Born: (1984-09-19) September 19, 1984 (age 39) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 3, 2010, for the Minnesota Twins
Last MLB appearance
August 8, 2018, for the Baltimore Orioles
MLB statistics
Batting average
.268
Home runs
96
Runs batted in
397
Teams
Minnesota Twins (2010–2012)
Boston Red Sox (2012)
Baltimore Orioles (2013)
Kansas City Royals (2014)
Toronto Blue Jays (2014–2015)
Oakland Athletics (2015–2016)
Seattle Mariners (2017)
Baltimore Orioles (2018)
Daniel Paul Valencia (דני ולנסיה; born September 19, 1984) is an American-Israeli professional baseball player who currently plays for the Israel national baseball team. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, and Seattle Mariners.
In high school, Valencia was all-county three times and all-state twice. At the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, he was Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, second-team all-conference, and on his all-regional team. He was drafted while he was a junior at the University of Miami by the Twins in the 19th round of the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft, the 576th player overall. In the minors, Valencia was an All-Star in the Appalachian League (2006), the Midwest League (2007), and the Florida State League (2008). He entered the 2010 season ranked as the sixth-best prospect of the Twins by Baseball America.
Valencia made his major league debut with the Twins in June 2010. He was named the third baseman on Baseball America's 2010 All-Rookie Team, and on the 2010 Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team. In 2011, he led the Twins in RBIs, and led all major league third basemen in assists. In 2013, he batted .371 vs. left-handed pitching, leading the American League, and ranked third in slugging percentage at .639 (minimum 100 plate appearances). In January 2017 Valencia was confirmed to be on the roster for Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic; however, when the final roster was released, he was not included.[1][2][3] Over the course of his career through 2018, he batted .312/.370/.494 against left-handed pitchers. Through the 2018 season, his 96 home runs placed him 10th on the career all-time list of Jewish major leaguers (directly behind Mike Epstein, and ahead of Joc Pederson), as did his 397 RBIs (tied with Harry Danning, and behind Brad Ausmus).[4]
In September 2019, Valencia obtained Israeli citizenship and joined Team Israel. He played for Team Israel at the 2019 European Baseball Championship. He also played for the team at the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament in Italy in September 2019, which Israel won to qualify to play baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He played first base for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the summer of 2021, and tied for the lead at the Olympics with three home runs. He played for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
^Heller, Aron (January 11, 2017). "Israel taps Jewish major-leaguers for World Baseball Classic". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on October 2, 2019 – via thestar.com.
^Kutler, Hillel (January 11, 2017). "For these pro-baseball players, visiting Israel is like coming home". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on October 15, 2019.
^Adler, David (February 8, 2017). "Israel brings MLB experience to 1st WBC main draw". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on August 29, 2017.
^"All-time Jewish Batting Leaders Through 2018". Jewish Baseball News. Archived from the original on April 11, 2018.
"Michael Cuddyer out 4 games; DannyValencia up". The Star Tribune. Retrieved July 4, 2010.[permanent dead link] "DannyValencia Stats, Video Highlights, Photos...
Weaver. On August 22, 2011, Wendelstedt ejected Twins third baseman DannyValencia for disputing balls and strikes. Gardenhire came out to argue and his...
Tops Danny Thomas (disambiguation), several people Danny Trejo (born 1944), American actor DannyValencia (born 1984), American baseball player Danny Vukovic...
Garrett Stubbs, and American-Israelis catcher Ryan Lavarnway, infielder DannyValencia, and infielder Ty Kelly, along with prospects Matt Mervis (who in 2022...
Fielder and Tony Gwynn Jr., son of Tony Gwynn. Future major leaguer DannyValencia played for the 2007 team. Another noted major leaguer, Jim Morris of...
backup first baseman, as the Mariners already had Yonder Alonso and DannyValencia covering first base duties. In MLB during 2017, Vogelbach slashed .214/...
months their drummer planned to leave Name Taken; he was replaced by DannyValencia of Downey, CA. Now with Name Taken's line-up in full force, the band...
history to hit a grand slam for his first career home run, joining DannyValencia. Lewis appeared in 12 games for Minnesota, batting .300/.317/.550 with...
residence in Boca Raton Jeff Tuel, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback DannyValencia (born 1984), Major League and Team Israel baseball player Alan Veingrad...
Renato Núñez 29 Jace Peterson 3 Luis Sardiñas 6 Jonathan Schoop 2 DannyValencia 28 Breyvic Valera 12 Engelb Vielma 34,2 Jonathan Villar 12 Steve Wilkerson...
arbitration with DannyValencia and Josh Donaldson, the first two cases for the Blue Jays since the 1997 season. On February 5, Valencia won his arbitration...
with Erik Kratz, was traded to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for DannyValencia. He was recalled from the Omaha Storm Chasers on 27 August to make a...
years under manager Ron Gardenhire. New regular players included rookie DannyValencia at third base, designated hitter Jim Thome, closer Matt Capps, infielder...
free agent Larry Thomas, former MLB pitcher for the Chicago White Sox DannyValencia, American-Israeli current MLB player for the Baltimore Orioles Elih...
inserted by manager Bob Melvin as the team's third baseman, supplanting DannyValencia. He recorded his first major league hit, a 3-run home run, on July 16...
Dinkelman, Jeff Manship, Wilson Ramos, Anthony Slama, Rene Tosoni†, DannyValencia 2009 – David Bromberg, Chris Cates, Carlos Gutierrez††, Steven Hirschfeld...
Oakland Athletics on April 20, 2016, Hicks made a throw that nabbed DannyValencia at home plate for an out. The throw was recorded at 105.5 miles per...
A's". The Modesto Bee. June 4, 2016. Hickey, John (May 31, 2016). "DannyValencia keeps up hot hitting to lead A's past Twins 7-4". East Bay Times. Archived...
US national taekwondo team, 1993 and 1994 NCTA bantamweight champion DannyValencia – professional baseball player Andrew Wantz – professional baseball...
1983*, 1985*, 1986*, 1987* (*) NCAA Division III In his freshman year, DannyValencia played third base and was the 2004 Southern Conference Freshman of the...
infielder DannyValencia". Kansas City Star. Retrieved July 29, 2014. Chastain, Bill (December 18, 2013). "O's acquire Lough from Royals for Valencia". MLB...
the month of June. He became the Twins' everyday third baseman after DannyValencia was demoted to Triple-A Rochester in early May. Plouffe hit a career-high...
Global Information