Series: Houston Astros Top 3 Third Base Prospects

1. Rio Ruiz

Drafted in the 4th round of the 2012 MLB Draft, Ruiz was thought to be a first round talent coming into the draft but a life-threatening injury (blood clot by the neck plus a separate knee injury) and signability issues had him fall to the fourth. Instead of spending full slot with the first overall pick of the 2012 draft, the Astros were able to spend big elsewhere in the draft, and took Lance McCullers Jr. and  Ruiz with their extra money following the selection of Carlos Correa.

As an Astros minor leaguer, Ruiz had struggled up until the second half of the 2013 season. 2012 was his first major playing time since his junior season in High School. Struggles were expected. In 2012, Ruiz slashed .252/.336/.400 with one home run in 135 at bats. For an 18-year old at the Rookie level, the numbers weren’t too bad, especially considering his situation.

2013 was supposed to be more promising, but it still took some time for Ruiz to get into cruise control. It was two different seasons for Ruiz. The 19-year old at Low Single-A Quad Cities batted just .211 with 3 home runs in the first half of the season. Ruiz bounced back big time in the second half hitting 9 home runs with a .297 average and .875 OPS.

Defensively, was considered a pretty good defender at the hot corner coming out of High School and should be a bit better than an above average defensive third baseman in the future.

If his second half of the 2013 season is any indication what is to come, the Astros may have their future All-Star third baseman just a few seasons away. Ruiz will either continue at Quad Cities or start his 2014 season at Lancaster.