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Road To Arlington: Rangers Minor League Report (5/9)

This kid can play. He’s arguably the best defensive player in the Rangers system. He’s definitely the fastest player in the system and the best, most efficient baserunner. And now he can hit…from both sides. With a little pop that seems to have come out of nowhere over the past couple of years.

People inside the organization constantly refer to him as “a great kid.” You will also hear the word “sensitive” used, but he’s extremely hard working and very well liked: a great teammate. He’s overcome a lot of personal tragedy in his young life, and there are some scars, but almost without exception (there was a little bout of self-doubt this spring), he’s used it to drive him towards his ultimate goal. He’s a family man, the father of a young son. He’s hungry. He has every reason to fight like hell to make it and among those familiar with him, you won’t find anyone who isn’t a believer.

It’s only been a week, but his transition to Triple-A ball has been as seamless as anyone could have imagined and he turned 22 last September.

It’s been a long hard road from Bani, Domincan Republic to Oklahoma City. And at some point, his road is going to lead to the major leagues, but it’s hard to imagine how it will ever lead to Arlington for Jose Vallejo.

Triple-A: @ Round Rock 12, Oklahoma City 10

The RedHawks got six multi-hit performances from the lineup that was good enough to get RHP Doug Mathis (4.37 ERA) off the hook in spite of surrendered eight runs on 11 hits in four-plus innings, but normally reliable reliever RHP Beau Vaughan (2-1; 2.60) was pounded for four more runs in the fifth as the Express seized a lead that Oklahoma City could not overcome.

SS Joaquin Arias (.245 / .267 / .296) went 3-for-3 with a two-run homer, two thefts and a walk and CF Julio Borbon went 3-for-6 from the top of the OKC order. LF Brandon Boggs (.271 / .421 / .341) went 2-for-4 with his first homer of the year and, of course, a walk (he’s second in the PCL with 21 freebies). C Max Ramirez (.237 / .280 / .342) doubled twice and walked in five trips and 2B Jose Vallejo (.368 / .429 / .474) went 3-for-5 with a triple to drive in three runs.

Five years ago, Vallejo was just a lightning quick little kid with remarkable hands and an uncanny knack to make plays. He could run, but couldn’t get on base enough to amount to much more than a curiosity. The Rangers had decided that they wanted him to learn to switch hit. He was a project more than a prospect. Even in the then-depleted Rangers farm system, he resided on the outer periphery of the prospect radar.

But Vallejo was compelling enough that I put him on my radar going into the 2005 season and he moved forward. In 203 AZL at-bats that year, Vallejo went .291 / .364 / .360, finishing third in the league with 59 base hits and fourth with 18 stolen bases. His splits were reasonably even, going .271 / .368 / .417 against southpaws and .297 / .363 / .342 against righties and he finished up strong, going .306 / .393 / .353 in 85 August at-bats and went .389 over his last 36 at-bats of the season. Then in his first year of full-season ball back in 2006, he was overwhelmed in the Midwest League (.234 / .289 / .284). Vallejo was just too weak and pitchers were able to knock the bat out of his hands more often than not.

Just before spring training in 2007, Vallejo lost both of his parents in a car accident. When I first saw him in Surprise that March, he was moving into the cage for a round of BP. On about the third pitch, he chopped one off the plate that bounced back up and bloodied his mouth. It wasn’t just a minor fat lip either. Blood was gushing out of his mouth. Vallejo shook it off, wiped away the blood as best he could and stood in to finish the round.

That may not seem like such a big deal. Maybe you had to be there to appreciate it and put it context, but
for some reason that moment stuck in my head and what had been a sort of vague fascination with Vallejo became more of a conviction that he was going to make it somehow. He repeated the MWL and improved in 2007 (.269 / .326 / .327), but still didn’t garner any significant attention as a prospect.

Then, in 2008 Vallejo showed up in Surprise and I immediately noted that he “doesn’t look like a little boy anymore.” He had filled out and muscled up quite a bit and was swinging the bat with far more authority from both sides of the plate than he ever had before. It didn’t come as much of a surprise to me when he broke out with a .333 / .379 / .500 line through his first month at Advanced-A Bakersfield and finished up .287 / .349 / .432 through three months before earning his promotion to Frisco where he hit .297 / .341 / .394 including a .325 / .359 / .398 August. He also established himself as a legitimate switch-hitter with decent splits. In fact, he was actually better from his unnatural left side against righties.

Finally, there’s the running. After succeeding on 47 of 50 stolen base attempts in 2007, Vallejo went 42-for-46 in 2008. This year, he’s nabbed seven bags while being caught once.

Vallejo was added to the Rangers’ 40-man roster last winter and was ranked the 18th best prospect in baseball’s best farm system by Baseball America. There was talk about Vallejo seeing time at short this year and he’s certainly got the range and the arm to play the position. He saw time not only at second and short in spring training this year, but even got in a few innings in center field near the end of camp. Ultimately, he wasn’t real comfortable away from second base and the plan to rotate him around the keystone was scrapped.

Vallejo is going to be a pretty good big league 2B for somebody, but unless something terrible happens, it won’t be in Texas. With the Rangers in first place and things looking more and more likely that they’ll be in the thick of things come late July, you can expect to hear Vallejo’s name come up in trade rumors over and over again.

Double-A: San Antonio 8 @ Frisco 4

In his return to the Texas League after a two-start cameo at OKC, RHP Jared Hyatt (0-1; 5.93) gave up six runs on eight hits, a balk and a plunk in 4.2 innings. He neither walked nor fanned anybody.

1B Justin Smoak (.354 / .463 / .566) belted a three-run bomb, his fifth of the year, and SS Marcus Lemon (.302 / .362 / .419) emerged from a 1-for-13 slump to go 2-for-3 with a base on balls to drive in one.

Advanced-A: @ Bakersfield 9, Visalia 2

The Blaze got another sturdy outing from LHP Mike Kirkman (3-1; 2.91) who held the Rawhide to two runs while scattering six hits and three walks over six innings to get the win.

1B Mitch Moreland (.364 / .433 / .655) paced a Blaze lineup that saw six hitters deliver multi-hit performances, going 4-for-4 with three doubles, driving in just one. The Cal League’s leading hitter, LF Tim Smith (.405 / .478 / .570) went 3-for-5 to drive in a pair and CF Engel Beltre (.229 / .270 / .314) — hitting in the two hole for the first time this season — went 2-for-4 with a double.

Class-A: Hickory 3 @ Lake County 2 (Game 1)

RHP Wilmer Font (1.89 ERA) gave up two runs on two hits and three walks in 3.1 innings before giving way to Mark Hamburger (1-1; 1.64) who blanked the Captains over the next 2.2 innings to earn the victory. Enigmatic Matt Nevarez (2.16) punched out two in a perfect seventh to earn his fourth save of the year.

C Leonel “Macumba” De Los Santos (.233 / .265 / .400) went 2-for-3 with a double to drive in a pair and gunned down one of two baserunners who tried him.

Class-A: Hickory 6 @ Lake County 2 (Game 2)

Another pitching prospect? It’s beginning to look like 21 year old LHP Yoon-Hee Nam (3-1; 1.10) has something. Making his first start of the year, the South Korean gave up one hit — a solo shot — and fanned five in five innings. The Sally League is hitting just .109 against Nam.

3B Erik Morrison (.375 / .385 / .750) homered in a 3-for-3 outing to drive in a pair.