Pat Valaika Fantasy Stats

Free-agent second baseman Pat Valaika agreed to a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves on Saturday. The deal will pay him $775,000 if he's on the major league roster. Valaika played in 90 games for the Baltimore Orioles last year, slashing .201/.250/.290 with five home runs, 25 RBI and 17 runs scored in 281 plate appearances. The 29-year-old spent the first four seasons of his MLB career with the Colorado Rockies before joining the Orioles for the last two years. In his six-year career, he has hit just .221/.264/.378 with 30 home runs, 92 RBI and 91 runs scored in 864 plate appearances over 373 games. Valaika will be attempting to win a spot on the Braves bench to open the regular season.

Baltimore Orioles second baseman/shortstop Pat Valaika went yard twice in Friday's 6-1 win over the Nationals, going 2-for-3 with a solo home run in the fifth inning and another solo HR in the seventh. Valaika has now hit three HR in the last two games. Despite that, he still carries a disappointing .196/.257/.298 slash line with four HR and 18 RBI. He offers very little fantasy value at this time.

Baltimore Orioles second baseman/shortstop Pat Valaika went 1-for-4 with a two-RBI single and a strikeout in Monday's 6-1 win over the Rays. He delivered a big sixth-inning hit to double the O's lead. The 28-year-old had a solid 2020 season but has failed to replicate it in 2021, slashing .187/.249/.239 with one home run and 13 RBI in 170 plate appearances. He offers virtually no fantasy value at this time.

Baltimore Orioles second baseman/shortstop Pat Valaika had a big day at the plate in Tuesday's 10-3 win over the Mets. Valaika went 2-for-4 with two doubles, three RBI, and a strikeout. The 28-year-old had a decent 2020 season but has struggled at the plate this season, slashing just .183/.227/.268 with limited playing time. He offers little fantasy value at this time.

Baltimore Orioles second baseman/shortstop Pat Valaika stayed hot at the plate in Wednesday's 6-0 win over the Mariners, going 2-for-4 with a single, a solo home run, and two strikeouts. Valaika lined a seventh-inning Yusei Kikuchi fastball over the left-field wall for his first HR of the season. The 28-year-old has started picking things up lately, hitting .368 over his last seven games. He had a solid 2020 season, so maybe this is the start of a similar performance.

The Baltimore Orioles have optioned infielder Pat Valaika to the team's alternate training site at Double-A Bowie. Valaika appeared in four games for the team over the past week and wasn't able to find much success at the plate. He went 1-for-9 with a walk, a run and two strikeouts. He had played first base, second base and left field this year. Valaika's absence from the team should open up more playing time for Rio Ruiz, Ryan McKenna and Ramon Urias.

Baltimore Orioles second baseman Pat Valaika continued to struggle in Thursday's 7-3 loss to the Red Sox, going 0-for-2 with a walk. Valaika had a surprisingly strong 2020 season with the O's, but he now just has one hit on the 2021 season and is hitting .111. Valaika has never been a fantasy-relevant player other than last season, so his slow start isn't all that surprising. However, fantasy managers will hope that he can pick things up to resemble his 2020 self.

Baltimore Orioles general manager Mike Elias said Sunday that Ramon Urias and Pat Valaika are the leading contenders to play second base now that Yolmer Sanchez has been designated for assignment. Elias said, "That does not preclude us from looking outside as well. We're more than comfortable with either of those guys.". Both players put forth strong showings in 2020. Urias slashed .360/.407/.560 in 27 plate appearances and Valaika slashed .277/.315/.475 with eight home runs in 150 plate appearances. Unfortunately, it will be difficult to say what fantasy impact each player may have until the O's plans come into clearer focus.

The Colorado Rockies have summoned infielder Pat Valaika back to the majors to replace the struggling Garrett Hampson. Valaika is still riding high off a bout of success he had in a short stint in the majors two years ago, but so far this season, he's hit .074 in his first 27 at-bats in the bigs. There's always the chance that his gaudy numbers from Triple-A Albuquerque this year (.333 batting average and a ridiculous eight home runs in just 69 at-bats) carry over to the major league level, but owners should be wary. It's also unlikely that he sees regular playing time, but with second baseman Ryan McMahon also underperforming this season, there's always a chance.

Colorado Rockies infielder Pat Valaika was called up when first baseman Daniel Murphy(finger) went to the injured list with his finger injury, and manager Bud Black talked about Valaika like he was going to see regular starts. Fortunately, that plan was short-lived. While Valaika is a solid fielder, he's absolutely dreadful at the plate, so Black's discussion of him getting starts threw Garrett Hampson owners into a tizzy. The bad news is that Hampson still hasn't been very good at the plate either, but the good news is that Valaika continues to hit like a Little Leaguer. Valaika went 0-for-2 on Sunday, stretching his current run of futility to two hits in 19 at-bats this season. Hampson may not be the answer for fantasy owners, but Valaika certainly isn't on the way to stealing his playing time.