Chase Vallot Regains Feel In Batter’s Box

Catcher Chase Vallot began last season with eight home runs in his first two months at low Class A Lexington.

When the calendar flipped to June, his season took a drastic change for the worse.

On June 1, Vallot injured his back on a play at the plate. He returned on June 14, only to be hit in the face by a 93 mph fastball his second time up.

“It caught me right on the mouth,” said Vallot, 20, a 2014 supplemental first-rounder out of high school in Lafayette, La. “I had 30 stitches from the bottom of my nose all the way under my mouth. My teeth got pushed back to the roof of my mouth, so the dentist had to put them back in place. No broken bones—just facial damage.

“My face was really swollen. I had black eyes. I had a wire across my top teeth to keep them straight. I had to have three root canals. Compared to the stitching, the root canals were a piece of cake.”

After Vallot healed, the Royals sent him to Surprise, Ariz., for rehab games in the Rookie-level Arizona League. Guess what happened?

“I got hit in my first at-bat in my shoulder,” Vallot said. “I was glad I got hit to get over that feeling of uncomfortably.”

He returned to the Lexington lineup on July 20, when in his first game . . .

“I ended up getting hit in the chin again,” Vallot said. “No broken bones. No nothing—I can definitely take a punch . . . I was feeling really good and things were starting to click. Once I got hit in the face, I kind of took about 10 steps back.”

Vallot attended instructional league last year to regain his comfort level in the batter’s box and erase a rough finish.

This season, he leads high Class A Wilmington with 12 home runs and 22 doubles.

“I’m comfortable in the box,” Vallot said. “My agent sent me a face mask in the offseason, and I’m getting used to it. No bothers at all.”

On the down side, he has struck out 36 percent of the time this season.

“I’ve got to limit the strikeouts and make solid contact more often than not,” Vallot said. “. . . With two strikes, just battle, try to get the pitch you can hit and just don’t chase at everything.”

ROYALTIES

• Triple-A Omaha outfielder Bubba Starling went on the disabled list with an oblique injury and has not played since July 9.