ORLEANS, Mass. — Alex Valentin (undecided) stared 60 feet waiting for the sign from Weber Neels (Minnesota) behind the plate.
He nodded, got into his windup, did his signature wiggle with his hips and delivered — it was fouled off by Sebastion Pisacreta (Pitt). Valentin got a new ball, nodded his head a few times and didn’t break eye contact with Pisacreta.
On the next pitch, Valentin got him, striking him out swinging to end the bottom of the first. It was a week removed from a rocky start to the 2025 season, but Tuesday in the win against the Orleans Firebirds, Valentin was a different pitcher on the mound.
“The biggest thing today was just trying to flush the last outing. Being that we had the off day, I had seven days this week. It can be hard to refocus,” Valentin said. “It can be hard to flush it and get over it, but that was a big emphasis. I dwelled on it for the first three to four days, and then it was getting back to work and making sure the next outing was where it needed to be.”
It was a start that Valentin didn’t want to get off to last week against the Brewster Whitecaps. He picked up the loss and gave up four runs.
Despite taking a few days to get over that performance, Valentin came right back in his second start and was dialed in from the jump. In a game that didn’t feature either side getting the bats going, Valentin posted an efficient day from the bump with five shutout innings.
“I thought I pounded the zone pretty well outside of the three walks — I thought they were competitive walks,” Valentin said. “I thought I got squeezed a little bit, but really it was just about competing today. Stuff wasn't the best, but I just had to make sure I got it together.”
Getting it together took some time for him. Valentin prides himself on bringing it every day, pitching every outing to the best of his capabilities.
“The initial three-day process is pretty tough," Valentin said. "I am very hard on myself, so I give myself a lot of crap for it, but at the end of the day, what happened in the last outing doesn't affect my next one. I control the controllables. That's a big thing. Just control the controllables, and one of them is your attitude and your mental and your thoughts. So it's a big thing for me.”
Valentin is coming off of a season at Texas State where he only pitched in seven innings. Prior to the 2025 campaign, he spent the previous season at Nova Southeastern where he pitched in 12 games, posting a 3-3 record with a 5.87 ERA in 46 innings.
Now he’s once again searching for a new home, as he currently is in the transfer portal. While the process of being in the portal has its highs and lows as he awaits for a new ballclub, Valentin is more than just looking for a new collegiate squad — he wants to prove he can make it to the next level.
“It’s been slow and fast at times, but I think it's trending in the right direction right now,” Valentin said about the transfer portal process. “I didn't really come out here for the portal. I threw seven innings this year. It was more about showing the scouts I can compete against the best of the best in the country because I believe that I can, and that was a big thing for me. I could have very easily not thrown this summer, but I wanted to. It was a big deal to me.”
