DETROIT, MI — Thursday evening was an ordinary night at Comerica Park for many in attendance, but for Tigers Venezuelan rookie catcher Eduardo Valencia, it was a night he will always remember.
The 26-year-old, of Valencia, Venezuela—grinding in Detroit’s farm system for eight years since signing with the Tigers as an international free agent in 2018, to now becoming a longtime catcher in the organization—appeared out of the home dugout in the bottom of the seventh inning to pinch-hit, marking the official beginning to his Major League career.
And on the fourth pitch he saw in his MLB debut, a 2-1 94-MPH four seam fastball from A’s reliever Hogan Harris, Valencia could not have put a better swing on it, sending his first career home run, a solo shot, 425 feet with an exit velocity of 103.4-MPH.
Image Credit: L.C. Arreguin/Latino Sports
Image Credit: L.C. Arreguin/Latino Sports
Image Credit: L.C. Arreguin/Latino Sports
Image Credit: L.C. Arreguin/Latino Sports
Image Credit: L.C. Arreguin/Latino Sports
Image Credit: L.C. Arreguin/Latino Sports
Valencia became the 10th Tiger in franchise history to go yard in their first career MLB at bat with the others before him being Akil Badoo, Sergio Alcántara, Daniel Norris, Reggie Sanders, Gene Lamont, Bill Roman, Gates Brown, George Vico and Hack Miller.
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