Adopted: Jordanny Valdespin

[Edgy MD]

He's a kid who makes trouble.

Mets sign him as 17-year-old secondbaseman out of La Ciudad de Shortstops in 2007, and he puts up pedestrian numbers in the Dominican Summer League. A .707 OPS.

He heads to rookie ball with the Gulf Coast Mets and again is neither a sensation nor a disappointment. A .760 OPS.

You figure that he's due for short-season ball in Brooklyn or Kingsport, but no, the Mets have enough faith to send him to Savannah. Does he respond? Yes he does! He absolutely pounds the ball in April, to the tune of .385 / .406 / .615 // 1.021.

Big times coming, then the punk pulls an Alhaji and gets suspended for "conduct detrimental to his team." Fortunately, it only lasted a week, but it seems Met prospects tend to get suspended in Savannah.

I'm still looking to find out what happened there, but he cooled off for two weeks upon his return before smoking it again the last week (five doubles).

[Edgy MD]

Best I could find was "violation of team conduct and rules" supposedly not following Uncle Fonzie's orders.

Edited June 1, 2009 by Guest

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

He was caught dancing to "Anyway You Want It" on the local golf course.

[Edgy MD]

Valdespin has snuck into a couple of spring training games and has just gotten a hit and a stolen base. Showed some range earlier, too. Wearing 87.

[Edgy MD]

Jordanny still looking to get off the DL and fill the secondbase slot abandoned by Reese Havens. Problem is that fill-in secondbaseman Joshua Satin won't cool off.

[Edgy MD]

Nobody takes you seriously when your name looks like two other names impacted, but it took openings elsewhere in the system for Jordanny to get some reg'lar PT this season, and he's starting to heat up, going 9-18 over four games last week --- and then going 0-12 this weekend.

Anywhich, Jordany's a solid .296 /.330 / .453 // .782 for the St. Lucies this summer, splitting time between short and second.

[Edgy MD]

Mixed review by some guy watching the AFL.

Valdespin showed great tools, but little in the way of how to play. He turned on a Jeremy Jeffress 99 MPH fastball like it wasn't even an issue and showed good range and throwing arm on several plays. But he is inconsistent from play-to-play, showing a lack of concentration. He also swings at nearly everything and has poor hitting mechanics.

[Edgy MD]

Jordany Valdespin, coming off his successful AFL campaign, was Rule V eligiible.

So said Toby Hyde, and the Mets musta been reading, because BAM! they added him to the 40-man roster.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Jordany Valdespin, coming off his successful AFL campaign, was Rule V eligiible. So said Toby Hyde, and the Mets musta been reading, because BAM! they added him to the 40-man roster.

This post could use an update. Valdespin played around with the big club early on this spring and looked good doing it. He's obviously not ready, but the early success will likely prompt some people, beat writers, etc, to mention him a lot.

There are things he needs to work on in the minors, patience at the plate, properly tossing his manager baseballs to hit..

[Edgy MD]

Pants.

[Edgy MD]

Jordany's solid if unspec in Bingo, working at .284 / .325 / .450 // .774 with 7 swipes and two CS's. He's got two trips and two homers to help him get that sweet little ISOP. On May 9, he came up just a single short of the cycle. He had been ripped by Wally Backman the previous week for lack of hustle so take this as campaign fodder, Backman fans.

[Edgy MD]

Jordany bats lefty, doesn't see a whole lot of lefthanded pitching, and doesn't do much with it when he do.

vs Left: .167 / .231 / .292 // .522. 26 PA.
vs Right .293 / .344 / .440 // .783. 124 PA

[MFS62]

He's going to have to improve his fielding. Last time I checked a box score for one of his games, I noticed that he already has 12 errors this year.
Later

[Edgy MD]

Good for a .915 fielding percentage.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I could've sworn I'd read something recently about an injury.

[Edgy MD]

Finding the power stroke, JDV has two homers in the last four games.

He's still at 12 errors, so maybe he's settled down. Righthanded hitters are getting just as much help on the other side of the diamond, where thirdbaseman Eric Campbell has 13.

[Guest themetfairy]

Jordany in Trenton last night -

[Frayed Knot]

Valdespin makes BA's 'Prospect Watch' (#7) for the week

Why He's Here: .423/.464/.846 (11-for-26), 3 HR, 2 2B, 6 R, 6 RBIs, 2 BB, 3 SO, 4-for-4 SB
The Scoop: Scouts never questioned Valdespin's raw tools, but they cautioned that the young middle infielder's game required a lot of refinement. Playing shortstop every day at Double-A may have afforded Valdespin that extra incentive he needed to mature. He's swiped 16 bases in 19 tries on the year, and in June he's turned on the power (five homers, .733 slugging) and tuned down the strikeouts (11 percent of at-bats). His performance may prove to be a statistical blip, but the Mets have to be happy with what they've seen lately.

[Edgy MD]

That's for me me to report.

Valdespin makes BA's 'Prospect Watch' (#7) for the week

Why He's Here: .423/.464/.846 (11-for-26), 3 HR, 2 2B, 6 R, 6 RBIs, 2 BB, 3 SO, 4-for-4 SB
The Scoop: Scouts never questioned Valdespin's raw tools, but they cautioned that the young middle infielder's game required a lot of refinement. Playing shortstop every day at Double-A may have afforded Valdespin that extra incentive he needed to mature. He's swiped 16 bases in 19 tries on the year, and in June he's turned on the power (five homers, .733 slugging) and tuned down the strikeouts (11 percent of at-bats). His performance may prove to be a statistical blip, but the Mets have to be happy with what they've seen lately.

[Edgy MD]

The power has been dropping off, but he's really been getting his hits in (if almost all of them are singles), and he sits at .283 / .333 / .450 // .784, and that looks just find for a AA middleinfielder. At 23, he's certainly mature enough to move up (if still unrefined), but Jonathan Malo got the last callup instead, with the Buffs looking for an outfielder.

Amazin' Avenue has some opinions, also:

Finally, there's the hot name right now, Jordany Valdespin. Valdespin is interesting. He's been quite good this season for Binghamton, especially lately. Plagued by inconsistency and rawness coming into 2011, this year Valdespin is exhibiting the excellent mix of speed, power and all-around athleticism that has always made scouts drool. A .362/.413/.667 June has people excited as the toolsy MI is finally starting to harness all of his physical ability and a .313 BABIP means this may be for real. The problem is that aforementioned rawness, in his game and in his temperament. He's been suspended by the org. more than once for inappropriate behavior marked by a foul temper. At the dish, his patience has improved but he's still striking out 3-4 times more than he's walking. And in the field, he betrays his athleticism with out-of-control play, marked by 16 errors in 2011. If he can continue to harness his athleticism he could be Jose Reyes-lite, the kind of player that affects every aspect of a game. If not, he may be the next Angel Berroa.

[Edgy MD]

JV has been visitng the .300 Club on recent trips to town, and is now slashing in at .302 / .347 / .469 // .816.

He won't be ignored. He's been caught stealing at inopportune times of late. Not that there are any oppotune times, but he'll need to curb his enthusiasm a bit.

Valdespin Shows Great Improvement This SeasonBy WBNG News July 2, 2011 Updated Jul 2, 2011 at 11:08 PM EDT Binghamton, NY (WBNG Binghamton) He may not have had the game winning hit, but one of the keys to Friday night's victory was second baseman Jordany Valdespin. Valdespin went 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI that put the Mets ahead in the 5th inning. Manager Wally Backman says Valdespin, one of the team's 3 all-stars, has come a long way since the beginning of the season. "He's showed his teammates a lot more respect which...he's had a few issues with players in the past and this year, he's been good. I think it's showed in the way he's played the game. He's done a great job for us. He's already stolen more bases than he's stolen anywhere else," says Backman. Valdespin is set to appear in his first all-star game. He's batting .283 with 8 home runs in 68 games this season and has already stolen 22 bases. Valdespin is one of 3 B-Mets on the Mets 40 man roster and is ranked as the 25th best prospect in the Mets sytem by Baseball America.

Seems to be more than a little evidence in this thread suggesting that my adoptee is a punk.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Wally Backman wrote: "He's showed his teammates a lot more respect which...he's had a few issues with players in the past

Yeah... I wonder what's up with that?

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, every time he comes over, it sort of goes like:

> Jordany, it's nice to have you back. You know, we're just so pr...

> Here's my laundry, bitch.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

My Jeurys used to have similar problems. Wild boy... all OVER the place. You know what helps? A chore list, and consistent discipline. (Also, a repeatable delivery.)

Then again, with monthly OPS trends like these...

April � .604 (19 games)
May � .768 (25 games)
June � .914 (26 games)
July � 1.333 (four games)

... maybe you should be giving me advice.

[G-Fafif]

In a conference call with bloggers last week, Paul DePodesta responded to an apparently "great question" about selling and teaching versatility to young players by citing Mr. Valdespin.

Paul DePodesta: That's a great question, and it's something we talk an awful lot about in player development. The reality is a lot of players, maybe most players, when they first get to the big leagues are in a role that they are unaccustomed to, or at least largely unaccustomed to. They get there as a bench player, they get there as a utility player, maybe they get there as a long guy, even though they've been a starting pitcher their entire career. So one of the things we need to try to do in our player development system is to prepare guys for that. It makes them more attractive and more versatile for us, because they have a better chance of actually helping us at the major league level but also putting them in a position so that it's not the first time they've ever had to deal with playing different spots or experiencing different things. Take Jordany Valdespin for instance: he played primarily second base and this year he's playing almost exclusively shortstop. I think that's largely because most middle infielders, when they first get to the big leagues, they have to be able to play some shortstop. They have to be able to be a utility guy first, and it certainly gives them a lot of value to a club and gives them a much better chance of breaking with a team if they can go and play shortstop for 15 days at a time. Fortunately, Valdespin's played extremely well, and if he continues to do so may prove himself able to be an everyday shortstop. Those are things we try to explore. In Triple-A, we try to give guys days where, even if they're everyday players, we try to give them days where they're just going to pinch hit, so they understand what that's like and so they can create some sort of routine around those types of days. Because in many cases when they first get to the big leagues, that's the role they're going to be asked to play, to come off the bench in the seventh inning and face a reliever for one at-bat, usually in a spot with a guy on base or something like that. So, we're doing our best to try and expose those guys to those situations, in hopes that they'll be better prepared for them when they actually get there.

Whole transcript, "great questions" and otherwise, available via Amazin' Avenue.

[MFS62]

As the Summer heats up, so does he:
May - .281/.330/.438 ~ .768
June - .330/.374/.540 ~ .914
July - .409/.435/.636 ~ 1.071

Later

[Edgy MD]

3-5, 2B, 2 R yestidday.

The Bees are looking to win their third straight series and have Robert Carson taking the hill for them, but, seriously, some of youse adopt Satin and Dykstra. Those are the bats carrying this team.

[Edgy MD]

Big day for Jordanny Valespin, first getting big love from Paul DePodesta, and then getting a promo to Buffalo, to go antagonize an older set of players.

Go with my love, young JV.

[MFS62]

Two hits, including a double, for your kid. He also had two errors. I chalk it up to the jitters. (One was listed as a missed catch)

Later

[Edgy MD]

On the tarmac, baby. Wings are iced and he's ready to fly. Just waiting for the green light.