Vince Valiant was born on 11/22/1975 in Long Island (Islip, NY). Born to a working class family of amateur athletes and huge sports fans, Valiant was a Brooklyn Bombers fan by birth. He grew to root for them as they won the 1986 World Series. Valiant was hooked. He became a huge sports star on Long Island, and eventually was able to sign a professional contract with the Atlantic City Gamblers organization (previously the Brooklyn Bombers) prior to the 1995 MBBA season.
Initial reports on his future as a MBBA prospect were high. Many teams thought he had an incredible knack for hitting with power, while being a well above average defensive outfielder. IN 1995, he was ranked as the #31 prospect in the MBBA. As a 19 year old debuting in AAA ball (Brooklyn), he hit 21 homers and drive in 85 while batting .270. Then Gamblers GM Jon Lyons had many kind words to say about Valiant.
1996 was a repeat at Brooklyn. He moved up to the #27 prospect in the MBBA, but regressed a bit on the field, batting .247 with 20 HR and 72 RBI.
In the offseason, he was dealt with Juan Quintero to the Des Moines Kernels in exchange for Shamus Perfetto. Only now is Valiant admitting how much the trade affected him. "My confidence just got shot," Valiant explained. "I was with the club closest to my home on the Island, I was coming off a subpar season, and they just traded me. After being destroyed, I decided to let it out on the ball..." The Kernels were excited to get him, but thought he was at least a season away.
And so in 1997, the Des Moines Kernels sent Valiant to AAA again, where he was named the #28 prospect in the game. He exploded, hitting .306 with 40 HR, 126 RBI. The incredible talent that many prognosticators predicted was finally here. It looked like Valiant would soon be a Kernel. However, Kernels GM Mike Lynch had different plans.
On 1/1/1998, the Kernels sent Valiant to New Orleans for C Matias Ferrero. The press conference went on and on about Ferrero, but mentioned nothing of the departed Valiant.
Once again crushed, Valiant however tried to concentrate on making his third organization into a long term home. The Crawdads needed a spark. Valiant, now the #23 prospect, would give them a bit of one. Splitting time between AAA and the majors, Valiant did hit 15 HR, 48 RBI, with a .278 average on the major league level. Combined with his AAA stats, he again showed power production with a combined 35 HR and 101 RBI.
In 1999, now 23 years old, Valiant was named the #49 prospect in the game. It was clear that many scouts thought that his prodigious power would never overcome a lack of contact hitting ability. And the warts would show, as he had one of the worst 134 major league at bats ever, batting ..127 with 3 HR (he did bat .245 with 18 homers in AAA).
And from 2000-2002, he would no longer appear on prospect lists, and would bounce back and forth between AAA Habana and MBBA New Orleans, continuing to show great production on the AAA level but not much at the big league level.
Enter the Las Vegas Hustlers. GM Matt Rectenwald has been a fan of Valiant since his entry into the league (see the Lyons post above). And now, needed a power bat and reserve outfielder with good defense, he decided to get all of that in one.
"Vince is still only 26 years old," Rectenwald said. "If he could hit .240, he's a valuable everyday player. Here's a guy who can play plus defense and slug .450 for you, he can win some ballgames. Truth is, we're as excited to get Valiant as any of the other stars we've picked up lately. It's a low risk gamble. Scouts said his contact went from 11 to 9 on a 20 point scale. If he goes back to 10 or 11, he's a starter."
From Valiant's perspective, he's keeping the dream alive. "I'll keep working hard, but at least now I've got a shot to win a championship. If it works out for me down the road, fantastic!"
