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By Jon Paul Hoornstra
Contributing Sports Writer
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Jefferson Valladares, one of several Venezuelan-born catchers who ascended the Los Angeles Dodgers' minor league system over the last decade, retired to become a coach in the Washington Nationals' organization.
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Valladares, 23, was announced Thursday as a coach for the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Washington Nationals' advanced Class-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League.
The announcement effectively ends Valladares' playing career following five seasons in the Dodgers (2021-24) and Minnesota Twins (2025) system.
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Valladares originally signed with the Dodgers as an amateur from Barquisimeto, Venezuela in April 2019. At the time, the Dodgers had two other highly rated Venezuelan catching prospects — Keibert Ruiz and Diego Cartaya — in their minor league system.
While both Cartaya and Ruiz were eventually promoted to the Dodgers' 40-man roster and traded — Cartaya to the Twins, Ruiz to the Nationals — Valladares patiently climbed the minor league ladder as a backup catcher. He was promoted to the Dodgers' Class-A California League affiliate in Rancho Cucamonga in 2024, and slashed .271/.357/.396 in 15 games.
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Following the 2024 season, the Twins selected Valladares in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. He split the 2025 season between two minor league levels. In 22 games with the advanced Class-A Cedar Rapids Kernels, Valladares slashed .258/.347/.409 with two home runs.
For all the promise of his surface-level stats last year, Valladares now appears content to move on to the next phase of his baseball career.
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Valladares will join a Blue Rocks coaching staff led by manager Ted Tom, hitting coach Hudson Byorick, pitching coach Justin Lord, defensive coach Mitchell Boe, and assistant pitching coach Niko Leontarakis.
They will be charged with coaching a rapidly rebuilding Nationals farm system under newly hired president of baseball operations Paul Toboni.
Toboni recently traded ace left-hander Mackenzie Gore to the Texas Rangers for a trove of five prospects — some of whom could be headed to Wilmington in 2025.
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