Cleveland Baseball Insider

2025 Cleveland Guardians Top 30 Prospects: No. 29 OF George Valera

Valera hit .278 with 15 home runs posting a .864 OPS vs right-handed pitching in 2024

Todd Paquette

Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
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As we prepare for a new season, there’s no better time to bring you an up-to-date look at Cleveland Guardians on SI's top 30 prospects!

Rankings are based on live and video scouting, as well as having conversations with evaluators within and outside of the organization. The ultimate goal here is to inform our readers and give you information on some of the young talent in the organization that you can follow and look forward to seeing in the future at the MLB level.

While prospect lists are fun and entertaining for fans, they are not an end-all-be-all in terms of who makes it eventually to the major leagues. Remember, Jose Ramirez was never a top-100 prospect nationally and Steven Kwan wasn't considered top-20 prospect in the Guardians organization by many outside publications.

No. 29: OF, George Valera

AGE - 24

BATS - Left

DOB - 11/13/2000

THROWS - Left

HT - 5'11"

SIGNED - 7/02/2017

WT - 195

ETA - 2025

The 24-year-old Valera was born on November 13, 2000, in Queens, New York, but moved to the Dominican Republic at age 13. Cleveland signed Valera as an international free agent on July 02, 2017, for $1.3 million.

Injuries have been a persistent hurdle during Valera's tenure in the organization. In 2018, he suffered a broken hamate bone. In 2022 and 2023, he dealt with wrist/hand issues. Last year he suffered a hamstring strain during spring training - then later in the season in September, he suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee.

November 19, 2024 George was designated for assignment removing him from the team's 40-man roster. Five days later, he re-signed with Cleveland to a minor league deal for the 2025 season with a spring training invite. He is currently still rehabbing from surgery on his right knee and has yet to appear in a spring training game.

Scouting Grades

Hit - 40

Arm - 60

Power - 65

Field - 50

Run - 50

Overall - 45

Hitting

Valera's swing has always drawn comparisons to Robinson Cano for its fluidity and bat control. That bat control, as well as his ability to track the ball deep in the hitting zone, helps produce a lot of hard contact. That same tracking ability aids in pitch recognition and his willingness to draw walks. Valera does have some swing-and-miss in his game with a career 26.1% strikeout percentage rate.

Power

Valera shows above-average raw power and outstanding bat speed, producing 110-115 mph exit velocities. His swing has natural loft and he has shown the ability to drive the ball to all fields. He tends to be a bit of a streaky hitter, but when Valera is locked in home runs tend to come in bunches.

Speed

Valera possesses average speed and showed the ability to swipe a bag earlier in his career, but that threat has diminished some with a multitude of leg injuries. Those same injuries and some physical maturations have led to a move to a corner outfield spot as he started his career playing mostly in center field.

Fielding

Valera is firmly entrenched as corner outfielder now after starting his career playing primarily in center field. He currently possesses average range as well as well as average route running ability. He’s not a liability defensively but doesn’t project as a plus defender either.

Arm

Valera’s strength on defense is his above-average arm. While not as strong as fellow Guardians outfielders Jhonkensy Noel or Jonathan Rodriguez, it's not far off. He's shown some very good accuracy on his throws and it plays well in right field.

2024 Stats

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

SB

AVG

OBP

SLG

ISO

OPS

wRC+

90

323

51

80

15

0

17

50

45

101

6

.248

.337

.452

.204

.789

104

Valera got off to a slow start to his 2024 season coming off a hamstring injury he suffered during spring training. He didn't play in his first game with Triple-A Columbus until May 1st, missing the first month of the season.

Over his first 22 games, Valera hit just .198 with just two home runs posting a .642 OPS. He picked things up around June and over his final 68 games of the season he managed a .265 average with 15 home runs and a .838 OPS.

Valera performed very well vs. right-handed pitching in 2024, hitting 15 of his 17 home runs on the season against them. He triple slashed .278/.352/.512 with .864 OPS over 284 plate appearances.

Left-handed pitching was a different story, as he slashed .147/.289/.253 posting just a .542 OPS. He also racked up 33 strikeouts over 90 plate appearances against lefties.

2025 and Future Outlook

Coming off knee surgery in the off-season, Valera has been rehabbing this spring and has yet to see the field in any spring training games. He will likely start on the disabled list at Triple-A Columbus, but it shouldn't be a long stay as he has already resumed some baseball activities out in Goodyear.

Once considered one of the top prospects in the organization Valera still is a tremendous talent but injuries have been a persistent hurdle for him to overcome and he's lost a ton of development time over the years. Amazingly, Valera is still only 24-years-old and "if" (and that's a big "if") he can overcome his latest injury and stay healthy in 2025, he could still carve out a future at the next level.

While he may not be an everyday corner outfielder unless he can improve against left-handed pitching, Valera crushes right-handers and could be a very nice platoon player moving forward. If Valera performs at Triple-A Columbus, he could potentially make his MLB debut with Cleveland in 2025.

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Todd Paquette
TODD PAQUETTE

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