Gavin LaValley came into the season as the Cincinnati Reds 24th ranked prospect. He had just been drafted in the 4th round of the 2014 draft and was coming off of a good season where he hit .276/.361/.429 with the AZL Reds and a brief call up with the Billings Mustangs. He jumped up to the Midwest League to start 2015 with the Dayton Dragons.
Things started out well enough, going 2-6 with a walk and two doubles in the first two games of the season. Things slowed down a lot after that. After the game on May 26th the third baseman seemed over his head. He was hitting .212/.298/.276 on the season with 17 walks and 54 strikeouts in 178 plate appearances.
The power that he was known for wasn’t showing up. His strikeout rate was 30.3% on the season. LaValley’s walk rate was strong at 9.6%, but that was the lone positive sign that he had shown in the first seven weeks of the season.
Something changed beginning on May 27th. He had his first extra-base hit in two weeks and began a 14-game hitting streak. A hamstring injury caused him to miss a week from June 12th through the 17th, and he lost his hit streak when he returned but he walked twice in that game. In the three games since he’s gone 8-15.
On May 26th it appeared that LaValley may be in jeopardy of heading to Billings when their season began in order to get things back on track. He’s hit .431/.488/.625 in the 18 games since then. The 20-year-old has had 11 extra-base hits in that span after having just eight in the first 44 games of the season.
The power was clearly up. His walk rate has remained roughly the same as before, coming in at 8.8%. The strikeout rate has been the big difference maker though, even more so than the power. His strikeout rate has gone from 30.3% and dropped all of the way down to 15%. It’s been cut in half. He’s gone from a very, very high strikeout rate to an above-average rate of contact.
After a very slow start, Gavin LaValley is now hitting .281/.357/.386 on the season with 16 doubles, a triple and two home runs. While he’s certainly not going to hit .431 the rest of the way, like he has over his last 18 games, but his season has been completely turned around in the matter of about four weeks and all of his peripheral stats have either remained strong or taken big steps forward in that span as well. The Dayton Dragons are currently on their All-Star break, but as he enters the second half he will be looking to continue the outstanding turnaround he’s enjoyed since May 27th.