One key component to the Valencia rebuild after shedding roughly $40M worth of salary from last year's opening day roster was to bring up younger talent from the farm system.
All-in-all there are 11 rookies on the 27-player roster. Six of those rookies are starting in the everyday lineup, one of them is a platoon starter and yet another one is the closer.
Five of those rookies in the everday lineup have double digit home runs after 109 games with Santiago Dieguez leading the way with 22 dingers. The Valencia lineup overall is currently tied for third in homers with 141.
The Valencia offense is in the middle of the pack in runs scored (19th) and in batting average (18th). On the minus side of things, Valencia is in the business of hauling pianos around the basepaths with only 45 stolen bases to date. That is a far cry from Calgary's 226 swipes but not as miniscule as Chicago's 15. The Valencia defense still needs quite a bit of work as it currently ranks 31st in defensive efficiency which partially accounts for being dead last in ERA.
Below is a list of the rookies and how they came about to be in the Valencia organization.
Bernd Helwich C Starter 22 - Drafted in 2061
Jorge Garcia 3B Starter 23 Acquired from Charlotte in 2062 Firesale
Bill Nesbitt LF Starter 23 Drafted in 2061
Bradley Russel C 23 Drafted in 2061
Santiago Dieguez CF Starter 21 Drafted in 2062
Gabriel Bacaloglu 1B Starter 24 Drafted in 2059
Ed Bush RF Starter 22 Drafted in 2061
Ismael Ramirez DH Platoon Starter 23 Drafted in 2060
Jagara Ranjani CF 20 Claimed off waivers from Austin in 2063
Dave Furman CL 23 Acquired from Hawaii in off-season prior to 2062
Pedro Vasquez MR 25 Rule 5 pick from Nashville this past off-season.
While this group does not have pursuit of a Monty written all over them at this point, one wonders whether the Valencia front office will try for a playoff run again this off-season or let things perculate in 2064 since there are potentially seven more rookies figured to be in the mix next season.