Phenom in a Pinch: Pat Valaika emerges as one of the best bench players in MLB

Pat Valaika is hitting .394 with three home runs and 11 RBI in 36 plate appearances as a pinch hitter in 2017. It would be tempting to believe those numbers tell the whole story but the Colorado Rockies utility man has been vital to a number of key wins and has quickly emerged as one of the most reliable options off the bench in MLB.

Valaika, born to a baseball family with three brothers in the pros, is a mostly unassuming guy. He’s easy going, usually fine with the fact that in many of the instances he was a major contributor, someone else (typically Nolan Arenado or that day’s starting pitcher) is going to get more media attention and, therefore, more glory. But Valaika doesn’t play baseball for attention. He plays the game because it is in his blood. Because he loves it in his bones.

“I’m just glad when I can do something to help the team win,” he told us a few weeks ago, encapsulating his daily goal and also why he has been so valuable to the club. “You kinda live for those moments,” he says.

His entire day can build toward one swing of the bat. And he has made the most of those swings.

Valaika ranks second in MLB behind only Adam Lind of the Washington Nationals in batting average in pinch-hit situations and is actually out-slugging the big lefty, .848 to .733. He is three points behind Lind in wRC+ at 198, suggesting he is 98 percent better than the average MLB hitter when batting in the pinch. His .506 wOBA is 20 points better than second-place Lind. Depending on what stats you subscribe to, it would be easy to describe Pat Valaika as the scariest pinch-hitter in baseball.

Regularly, BSN Denver has been the only outlet to catch up with Valaika after his pinch-hitting heroics while the crowds find their ways to players you could but the “star” or “superstar” label on. Meanwhile, “Patty Barrells” — or as we prefer, “Pat Valatenight”, keeps going about getting the dirty job done and making zero fuss about the fact that he has been better for most of the season than Trevor Story who still gets the vast majority of starts at shortstop. When Valaika does fill in there, the Rockies lose a little bit on defense but gain a more consistent bat.

His .256 overall batting average may not send fans to the tattoo parlor, ready to get his No. 4 jersey permanently inscribed on their backs, but his eight home runs and .538 slugging percentage do at least send fans home happy more often than not. Story has hit 13 home runs in more than twice as many at-bats this season. But this is also not s sleight on Story who has been coming around since the All-Star break and who earned his playing time with his insane offensive rate a season ago and the leaps and bounds with which he has improved his glove work.

Fangraphs rates Valaika out as a positive player at the plate, in the field, and on the bases.

The Colorado Rockies came into the 2017 season with one clear problem area in our minds. While middle-relief has now been added to that category (pre-season we thought Eddie Butler might end up there) the bench is still a primary area of concern for Colorado. Except, of course, Valaika. Originally added to the roster because of his ability to play multiple positions and also because he is a right-handed bat in a sea of lefties, the young man from Southern California who shucks off some of his success by smiling at me and saying, “baseball is stupid sometimes,” when you know it lives inside of him like a religion, has been a Godsend.