Dodgers: Under the Radar Prospects to Keep an Eye on in 2018

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394587 04: Members of the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Police and Fire Departments hold a large American flag during a moment of silence September 17, 2001 in the outfield of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CA. Baseball returned to the playing fields nearly a week after terrorism halted major league play. (Photo by Jason Kirk/Getty Images) /

Keibert Ruiz, Catcher

All this kid does is hit. He is a catcher and has hit at every level he has been in. Staying true to his home country of Venezuela that has produced some of the best pure hitters in all of baseball; Jose Altuve, Miguel Cabrera, and Victor Martinez among others. At every level, Ruiz has maintained a batting average above .300. For this reason, he has gotten some well-deserved exposure as of late.

He shot up the Dodgers rankings with many players graduating to the bigs and other being traded, along with him just flat out being dominant. According to Baseball America, he’s ranked as the third-best prospect in the Dodgers system behind Walker Buehler and Alex Verdugo, respectively. All the more impressive seeing that many other rankings didn’t even have him in the top twenty entering 2017.

This jump was well deserved as he hits well, especially for a catcher. He has always hit for average, but one thing that is coming along is his power numbers. He hit 8 home runs last season which was significantly more than his 2 in 2016 and 1 in 2015. That’s a good trend to see from a young player.

He is only 19 years old and has made quite the impression at every single level he has been in. One reason we may not see him in the near future is his youth and also just the amount of depth at the catcher position. Catcher is definitely an organizational strong suit of the Dodgers. Keep your eyes on Ruiz and his development as he might just be your everyday catcher in 3-4 years.

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