The Reds have named Chris Valaika as their Director of Hitting/Major League Hitting Coach.

For the last 3 seasons, Valaika was the Major League Hitting Coach for the Cleveland Guardians. In 2021, he was the 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 across the 4 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 full-season minor leaguers with a .317 batting average. Valaika played for Team USA in the 2008 XM All-Star Futures Game at Yankee Stadium.

The native of Santa Clarita, CA, joined the coaching ranks in 2017 following his retirement from playing following the 2015 season. Prior to joining the Cubs’ Major League staff, he was the organization’s Minor League Hitting Coordinator for 2 seasons (2019-20) following stints as the Hitting Coach for A-Eugene (2017) and AAA-Iowa (2018). Overall, Valaika spent 5 seasons coaching in Chicago’s organization.