Rio Ruiz Feature from MiLB

rico43

<B>Director of Minor League Reports</B>
(BOLD emphasis mine ... Rico)

Even though he's the youngest player on the Triple-A Braves roster, Rio Ruiz already has more than 500 games of professional experience. He knows the type of consistency and confidence it takes to succeed.

Atlanta's No. 15 prospect homered, doubled and walked twice while driving in five runs Thursday night as Gwinnett topped visiting Buffalo, 6-4.

"I've always said that age is just a number. If you can play somewhere and someone is younger than me and can play up here or even in the big leagues, that's where they should play," Ruiz said. "If you have confidence, you can play at any level. I've had confidence this entire year and the guys on the team have helped me build it up all season."

One thing the 22-year-old third baseman has been working on is finding more success against southpaws. Ruiz is slashing .198/.288/.225 against left-handed pitchers this season, compared with .294/.377/.466 against righties.

"The numbers aren't up to par with what I want against lefties, but I've been hitting them hard and haven't had any luck," the California native said. "That's just the way it's gone against lefties, so everybody all of a sudden thinks I can't hit them. Really, I don't have any problem -- I just don't seem to find the holes against lefties."

After working a walk to lead off the second inning, Ruiz sent a 2-1 offering from Buffalo starter Scott Copeland (3-2) over the right-field wall for a two-run homer in the third.

"It was a good pitch over the plate and I got the barrel on it. It was a good enough swing to put it out," Ruiz said. "My approach has been the same the entire year. I've done some tinkering here and there to help battle through the grind of a long season, but I approach each at-bat the same way."

With the bases loaded and nobody out in the fifth, Ruiz was simply looking to send something to the outfield to extend the lead. He ended up clearing the bases with a double to left.

"I was just trying to get something up in the zone that I could drive to the outfield," the 2012 fourth-round pick said. "I went after that one, it was a good enough pitch to put out that way. It found some grass and I was able to put some runs on the board for our pitcher [Jed Bradley], who threw a heck of a game."

In the seventh, Ruiz battled Buffalo reliever Bo Schultz for a nine-pitch walk to reach for the fourth time. In 122 games this season, the California native's slashing .269/.355/.403 with 10 homers and 56 RBIs.

He has played in at least 110 games in four straight seasons.

"I work hard to be on the field every single day," Ruiz said. "I want to play every day, no matter who's pitching. I want to continue to get better, and the only way you can do that is playing every day and being in situations you may face down the road.

"I want to be in situations where the team's counting on me. My mentality is that I'm going to go out there every day and give it everything that I've got."

Bradley (2-0) allowed one run on five hits and four walks while striking out six over seven innings.
 
He's had a strong season. One thing I've liked is a reduction in strikeouts as the season as progressed. He had 26 strikeouts in April, 27 in May, 19 in June and July, and 18 so far in August. August has been his best month for power, with four home runs, six doubles and a triple so far.
 
The numbers against RHP are really impressive. My guess is he'll get a full shot to be the starting 3B in a platoon situation next year. He's had a really solid season.
 
The numbers against RHP are really impressive. My guess is he'll get a full shot to be the starting 3B in a platoon situation next year. He's had a really solid season.

He had slightly reverse splits last year. The splits data can bounce around from season to season. My guess is that over his career they won't be as extreme as they have been this year. But a role as a backup or platoon player next year would be a good way to ease him into major league action. I would be ok with him starting the year in AAA and coming up as a need arises.
 
Its hard to project him. I like him as a prospect a lot though. Not sure he's going to be great at anything, but might be solid all around. Jeff Cirillo with more strikeouts?
 
Its hard to project him. I like him as a prospect a lot though. Not sure he's going to be great at anything, but might be solid all around. Jeff Cirillo with more strikeouts?

I don't either. I wouldn't give him away, but I wouldn't plan a spot for him either. I think it's too early to tell.
 
I'd love to see him get an early shot next year, maybe initially as a platoon or part-timer as 50 suggests.
 
I think we are seeing a little bit of a confidence induced power surge at the end of this year. Guy has the body for some pop, but may just be getting everything else going to realize that potential.

I don't think we are seeing a budding star, but a serviceable player? Possibly
 
I don't think we are seeing a budding star, but a serviceable player? Possibly

That's the way I see both him and Peterson.

Putting it in probabilities, something like this:

10% chance of being a bust
20% chance of being a useful bench player over a multi-year period
30% chance of having a significant run as part of a platoon
30% chance of being an everyday regular over a multi-year period
10% chance of being an All-Star caliber player over a multi-year period
 
The presence of Ruiz and Garcia allows the team to wait for a bargain at 3b to present itself this offseason, much like Freese last offseason. A Ruiz/Garcia platoon is a decent Plan B or C, but the Braves should be looking to upgrade the position. They could probably provide 1-2 WAR combined of deployed properly, and that is OK when they are cheap.

The issue is a team can't win while settling on 1-2 WAR solutions all over the field like the Braves will be at LF, RF, C, 3B, and more than half the rotation slots. If you want to win you can't have more than a couple positions filled with below average players unless you have a few stars to make up for it. The Braves only have 1 star in Freeman, so the rest of the positions need to be average or better.

3B should be easy to upgrade this offseason, so they need to upgrade it.
 
I think we are seeing a little bit of a confidence induced power surge at the end of this year. Guy has the body for some pop, but may just be getting everything else going to realize that potential.

I don't think we are seeing a budding star, but a serviceable player? Possibly

I think this is the time to trade him. If we are truly going after a TOR starting pitcher then we are going to have to give up some prospects. A serviceable player at a premium position is the one you are willing to give up.

A package of Rio, Povse, Whalen would be a good starting point to getting a MLB starter.
 
I think this is the time to trade him. If we are truly going after a TOR starting pitcher then we are going to have to give up some prospects. A serviceable player at a premium position is the one you are willing to give up.

A package of Rio, Povse, Whalen would be a good starting point to getting a MLB starter.

I don't see that package getting a TOR starter.
 
I don't see that package getting a TOR starter.

He was rather clever in his phrasing. First, he mentions a TOR starter. Then he mentions a package that is a starting point. But a starting point for what? Not a TOR starter but a MLB starter.
 
He was rather clever in his phrasing. First, he mentions a TOR starter. Then he mentions a package that is a starting point. But a starting point for what? Not a TOR starter but a MLB starter.

Reading comprehension is very hard for some people.
 
One thing the 22-year-old third baseman has been working on is finding more success against southpaws. Ruiz is slashing .198/.288/.225 against left-handed pitchers this season, compared with .294/.377/.466 against righties.

"The numbers aren't up to par with what I want against lefties, but I've been hitting them hard and haven't had any luck," the California native said. "That's just the way it's gone against lefties, so everybody all of a sudden thinks I can't hit them. Really, I don't have any problem -- I just don't seem to find the holes against lefties."
.

Dude, no offense, but if you're slugging .225 against lefties, your problems go deeper than hitting in bad luck and not finding the holes.
 
That's the way I see both him and Peterson.

Putting it in probabilities, something like this:

10% chance of being a bust
20% chance of being a useful bench player over a multi-year period
30% chance of having a significant run as part of a platoon
30% chance of being an everyday regular over a multi-year period
10% chance of being an All-Star caliber player over a multi-year period

I feel like Peterson has been much more impressive, but haven't seen his stats lately. But leading your league in doubles at a young age is maybe a little more than fringy.
 
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