Philly’s Jorge Velandia chasing front office dream

By César Augusto Márquez

Jorge Velandia took some of his early steps as a ballplayer with the Oakland A’s, an organization that embraced sabermetrics early. The Phillies’ assistant general manager’s own embrace of sabermetrics has made him a promising front office candidate who strives to be a general manager in the majors one day.

Valendia, who played parts of eight seasons in the majors, has held many positions in the Philadelphia Phillies’ front office. Last winter Valendia was a surprising candidate for the vacant Phillies’ manager’s position.

“Thanks to God everything is going well,” he said. “I’ve had a chance to be interviewed for a manager’s position. Our general manager Mike Klentak came to me and said, ‘Why don’t we interview you?’”

“It was a great experience. I had the opportunity to be a coach after Ryne Sandberg resigned.”

The native of Venezuela actually serves as an assistant general manager with the Phillies. He says he has turned out offers to coach in other big league organizations because at this point he feels more confident in the front office.

He also notes that he has gained more of an understanding of analytics over the last four years since Klentak arrived. He is drawn to analytics because he considers the information valuable and important to make fruitful decisions for the organization.

Although he made his big league debut in a San Diego Padres uniform, he developed in the Oakland A’s organization, which is considered the cradle of sabermetrics.

“I’m still learning about all of these types of analytics,” he said. “In the past we talked about walks and on-base percentage. You could bat .300 in the minors, but if you didn’t get on base via walks they wouldn’t give you the Player of the Month.

“In Billy Beane’s time people began talking about that, and I had more or less an idea. But bit by bit sabermetrics and the talk of analytics has grown tremendously. There are more things that are detailed. The data that is collected all these years will cocntinue to grow.”

As a player Valendia was considered a good defensive infielder, which helped him play in the majors and shine in the Venezuelan winter league.

He even became the captain of his winter ball team, the Tiburones of La Guaira.

Once he retired, he began his front office career with the Phillies. He began in the scouting department before developing other skills.

He remembers that his scouting reports would be corrected by Benny Looper, who was an assistant to former Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro.

He was sent to instructional league after that season to work with the Phillies’ prospects for two weeks.

Then the Phillies sent him to scout school in Arizona.

“I was one of the best students there, fortunately,” he said. “Then the next year I went there to be a coach. They started sending me a bit by bit to the minors for two years.

“Then in the third year they made me an assistant to the field coordinator so that I could learn how a spring training ran and how the minor leagues were and how four or five teams worked together at the same time.”

Then in 2017 Klentak promoted Valendia to assistant general manager. Although his focus is squarely on his front office duties, he was named to the coaching staff for the 2018 Futures Game.

He compares his steady ascent up the front office ladder to that of a university student who gains more experience bit by bit.

“I have a good thing, and that is the fact that the people in the front office cannot acquire the experience that I had as a player,” he said. “But I can learn new things that are changing. It’s something that is calling me, penetrating and turning me into a much more intelligent person.”

Featured Image: Alex Trautwig / Major League Baseball