shortstop, decent contact.
  • Top 8: Lazy pop-up to shallow left field.

The Orioles knocked Sonny Gray around and won the game 7-5.

CATEGORY: MLB