Danny Valencia

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.

In 1996, Valencia pitched for the Boca Raton Babe Ruth League 12-and-under all-star baseball team that won the Florida state championship.

The next year, he pitched and hit for the Boca Lightning 12-and-under travel baseball team that went 27–2 and won the South Florida All-Star Travel League championship.

His two key hitting coaches growing up were Bob Molinaro, a family friend who is a former major leaguer and Eastern League manager, and Valencia's mother Mindy.

Valencia attended Spanish River High School and played shortstop for four years on its Sharks baseball team.

He earned South Florida Sun-Sentinel All-County honors as a junior, and was named first team All-Palm Beach County three times and second-team All-State twice.

As a junior, in 2002 he was Offensive Player of the Year after hitting .430, and as a senior in 2003 he hit .575.

Although Valencia had dreamed of playing for the University of Miami, its baseball program did not recruit him, and instead he went to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, one of two teams that had offered him a full baseball scholarship.

In his freshman year, Valencia played third base and batted .338 with a .527 slugging percentage and a team-leading 8 home runs.

He was the 2004 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, and was voted second-team All-Conference.

Homesick for Florida, Valencia sought to transfer to the University of Miami after his freshman year, even though it only offered him a modest scholarship.

UNC-Greensboro initially agreed to release Valencia from his scholarship, but later refused, placing him in jeopardy of losing a year of college eligibility under NCAA Division I rules.

He appealed to a university committee which ruled in his favor, allowing him to leave while preserving his eligibility.

During his sophomore year, Valencia played first base for the University of Miami Hurricanes alongside then-third-baseman Ryan Braun.

He hit .300 and drove in 63 runs while batting fifth in the lineup, and was named to the All-Regional Team.

By his sophomore year of college, he had added 40 pounds.

"It's night and day" from UNC-Greensboro, said Valencia.

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.

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).

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.

Valencia was born in Miami, Florida.

His parents are Mindy Valencia, who is Jewish, and Michael Valencia, a Cuban immigrant who converted to Judaism.

Valencia and his sister Laura were raised in Boca Raton, Florida.

They were raised Jewish.

Acknowledging his uncommon combination of heritage, he has said: "People are shocked at first that I’m Jewish. I get teased in the clubhouse about being Jewish, but we all get teased about something. Going to Hebrew school and being a bar mitzvah … made my mom really happy. I wished I had been out playing baseball, but looking back at it now, I’m happy I did it."