Valenzuela’s number retirement praised
Jaime Jarrín summed up the biggest news from the Dodgers FanFest event at Chavez Ravine on Saturday in one sentence.
“This,” the Dodgers’ recently retired Spanish radio voice said after the team announced it would retire Fernando Valenzuela’s No. 34 this coming season, “is something overdue.”
For years, much of the club’s fan base felt the same.
No, Valenzuela hasn’t been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the traditional prerequisite for the Dodgers to retire a former player’s jersey.
Yet as the seasons went by, and the Mexican pitcher’s enduring legacy with the franchise and in the community ceased to fade, the absence of Valenzuela’s number in Dodger Stadium’s leftfield Ring of Honor grew increasingly difficult to justify.
Though the Dodgers hadn’t issued the No. 34 to a player since Valenzuela’s retirement, Jarrín had been among a growing contingent hoping to see it retired.
Jarrín called all 11 of Valenzuela’s seasons with the Dodgers, including the legendary 1981 campaign in which the left-hander won the National League rookie of the year and Cy Young awards while helping the team to a World Series title. He often served as Valenzuela’s interpreter in public appearances, including at a 1981 White House luncheon with President Reagan.
After his playing career, Valenzuela joined Jarrín in the Dodgers radio booth, working alongside him for two decades before Jarrín retired last year.
“I was hoping that they would do it,” said Jarrín, who is now a club ambassador and has his own plaque in the team’s Ring of Honor. “I don’t know why they waited. They could have done it several years ago.”
Now that it is happening — the ceremony is scheduled to take place before an Aug. 11 home game this year — Jarrín couldn’t help but smile Saturday.
“It’s fantastic,” Jarrín said. “He left the Dodgers [as a player] almost 40 years ago, and still now … the people love him. It’s unbelievable.”
Jarrín wasn’t alone. Manager Dave Roberts celebrated the move during a chat with reporters.
“Even before today,” Roberts said, “when you thought of the Dodgers and 34, you thought of Fernando.”
Current Dodgers stars, including pitcher Julio Urías, a fellow Mexican lefthander, and infielder Max Muncy, welcomed the news too.
“It makes us very proud to see a fellow countryman be able to achieve this great success,” Urías said in Spanish.
Echoed Muncy: “When you start playing for the Dodgers, that’s one of the first things you learn, just the impact Fernando had.”
Inf ield clear; center f ield unknown
The Dodgers preferred infield alignment appears to be set.
Roberts confirmed the Dodgers are planning to play Gavin Lux at shortstop, Muncy at third base and Miguel Vargas at second base to begin the season, with Miguel Rojas likely to provide depth off the bench at all three positions (in addition to some time in left field).
Earlier this offseason, it seemed the Dodgers would put Muncy at second and Vargas at third, where the highly touted rookie had spent most of his time in the minors.
However, the Dodgers opted for their new plan to keep Muncy at the hot corner, a position he settled into last year after Freddie Freeman’s arrival at first base, and allow Vargas to use more of his range by playing up the middle.
The Dodgers’ plans in center field, on the other hand, remain unclear.
In the wake of Cody Bellinger’s offseason departure, Roberts told reporters “your guys’ guess right now is as good as mine” about who might fill the spot, with Chris Taylor, Trayce Thompson, James Outman, Bradley Zimmer and Jason Heyward in the mix.
More WBC participants
The Dodgers’ representation at next month’s World Baseball Classic continues to grow.
Austin Barnes confirmed Saturday he would play for Mexico and Roberts said Thompson was expected to play for Britain. Rojas said he was hoping to play for Venezuela as long as he is 100% by then after recently undergoing right hand surgery. Rojas, whose new two-year contract extension was announced Saturday, was cleared to begin a hitting progression.
Those three join a long list of previously known Dodgers participants: Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Will Smith for the U.S. (in addition to third base coach Dino Ebel), Brusdar Graterol for Venezuela, Urías for Mexico, and Freeman for Canada.