The catcher began his journey through the minor leagues with the Dodgers, who signed him out of Venezuela in 2019. Valladares was one of a few Venezuelan catching prospects in the Dodgers' system alongside Diego Cartaya and Keibert Ruiz. Both Cartaya and Ruiz eventually left the Dodgers via trade, but Valladares remained with the Dodgers and trudged his way through L.A.'s farm system.
REV Entertainment, the sports and entertainment arm of the Texas Rangers, has purchased the Long Island Ducks, the team announced Wednesday. The Ducks, who began play in 2000, compete in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and play at Fairfield Properties Ballpark in Central Islip. The franchise is the league's all-time leader in both wins and attendance and has won four championships, most recently in 2019.
2025 marked the Quakes' final season as a Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate, as they now embark on a new era with the Los Angeles Angels. One of the final pieces of Dodgers memorabilia produced by the team was their Joe Kelly Chaquetas bobblehead. Chaquetas was the team's Copa de la DiversiĂłn identity, inspired by Kelly's famous jersey-for-jacket swap with a mariachi musician playing at Dodger Stadium.
Minor league baseball has undergone major changes over the last five years. Major League Baseball took over and reorganized the minors in 2021, cutting ties with dozens of teams that had been affiliated with big league clubs. At the time, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred cited several reasons for the decision - the need to fix older, rundown ballparks, improving training facilities for players,
Kyle Harrison's biggest issue in Triple-A has been his efficiency, as he often requires 20-25 pitches to make it through an inning, even a clean one. This time in Durham ( Rays AAA), the lefty got through three innings without much incident in 38 pitches. That's better! I'm running out of times saying "this might have been his last start in Worcester"
While all of the positive news on the farm and prospect front for the Washington Nationals has been focused on several of their top prospects, most notably Eli Willits and Jarlin Susana, they were not the only ones who made significant noise over the weekend. In fact, there could be a very real argument that the player who had the most impressive performance came from a prospect that is pretty unknown to the common fan.
This week, I attended a minor league game for the Mariners High-A affiliate, the Everett AquaSox. Interesting Red Sox connection there-when the team left the San Francisco Giants organization for the Mariners in 1995, they wanted a rebrand. Long story short, "Sox" was appended to the initial idea for the name due to its connection to classic baseball (both Red and White Sox). I only learned that last night, even though I go to a game or two every season.
On Saturday night, the comedian and host of HBO's "Last Week Tonight" saw his latest crazy creation set out into the world as the Erie Moon Mammoths made their debut in front of a record crowd of 7,070 at UPMC Park.
