New hitting coach Chris Valaika ready to pop the hood on Cleveland Guardians’ hitters

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Guardians know all about no-hitters. Make that being on the wrong side of no-hitters.

Last season as the Indians they were no-hit a big-league record three times. Throw in the seven-inning no-no by Tampa Bay in the second game of a doubleheader on July 7 and that makes four even though MLB doesn’t recognize that one.

The guy who does recognize it, along with the three other legiltimate no-hitters, is Chris Valaika, the Guardians’ new hitting coach.

“That’s always the fear every night, trying to not get no-hit,” Valaika told reporters on a Zoom call Monday. “But I try not to think about those things, really focusing on the team we have at hand right now. I think we’re gonna be younger, just like we were at the end of last season.”

OK, so erase the blackboard, reboot the laptops and forge ahead to 2022 with what is likely to be the youngest position player group in the big leagues.

“We’re just really trying to educate those guys at the big league level and continuing to develop in the big leagues, not be fear-based with any of that stuff,” said Valaika, referring to the no-hitters. “But really trying to teach them more of the fundamentals of the things and how to go about their business.”

Hitting coaches scattered like dust in the wind after last season. It seemed liked every other day a team was firing its hitting coach or replacing his assistants. Cleveland was one of those teams, firing Ty Van Burkleo. But it was far from a knee-jerk decision. Van Burkleo had been the hitting coach in Cleveland for the last nine years.

Stability has been trademark of Terry Francona’s coaching staff since he was named manager in 2013. When the Guardians recruited Valakia from the Cubs where he was the assistant hitting coach, that was one of their selling points.

“I’d always heard great things about the culture in Cleveland,” said Valaika. “The coaching staff, the organization in general. Then just the longevity that they’ve had with their coaching staff. All of those factors were attractive to me.

“You want to go somewhere that you can really dig in and make some change. This was a great fit for me.”

Valaika and his fiancee, Alli Bigeh, just purchased a home in Columbus. She is a cardiology fellow at Ohio State. Last week Valaika made the drive from Columbus to Progressive Field three or four times to work with outfielder Oscar Mercado and infielder Owen MIller.

If a deal is reached on the basic agreement, which expires on Dec. 1, that over-the-road coaching method may continue until it’s time to report to spring training. If not, all baseball-related business is expected to shut down because of a work stoppage.

Valaika and his brothers Pat, Nick and Matt grew up in Santa Monica, Calif. All they did was play baseball. It led to all four brothers being drafted.

The Reds took Chris in the third round in 2006. The Rockies selected Pat in the ninth round in 2013. The Pirates took Nick in the 24th round in 2017 and St. Louis drafted Matt in the 34th round in 2010. Chris and Pat reached the big leagues. Pat finished last season with the Orioles and is currently a free agent.

“Growing up, we played a ton,” said Valaika. “We were always at each other’s games, giving each other pointers. I try not to meddle with Patrick too much, stay away, play brother more than coach with him.”

If the seed of coaching was planted in those busy baseball weekends, it continued to grow during Valaika’s career.

He played 10 years professionally, including parts of four in the big leagues with the Reds, Marlins and Cubs. His last season as a player was in 2015 with the Class AAA Iowa Cubs. He returned to UC Santa Barbara to get his degree and be an assistant baseball coach. Shane Bieber, Cleveland’s Cy Young winner, and recently departed left-hander Kyle Nelson were on that team.

After that Valaika spent a year working at Sparta Science, a training facility in Menlo Park, Calif. He’d trained there as a player and wanted to study how body movements can help a hitter. He spent a lot of time working with force plates to help hitters understand their relationship with their body and the ground.

“I was always really curious on individualization (of hitters and athletes),” Valaika said. “We worked with force plates at Sparta Science. Taking that over to Chicago, it wasn’t necessarily the technology as much as it was really understanding how each athlete moves and how they tick and being able to try to tailor a plan based on what they do well, what they don’t do well, rather than just trying to throw blanket drill packages or approach or goals.”

Valaika’s next step was joining the Cubs and becoming the minor-league hitting coordinator. Before the start of last season, he was promoted to Chicago’s assistant big-league hitting coach.

With the Guardians, Valaika said he wants to get “under the hood” of every Cleveland hitter he works with to find out what makes them tick and help them get better. He’s played at every level, coached at every level, studied analytics and biomechanics. With assistant hitting coaches Victor Rodriguez and Justin Toole, Valaika feels he’s in a good place to spread that knowledge.

“I’m just trying to find different ways to get them to maximize what they do, but based off knowing what’s under the hood with them,” he said. “That’s the way I try to go about it.”

Indians merchandise for sale: Here’s where you can order Cleveland Indians gear online before the team becomes the Guardians, including jerseys, T-shirts, hoodies, hats and much more.

Cleveland 40-man roster review

José Ramírez | Cal Quantrill | Emmanuel Clase | Shane Bieber | Amed Rosario

Aaron Civale | Franmil Reyes | Myles Straw | Zach Plesac | Bradley Zimmer

Triston McKenzie | James Karinchak | Andrés Giménez | Oscar Mercado

Trevor Stephan | Bobby Bradley | Josh Naylor |

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