Atlanta Braves Mid-Season Prospect Reports, Part 2
Aug 14, 2015; Mississippi Braves’ Rio Ruiz prior to a game vs. the Mobile Bay Bears. Photo Credit: Alan Carpenter, TomahawkTake.com
11. Rio Ruiz
The Good:
Getting out of April and May has been good for Ruiz. After a horrible start, Ruiz has been one of the best hitters in Mississippi at only 21 years old. Interestingly, it was right around his birthday in late May that things began to turn around for Ruiz. He’s shown a very solid eye, walking at a 13.8% clip while also keeping his strikeout rate a respectable 18.4% Ruiz has also shown some solid hands at third base, if not much for range.
The Not-So-Good:
After that June/July flurry got his average up to something respectable, Ruiz has pretty well tanked again, despite looking better at the plate in general – more comfortable, getting better bat location on the ball, and finally his BABIP has turned around some, so the luck factor has backed out of the equation. Some guys simply take a bit to adjust to a new level, and while Ruiz’s start was about as bad as it could have been, he’s rebounded somewhat, and a guy his age in AA is no small feat.
There are concerns about his fielding as well. In the game in which the above photo was taken, Mobile ripped three doubles down the third base line. Ruiz didn’t even react. On another play, a single was hit between third and short. He didn’t move. Ruiz later made an excellent short-hop pick on a ball hit directly at him, but he simply appears to have little or no ‘first step’ reaction, which speaks poorly of any kind of positional range. 15 errors in 108 games isn’t actually that egregious for AA, but it also suggests that he’s not nearly an elite at the position, either.
As it is, though, when Ruiz was acquired in mid-January (via the Astros in the Evan Gattis trade), Braves’ fans were practically celebrating his arrival. Finally! A genuine third base prospect! Kyle Kubitza was turned loose the week before; Edward Salcedo was … just bad at the position in all respects; and all we had to look forward to was Chris Johnson for the foreseeable future.
The question was whether Ruiz’ bat would actually work above A-ball. While the jury still seems to be out on that verdict, the Braves have made a call: it’s Hector Olivera. As a result, it would appear that Ruiz is going to be left with the chore of proving himself worthy enough to be traded to a team with a need at the hot corner, for the best he can now hope for in a Braves’ uniform is that he makes AAA and becomes the call-up backup guy in case of an Olivera injury (but even that assumes he could beat out Adonis Garcia for that role).
Stats:
- Mississippi (AA, 108 games): .218/.326/.278/.604. 13.6% BB, 20% K, 2 HR, 77 wRC+
TRENDING:
In stark contrast to the way things looked in January, Rio Ruiz now has no path to the majors with Atlanta. It will be up to him to determine how far he can go – whether he can break out as the hitter that teams expect to see at this position, and then whether his glove can play well enough to avoid being a liability. Those are not tall demands of a genuine prospect, but right now, Ruiz is showing neither to the degree necessary to progress. Expect him to start again at AA in 2016.
Next: Young Lefty