The Guardians ranked 22nd in baseball with a .238 average in 2024, 13th in 2023 (.250) and seventh in 2022 (.254).
Valaika, 39, was drafted by the Reds in the third round in 2006 out of the University of California, Santa Barbara. He hit .324 and was named MVP of the Pioneer League in 2006 with Billings.
Valaika appeared in 79 games for the Single-A Dayton Dragons in 2007. In 2008, while with Single-A Sarasota and Double-A Chattanooga, he hit .317 and was named the Reds Minor League Player of the Year.
Valaika, who played first and second base, made his big-league debut on Aug. 24, 2010, and singled in his first at-bat. He hit .270 in 36 games over the 2010 and 2011 seasons with the Reds. He returned to the big leagues in 2013 with the Miami Marlins and saw his most extensive action in the big leagues in 2014, hitting .231 in 44 games with the Chicago Cubs.
Valaika retired in 2015 and started coaching in 2017. He spent five years in the Cubs organization before moving to the big leagues as an assistant Major League hitting coach in 2021.
The Reds fired all three of their hitting coaches — Joel McKeithan, Terry Bradshaw and Tim LaMont, who were on manager David Bell’s staff — after the 2024 season. McKeithan spent two seasons as the primary hitting coach. He replaced Alan Zinter, who was fired after the 2022 season.
Zinter replaced Turner Ward, who spent one season in Cincinnati. Ward also spent one season, Bell’s first in 2019, with the Reds.
The last Reds hitting coach to have an extended stay in Cincinnati was Don Long (2014-18).
Credit: Contributed photo
Credit: Contributed photo
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