Francona hires former Reds player as the team's new director of hitting/MLB hitting coach

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – The Cincinnati Reds have named Chris Valaika as their Director of Hitting/Major League Hitting Coach, the team announced Thursday in a press release.

For the past three seasons, Valaika has been the major league hitting coach for the Cleveland Guardians. In 2021, he was an assistant major league hitting coach with the Chicago Cubs.

The former infielder played in the majors with Cincinnati (2010-11), Miami (2013) and the Cubs (2014), appearing in 99 major league games over four seasons.

Valaika was selected by the Reds in the third round (84th overall) of the 2006 draft out of the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was honored as the 2008 Cincinnati Reds Minor League Player of the Year after leading all Reds minor league players with a .317 batting average all season. Valaika played for Team USA in the 2008 XM All-Star Futures Game at Yankee Stadium.

The Santa Clarita, California native entered the coaching ranks in 2017 after retiring from playing following the 2015 season. Before joining the Cubs' major league staff, he was the organization's minor league hitting coordinator for two seasons (2019-20) after serving as hitting coach for A-Eugene (2017) and AAA-Iowa (2018). . In total, Valaika spent five seasons as a coach in Chicago's organization.

Information courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds