# Tigers’ Valencia makes an unforgettable MLB debut: ‘Pure joy’
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The tears came easily, but only because the journey to reach this moment was so difficult.
“I waited so many years for this,” explained Eduardo Valencia, as his eyes welled up in the Tigers’ clubhouse after a night he’ll never forget. “And I’m grateful.”
Less than 24 hours earlier, he’d gotten the call he’d been waiting on for the better part of a decade, if not his entire life. And late Thursday night, in between pauses to choke back the overflowing emotions, you could hear just how much went into that powerful swing Valencia took when he stepped into the batter’s box for the first time as a major-league ballplayer.
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Baseball is pretty cool, isn’t it?,” manager AJ Hinch said after his surging Tigers finished off a sweep of the Athletics, 4-1, at Comerica Park. “Yeah, every part of that experience was incredible and memorable and impactful. And who doesn’t love that reaction running around the bases? It’s just pure joy, pure accomplishment. First day, first at-bat … and a moment he’ll remember forever.”
Moments like this are what make baseball so special, of course. But they simply don’t happen very often. Valencia became only the 10th player in franchise history to hit a home run in his first major-league at-bat, and the first since Akil Baddoo did it on Opening Day in Detroit in 2021.
And after 439 minor-league games and 1,766 plate appearances over eight seasons, this moment was a long time coming for the 26-year-old Venezuelan catcher.
…Ten years ago, Valencia says, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get a shot to sign with a MLB team out of the talent-rich Venezuelan ballfields. Five years ago, he figured his baseball career might be over, still toiling away in the Florida rookie league
…He earned a promotion from Double-A Erie to Triple-A Toledo with his bat last summer, hitting .311 with 24 home runs and a .941 OPS, and was added to the 40-man roster this past winter. The Tigers were encouraged by what they saw from Valencia in Lakeland this spring, too, including some improved play behind the plate. But then he got off to a rough start in Toledo in April and May.
“He could have easily gotten buried this season,” Hinch said. “And he didn’t. So I’m proud of him for being tough enough to handle the early struggles and then find himself playing well right when we need him.”
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These guys always come in my office before the game when they get here, and I just remind them to keep playing,” Hinch said. “You know, play your game and not try to make this level any bigger than it already is. I mean, forever you’re reaching for the big leagues. You’re aspiring to do something great, and then you get here and you hold on to it so hard that you might lose a little bit of your natural ability.
“So I try the best I can to get them to smile and acknowledge the success just to get to that point — you’re in my office, before your major-league debut — and then go out and play.
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And then he was mobbed by his teammates in the dugout. Typically, major leaguers love to tease rookies with the silent treatment after their first big-league home run, but not on this night.
“It was such a beautiful welcome,” Valencia said. “Everybody was incredible there in the dugout. They are really good guys, really good teammates.”
And they all knew how much this meant for Valencia, who like so many other ballplayers has also been dealing with the heartache stemming from the devastating earthquakes back home in Venezuela. Many of the current Tigers go way back with Valencia. He was Keider Montero’s catcher in the Dominican Summer League in 2018. He considers Carpenter a close friend dating back to their time together in the Florida Complex League in 2019. And so on.
“Eduardo’s awesome,” Dingler said. “He’s been with the Tigers since I’ve been here. He’s a great kid. And he has come a long way from what I’ve heard and what I’ve seen. So it’s, one, a good story, but two, he deserves it.”
Valencia, who broke down during postgame media sessions on the field and in the clubhouse, said he’s treating this brief call-up not just as an opportunity, but “the best opportunity of my life.” And after getting hit by a pitch in his final at-bat of the night, Valencia, who’s now sporting a 5.000 OPS in the majors, will get his first start Friday as the DH in the series opener against Philadelphia.
“He was going to be in the lineup tomorrow even if he punched out on three straight pitches,” Hinch said. “But we’re going to get him in the mix because we believe in him. And after today, I think he’s going to believe in himself as much as he ever has.”
Series: Three games at Comerica Park, Detroit
