Loney’s power is lacking in minors

In his first at-bat this season, James Loney hit a home run. He hasn’t hit one since in 150 at-bats.

When the Dodgers sent Loney back to triple-A Las Vegas this season, after he hit .380 there last season and .448 in spring training, they hoped he would develop power more befitting a first baseman.

Yet the power has not shown up and the batting average has gone way down, to .258.

“He’s the least of my worries,” Dodgers assistant general manager Logan White said. “The kid will be fine. Andy LaRoche was only hitting .230 when he got called up [actually .235], and I think he’ll come up and do a serviceable job for our big league club.”

De Jon Watson, the Dodgers’ director of player development, said Loney has hit more line drives in recent weeks. Ned Colletti, the Dodgers’ general manager, said players sometimes do not develop power until age 25.

Loney is 23. Can the Dodgers consider playing him at first base if the power does not come?

“It depends upon the composition of the club,” Colletti said.

In recent years, he noted, the Chicago Cubs’ Mark Grace and the San Francisco Giants’ J.T. Snow played first base without much power, but Grace had Ryne Sandberg at second base and Snow had Jeff Kent.

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The Dodgers, in need of a fresh arm after the bullpen pitched 6 2/3 innings on Monday and 3 1/3 innings on Sunday, recalled Hong-Chih Kuo from Las Vegas and designated infielder Wilson Valdez for assignment.

Kuo, who did not pitch in April because of a strained rotator cuff, had started three games and relieved in two, striking out 19 and walking five in 11 innings. The Dodgers plan to use him in relief.

Valdez, 28, the Dodgers’ second utility infielder, was rendered expendable by the development of Tony Abreu at Las Vegas. Valdez hit .417 through April 15 and .097 thereafter. The Dodgers have 10 days to trade him, release him or assign him to the minor leagues; Colletti said he would try to trade him.

“There is some interest in him,” Colletti said. “He deserves to have another major league opportunity.”

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Luis Gonzalez posed for a clubhouse picture with a replica of Flat Stanley, the children’s book character that travels the world in an envelope. When he received a Flat Stanley for a class project from a kid in Arizona, Gonzalez agreed to show Stanley around town for a few days.

“We’ll take him on a road trip,” Gonzalez said. “He’ll go to Anaheim. We’ll have 26 guys on this trip.”

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Manager Grady Little said he had no plan to switch the roles of starter Brett Tomko and reliever Chad Billingsley. Tomko is 1-4 with a 5.97 earned-run average and gave up eight runs in 2 1/3 innings Monday against the Cardinals. “He knows it was a rough day,” Little said. “We know it was a rough day. A lot of fans saw it was a rough day. We just need to get over it.” ... Veteran Joe Mays exercised an escape clause from his Las Vegas contract, and the Dodgers released him rather than promote him to the majors. With Kuo and Billingsley available as rotation insurance, the Dodgers had no need for Mays. In eight starts at Las Vegas, Mays was 1-2 with a 5.16 ERA.... Former Dodgers outfielder Raul Mondesi attended Tuesday’s game. He was shown on the video board and roundly booed.

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bill.shaikin@latimes.com