Vladimir Valentin, who surpassed Lee Seung-yeop to set the Asian record for the most home runs in a season, will participate in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) at the age of 39. He was included in the list of players for the Dutch national team announced on the 10th. This is the third appearance after 2013 and 2019.
Born in Curacao, Netherlands, located in the Caribbean, Valentin also wore the Dutch national team uniform at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2015 Premier12.
It is the last competition as a player. He said through the media last year, “I have built a satisfactory career and have been happily playing. I will retire after participating in the WBC in 2023.”
Valentin played 18 games for Saraperos Saltillo last year in the Mexican League. He batted 2.3 with 4 home runs and 11 RBI, and was released as a free agent in May of that year. Currently invincible.
Valentin, who joined the Yakult Swallows in 2011 after working for the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds in the major leagues, shook Japan Professional Baseball with a home run. From 2011 to 2013, his first year at Yakult, he was the Central League home run king for three consecutive years. He became the second player in Japanese professional baseball history to win three consecutive home run titles. He hit 15 career home runs in the major leagues and 301 home runs in Japan. 먹튀검증
In 2013, he rewrote the history of Japanese professional baseball. That year he hit 60 home runs in 130 games. It easily surpassed the record of 55 home runs in a single season in Nippon Professional Baseball, previously held by Oh Sadaharu (Wang Jeong-chi, 1964), Tuffy Rose (2001), and Alex Cabrera (2002). He even broke Lee Seung-yeop’s Asian record (56 homers) during his time with the Samsung Lions.
Valentin injured his leg muscle at the WBC in March 2013. Because of his injury, he had an opening match in the second team, and even though he appeared in the first team game after 13 games, he had an overwhelming home run race. In 2014, he hit 31 to finish second.
Last year, Yakult Junior Murakami Munetaka (23) challenged to hit 60 home runs, but his sluggishness lasted for a long time before the end of the season, and he stopped at 56 home runs. It was a new record for the most home runs in Japan. Murakami, who joined in 2018, has been with Valentin for two years.
Valentin, who spent his prime at Yakult, moved to Softbank Hawks in 2020 and left Japan after playing for two years. He hit 13 home runs with Softbank. He played in 1104 career games over 11 years in Japan, hitting .266 (1001 hits in 3759 at-bats), 301 home runs, and 794 RBIs.