Mar 2, 2015; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves third baseman Rio Ruiz (81) pose for photo day at Wide World of Sports. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 2, 2015; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves third baseman Rio Ruiz (81) pose for photo day at Wide World of Sports. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
Rio Ruiz made his major league debut in 2016 for the Atlanta Braves. What could he do in 2017?
Player Profile
The Atlanta Braves acquired Rio Ruiz from the Houston Astros before the 2015 season.
The Astros drafted Ruiz out of high school in California in the 4th round in 2012. He was considered a talent that could have gone even earlier, but the Astros used some of the money they saved by drafting Carlos Correa to sign Ruiz.
He opened with the Astros Gulf Coast League team in 2012. He did work his way up to the advanced rookie Appalachian League before the season was over in 2012. Combined, he hit .252/.336/.400 with a single home run and 2 stolen bases along with a 10.53% walk rate and 21.05% strikeout rate.
Ruiz opened the 2013 season as a 19 year-old in full-season ball in the low-A Midwest League. He hit .260/.335/.430 with 12 home runs, 12 stolen bases, a 10.59% walk rate, and a 19.49% strikeout rate
Ruiz bumped up to the California League in 2014, where he hit well, going .293/.387/.436 with 11 home runs, 4 stolen bases, 13.62% walk rate, and 15.12% strikeout rate.
He was sent by the Astros to the Arizona Fall League, where he did struggle with contact, hitting .187/.292/.227 with a 13.48% walk rate and a 19.1% strikeout rate.
Ruiz was assigned to AA Mississippi by the Braves in 2015, and he simply got attacked with bad luck in BABIP for the first two months of the season, as he had a .222 BABIP on June 1st.
From that point to the end of the season, Ruiz hit .259/.351/.374 the rest of the way. Overall, his line was .229/.331/.318 with 5 home runs, 2 stolen bases, a 13.02% walk rate, and a 19.21% strikeout rate.
The Braves promoted Ruiz to AAA Gwinnett in 2016, and he was one of the better hitters all season at the level, hitting .271/.355/.400 with 10 home runs and a steal, posting an 11.44% walk rate and 21.76% strikeout rate.
Ruiz earned a September call up to the big leagues, and he hit .286/.286/.571 in 7 plate appearances over the month with a triple.
Ruiz is listed at 6’1″ and 230 pounds. I would agree with that weight in 2015, but coming into 2016, he looked to have dropped 10-15 pounds and took off another 5-10 over the season, so it would not surprise me at all if he was more in the 205-215 range now.
Hitting
Contact (50) – Ruiz has a very easy, fluid swing that is easy to like from a scouting perspective.
He gets the bat through the zone well, though he may tend to work a bit too much to the opposite field and could tap into more power in his swing by pulling the ball.
Ruiz experienced notable splits against lefty pitchers, and from my views, it was notable that he seems to hold his right (front) shoulder tucked in for a significant time against lefty pitchers, almost complicating his swing from that point as his upper body is in the way of the swing as it comes through because he’s held it in so long.
Power (50) – Ruiz has a very strong build that certainly could lead to thoughts of power, but if you watch him play, it’s obvious that his swing path is best suited to generate gap power currently.
From the raw power off the bat from Ruiz, it would be certainly feasible that some swing adjustments could lead to a big uptick in his over-the-fence power, but it could lead to other issues that could lessen his value, so there’s some tit-for-tat to worry about with altering things at this point.
Eye (55) – Ruiz has very solid strike zone judgement and impressive pitch recognition as well. His ability to barrel the bat consistently is the only thing that keeps this from a pure 60 grade, but with walk rates consistently in the double digits and strikeout rates usually under 20%, he’s making excellent judgement on which pitches to swing on for sure.
Base Running/Fielding
Speed (40) – Even with the drop in his weight this season, Ruiz is not going to win any races on off days against teammates, unless perhaps Bartolo Colon is rehabbing in Gwinnett for some reason!
In all seriousness, Ruiz was an exceptional quarterback in high school as well as a solid baseball player, so those instincts do serve him well on the bases, which allow him to be a solid base runner, but he’s not got great speed to go along with it, so he uses smarts more than foot speed to get extra bases.
Defense (55) – While the lost weight may not have gained him above-average speed, it definitely did such for his defense.
I was honestly worried about his defense in 2015. In watching his play, he was nearly planted at third base, making plays on the balls right at him, but nearly anything else was going to get by him.
This season, he looked very solid at third, ranging well for balls, showing solid instincts on hot shots, and even coming in well on balls. While he may never be a Gold Glove guy at third, he can play a major league 3B.
Arm (50) – Ruiz has never had a big-time arm, but his lighter weight and better movement allowed him to get his feet under him better and see much better accuracy under his throws in 2016. Arm strength isn’t something he can just acquire, but that ability to be more accurate will allow the arm he does have to play much better throughout his career.
MLB Player Comp
Now, he’s exploded in the last couple of seasons to make this really look like a silly comment to make, but the first thing I thought of when I first saw Ruiz this season after slimming down was the first time I saw Matt Carpenter in a major league game.
He was a guy who was a very high-contact, gap power guy with similar walk and strikeout rates to Ruiz in the minor leagues. While his splits weren’t as heavy as Ruiz in 2016, Carpenter also struggled with lefty pitchers as well.
Now, I won’t make any comparison to current Carpenter, as his ability to both generate power in his swing, handle same-handed pitching, and move around the infield are all things that I just wouldn’t expect out of Ruiz, but that hitter that first came up and hit for a solid average while hitting for a load of doubles and a total of 25 home runs in his first three seasons is a guy that I could see Ruiz turning into at the major league level.
Ruiz should certainly factor into the third base discussion this spring, though the acquisition of Sean Rodriguez this winter threw another coal into that fire as well.
Adonis Garcia and Ruiz would seem to be an ideal third base platoon with their strength against opposite handed pitching, but the Braves may choose instead to have Ruiz continue to work on his issues with lefties in AAA this season as he’s only 22 to open the season.
