Danny Valencia has nothing to lose

JUPITER, Fla. — This year is different for Danny Valencia. The third baseman no longer is wondering when he'll get his big-league break, and he's not clearing his Hammond Stadium locker of baby food and diapers as he had to last spring after some harmless rookie hazing.

Yet Valencia doesn't feel far removed from those days. He might have placed third in rookie of the year voting last season, but as for 2011, Valencia said, "I'm still the rookie."

Take a spring training game earlier this month in Bradenton. Valencia doubled in each of his first two at-bats, and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire gave the third baseman the option to be done for the day or to hit once more. Valencia opted for one more turn at the plate, finishing his day with an ugly strikeout and drawing the comical ire of the manager.

"He wanted one more, and then he looked like (expletive)," Gardenhire quipped while Valencia sat in the clubhouse eating his postgame meal. "I told him, 'That's why I'm the manager — I take you out after two, you have two good at-bats, you could have walked away good.' Now he's in there eating chicken thinking about his last at-bat."

So Gardenhire keeps Valencia on his toes, and Valencia, with his boisterous personality and wellestablished confidence, offers up plenty of chances for entertainment. All of that remains the same. What's different this year is Valencia's status with the team.

Valencia batted .311 with seven homers and 40 runs batted in in 85 games for the Twins last season. He came into spring training with the third-base job all his own, offering stability at a position that for so many years in this organization has been uncertain.

But will the confident 26-year-old try too hard to outdo his 2010 output? Will he feel the pressure to match his rookie results and stumble into a sophomore slump? Does any of that worry Gardenhire?

"Not in the least, to tell you the truth," Gardenhire said. "Danny likes Danny. That's Matt Tolbert's line — Danny likes Danny. I kind of think that, too. I don't think he worries about too awful much. I think he likes to play baseball, he gets out there and I don't think you have to really worry about it with him. That's pretty entertaining to me. That's why I've said it's his job, just take it and run with it."

Valencia contends he's still trying to win his position, but perhaps that's just his way of "walking the line," something he said he'll do all of this season. But there is no doubt that it's his, and Gardenhire has been happy with how Valencia has handled that responsibility during camp.

When Valencia came up last June, the Twins worked with him on two things specifically — helping him find the power in his swing after he failed to homer in 185 minor league at-bats before his call-up and coming to the ball on defense rather than sitting back and letting the ball come to him.

The Twins have had to continue to work on Valencia's tendency to stay back on balls, but even that seems a small issue to Gardenhire, who said his defense with the Twins last season was much better than what the team saw from him during spring training earlier in the year.

And though he needs a defensive reminder every now and then, Valencia seems to remember quite well his 2010 hitting lessons. Despite not yet hitting his first Grapefruit League home run, he has been one of the most impressive players to watch during batting practice and right away started hitting the ball hard in games.

In nine spring games, Valencia is batting .381 (8 for 21) with four doubles, three RBIs and a .458 on-base percentage.

"He's popping the ball," Gardenhire said. "He's a force when he walks to the plate nowadays. He gets the barrel out there, he gets in good hitting counts. He's not afraid, if you give a 3-0 green light, he'll be up there ripping. And you know he has some courage, so that's a good thing."

For his part, Valencia said he's trying not to think about the possibility of a sophomore slump, choosing instead to focus on winning a job that's already his.

"I set high goals for myself. I have high expectations for myself, so I don't think there's anybody putting any more pressure on me than I am doing myself," he said. "If I can just build off last year and build off the routine that we established, I think I'll be all right."



(twincities.com)