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Brandon Valenzuela

2026
Blue Jays· C · bats S · throws R· 271 plate appearances
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Grade

His grade shows how good he has been, and at what.
Cbetter than 45% of hitters at creating bases
Three-Outcome Slugger

Elite power and walks; lives with the strikeouts.

Gets on base by working the count

Brandon Valenzuela walks at a near-elite clip. He walks more often than 79% of qualified hitters. The strikeouts pile up, though. Only 36% of qualified hitters strike out more often.

271 plate appearances · data through 2026-09-27.

How to read this chart
Each spoke is a skill estimate adjusted for sample size, not a raw season stat, and farther out is better. A ↓ marks a stat where a lower number is better, and its spoke is flipped so farther out still means better. The middle ring marks the league median and the outer ring the league best. EB/PA is estimated bases, HR% home runs, BB% walks and K% strikeouts, each per plate appearance, and Hard-hit% is balls hit 95 mph or harder. Percentiles compare him with 534 qualified hitters, the ones with 50 or more plate appearances.

Plays like…

Each of these hitters shares his archetype and sits closest to him in EB/PA. Pick one to see him side by side with Brandon Valenzuela.

Endy RodríguezPiratesOwen CaissieMarlinsAdolis GarcíaPhilliesBen MalgeriTigers

Hitter type

See what kind of hitter he is, next to the rest of the league.

Hitter type

He hits the ball hard about as often as most.

League best:BB% − K% Josue De Paula (14.3%)Hard-hit% Yohandy Morales (62.5%)

How to read this chart
Two skills separate hitting styles: not giving away at-bats (walk rate minus strikeout rate) and squaring the ball up (hard-hit rate). Up and to the right is better on both. Every dot is a hitter with at least 40 plate appearances this season, and dot size tracks plate appearances. Click any dot to open that hitter's page.
 Brandon ValenzuelaLeague medianPercentile
Bases per ball in play(higher = better).510.511—
Walk rate(higher = better)11%8%79th
Strikeout rate(lower = better)25%23%36th

A higher percentile is better, and the 99th is the top of the league.

Platoon splits

See how he hits left-handed and right-handed pitchers.

Platoon splits (EB/PA)

He hits righties better than lefties, by 0.027 EB/PA.

50% probable range: +0.004 to +0.050

vs LHP79 PA0.407

vs LHP: shrunk estimate 0.407 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.382 to 0.431, based on 79 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.406 EB/PA. League median vs LHP: 0.424 EB/PA.

vs RHP193 PA0.434

vs RHP: shrunk estimate 0.434 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.413 to 0.453, based on 193 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.443 EB/PA. League median vs RHP: 0.433 EB/PA.

0.3740.3960.4180.4400.462
← worsebetter →
Above league medianBelow50% probable rangeHis raw rateMiddle half of the league

His split is about typical for a switch hitter (median 0.023). Against lefties he sits below the league median, which is a real platoon weakness.

He sits in the league's middle half vs both lefties and righties.

How to read this chart
  • Each dot is his estimate against that hand, with its 50% probable range as the bar. Higher is better.
  • The diamond is his raw rate, which small samples make noisy, so the simulator pulls the dot toward a more trustworthy value.
  • The dashed tick is the league median, and the shaded strip is the middle half of hitters with 50 or more plate appearances.
  • Brandon Valenzuela switch-hits, so he can choose the platoon-advantaged side almost every plate appearance. A small gap is expected.
  • Tap or hover a mark for its number. LHP and RHP are left- and right-handed pitchers. More on the About page

How he hits

See what his contact is worth and what pitchers throw him.

He hits the ball to the pull side most often, and that's where he does the most damage.

Best batted balls

Every ball Brandon Valenzuela put in play this season is drawn where it landed.
hit · out
EBlowhigh
vs Tyler KinleyHome run
104 mph · 35° · worth 3.9 bases
06/03 vs Braves
vs Rico GarciaHome run
103 mph · 29° · worth 3.8 bases
06/07 vs Orioles
vs Mitch FarrisHome run
104 mph · 24° · worth 3.5 bases
05/09 vs Angels
vs Brandon YoungHome run
106 mph · 24° · worth 3.5 bases
06/05 vs Orioles
vs Simeon Woods RichardsonHome run
111 mph · 22° · worth 3.3 bases
04/10 vs Twins

Luck check

2 of his outs came on balls the simulator values at 1.5 bases or more.

vs Trent ThorntonOutUnlucky out
97 mph · 31° · worth 2.1 bases
06/20 vs Cubs
How to read this chart
Dot color is estimated bases (EB), what the contact was worth no matter what the defense did with it. Darker means more bases, so a dark hollow ring in the outfield is a crushed ball that got caught. Tap or hover a dot or a row to link the two, and use the ▶ links to watch a play on Baseball Savant.

Performance by pitch type

2026 · 1,108 pitches

Each row shows the bases he adds per 100 pitches of one type, against the league.

← below league medianabove league median →
Four-Seam Fastball (398 pitches)
−1.4
Lg median −0.4Lg best +8.7
Changeup (168 pitches)
+0.3
Lg median −0.5Lg best +16.5
Sinker (135 pitches)
−2.7
Lg median −1.3Lg best +9.7
Cutter (100 pitches)
+0.9
Lg median −0.4Lg best +16.4
Curveball (93 pitches)
−2.6
Lg median +0.4Lg best +22.2
Slider (85 pitches)
+5.7
Lg median −0.5Lg best +12.2
Splitter (50 pitches)
+0.8
Lg median −0.5Lg best +12.9
Other (79 pitches)

−0.3 bases per 100 · no single-type league comparison

Above league medianBelowMiddle half of the leagueLg medianLg best
How to read this chart
Each row is the bases he adds per 100 pitches of that type, on the same scale as the pitcher pages’ “saved/cost per 100” but from the hitter’s side. Every pitch counts. Taking a ball adds value, whiffing loses it, and the pitch that ends the plate appearance scores its outcome against what that count usually produces. A value of +3.5 means his results against that pitch have been worth about 3.5 extra bases per 100 seen. Higher is better. Types with fewer than 50 pitches seen pool into “Other”.

Deserved vs. actual

Brandon Valenzuela has been credited with about the bases his contact earned so far.

Deserved by his own contact88
Actually credited to him89

Both bars count only his 172 balls in play, so walks and strikeouts are left out.

How to read this chart
Every ball he puts in play is worth the bases its exit velocity, launch angle and direction usually earn. If the second bar is longer than the first, his results have run ahead of his contact and he has been lucky. If it is shorter, he has been unlucky.

Swing

See how fast he swings and what he changes with two strikes. League tracking starts in 2024.

Swing at a glance

2026 · data through 2026-09-27
Bat speed · 517 swings
71.8 mph
Lg median 71.1 mph
Slowest: S. Kwan (61.8 mph)Fastest: J. Caminero (78.4 mph)

Batting left

Lg median

He swings about as fast as most hitters. His swing is longer than most hitters', with a typical attack angle. With two strikes, he cuts his bat speed about as much as most hitters. From both sides, his bat travels on a fairly typical path.

Attack angle
8.5°
Lg median 9.6°
Swing length
7.8 ft
Lg median 7.3 ft
Swing path tilt
33.2°
Lg median 32.4°
Middle half of the league
How to read this chart
  • Bat speed counts competitive swings only, so bunts and check swings under 50 mph are left out.
  • Swing length is how far the sweet spot of the bat travels during the swing. Attack angle is the bat’s upward or downward tilt through the zone.
  • Swing path tilt is how steep the bat’s path is.
  • None of these is better or worse on its own. Swing style trades power against contact, and the fastest and slowest swings in the league both belong to stars. More on the About page

His two swings

345 swings batting left, 172 batting right
Bat speed
71.6 mph batting left
72.1 mph batting right
Lg median 71.1 mph

Batting left

Lg median
Attack angle
9.9°
Lg median 9.6°
Swing length
7.9 ft
Lg median 7.3 ft
Swing path tilt
33.2°
Lg median 32.4°

Batting right

Lg median
Attack angle
5.6°
Lg median 9.6°
Swing length
7.6 ft
Lg median 7.3 ft
Swing path tilt
31.9°
Lg median 31.4°

About 72% of switch hitters swing faster right-handed, among the 36 with enough swings from both sides to tell. His left-handed swing is 4.3 inches longer.

How to read this chart
  • Both sides need at least 100 competitive swings for this card. Below that, the difference between them is mostly measurement noise.
  • Swing path tilt is compared with the league median for that batting side. Bat speed, swing length and attack angle are compared with the league median for all hitters.
  • The card only names a difference when it is more than three times its own margin of error and big enough to matter. For a few switch hitters nothing clears that bar, and the card cannot tell the two sides apart.

Timing

See whether his swing meets the ball early or late, over or under. Tracking starts in mid-2023.

Timing at a glance

2026 · data through 2026-09-27
Perfect contact · 525 swings
20.0%
Lg median 22.6%Lg best 37.9%
On-time swings
66.3%
Lg median 64.6%Lg best 79.6%
Miss distance on whiffs
3.4 in
Lg median 3.0 inLg best 1.0 in

He squares the ball up about as often as most hitters. When his timing is off, it's usually early, about 13 ms ahead of perfect timing. When he misses vertically, it's more often under the ball than over it. More of his mishits come from reaching at pitches away from him than from getting tied up inside.

Middle half of the league
How to read this chart
  • Perfect contact is a swing that is centered, on time and lined up, all at once. On-time swings land within 7 milliseconds of ideal timing. Higher is better on both.
  • Miss distance counts swings and misses only. It is how far the barrel half of the bat passed from the ball, in inches, and lower is better.
  • League comparisons cover hitters with 100 or more tracked swings this season. Switch hitters have both sides combined.
  • More on the About page

How he sets up

See where he stands in the box and how his feet are set, next to the league-average setup.

How he sets up

He sets up with a wide base, his feet 36″ apart against the 30″ league average.

Top-down batting stance vs league average, bats left-handedPitcher ↑

Each point is his average setup for one month this season, about a second before each pitch.

Middle half of the leagueLg median
His feetLg avg
How to read this chart
  • This is an overhead view of the batter’s box. The dots are his feet about one second before the pitch, and the rings are the league-average setup.
  • Open means his front foot is pulled off the line to the plate, and closed means it steps toward it. Neither is better or worse.
  • The chart is his monthly average this season. The band and dashed line are the middle half and the median of hitters over the whole season.
  • On the angle chart, below zero is open and above zero is closed.
  • Data through 2026-09-27. More on the About page

Best games

These are his biggest games this season.

Best games

These are his best games this season, ranked by bases above replacement.