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Valle catches a taste of majors at Phillies camp

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The six catchers lined up on a back field at the Carpenter Complex and none of them wanted to leave. One by one, they stabbed the bouncing balls hit toward home plate, a drill designed to improve blocking and tagging. It was an elimination game: Last man standing wins.

Sebastian Valle will catch Cliff Lee's bullpen session on Sunday. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
Sebastian Valle will catch Cliff Lee's bullpen session on Sunday. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The six catchers lined up on a back field at the Carpenter Complex and none of them wanted to leave. One by one, they stabbed the bouncing balls hit toward home plate, a drill designed to improve blocking and tagging. It was an elimination game: Last man standing wins.

Mick Billmeyer, the team's bullpen coach and catching instructor, slapped a ball that took a wicked bounce over Sebastian Valle's glove. The youngest catcher was the first eliminated.

"No! No! No!" Valle yelled. Brian Schneider, next in line, playfully pushed the 21-year-old Mexican aside. Valle shoved back.

"Tough day, Mex," Billmeyer said. Valle acquiesced, but not without ripping off his mask and chest protector.

Valle is here for a taste. It will be brief, and that will be that. He's headed to double-A Reading, where the Phillies hope he can maintain the .284 batting average from a season ago and add some pop.

But this spring, Valle's first in major-league camp, is the beginning of his assimilation. He is Carlos Ruiz's apparent heir, possibly because there are no other obvious candidates. Baseball America ranked Valle as the Phillies' third-best prospect and top position player in the system.

The timing could work well, too. Ruiz has a $5 million option for 2013 that is almost guaranteed to be exercised barring injury. By 2014, Ruiz will be 35, Valle will have spent a full season at every level of the minors and the two could split time. Of course, that is well down the road.

For now, the Phillies will be pleased with any lessons Valle takes from his limited moments with the big club. They have paired Ruiz and Valle in the same batting practice hitting group. Ruiz said he's made it a priority to tutor Valle when possible.

Ruiz, who said he pestered Mike Lieberthal during his first big-league camp, said some of the best things Valle will learn won't come from their chats.

"Can I say something to him? It doesn't mean anything," Ruiz said. "You need to watch the game. That's what I learned from Jamie Moyer when he was here. I can say 100 things and it won't work. If you watch the game, you'll learn something."

Valle said he's questioned Ruiz mostly about defense, specifically how to call games in the best way. He said he needs improvement not only there, but also in his blocking.

"I need more experience," Valle said.

Ruiz, defensively, was once the same way. He's a converted second baseman, and the appreciation for calling a game didn't come until later in his career. So while watching is important, Ruiz can bestow some of his lessons to Valle.

"Some guys have instincts," Billmeyer said. "It can be taught. Chooch came a long way."

Making it easier is that Valle speaks enough English to form relationships with the pitchers he's catching.

"Chooch didn't speak any English," Billmeyer said. "There was a language barrier right away. That took a while."

Valle will once again stick with the so-called Baby Aces at double A. He's caught Trevor May, Brody Colvin, Jonathan Pettibone, and Julio Rodriguez for the last two seasons, and the pitchers noted an improvement in Valle's game-calling because of that familiarity.

He hit .284 with a .706 OPS in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League. After belting 16 home runs at single-A Lakewood in 2010, that number dipped to five with Clearwater. A .312 on-base percentage, only 28 points above his batting average, is also a red flag.

"He can be one of the better catchers," Ruiz said. "He's young and he's working hard. What I see, he's trying to learn everything so far."

Valle said he's excited even though he knows he routinely draws what Billmeyer calls the "short straw." At 9 a.m. Sunday, that means catching Cliff Lee's bullpen session before a full workout to follow.

Hey, it could be worse.