Ogden Raptors third baseman Rylan Bannon was selected by the Dodgers in the eighth round of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft out of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The native of Joliet, Illinois attended high school at Joliet Catholic Academy in his home town. Upon graduation, Bannon headed off to Xavier and three years of play with the Musketeers.

Bannon hit only .194 in his freshman year and had an equally discouraging OBP of .284. However, it seems the 5’10”/180-pound right-handed hitter saw his first year of college ball as a learning experience and a challenge rather than just a discouragement.

Something happened with Rylan Bannon on the way to the ball park in 2016. First, he made a personal adjustment realizing that continuing to do the same thing just wasn’t working. He made a simple but career changing adjustment with a new approach at the plate.

“I took the approach, especially after freshman year, that I was going to hit the ball hard,” Bannon said. “I used to try to get base hits, and freshman year, I realized that approach wasn’t translating. So, I started trying to hit the ball harder.”

As a sophomore in 2016 he raised his batting average to .277 and his OBP to .390, both very respectable and much improved over his 2015 performance with the Musketeers.

Following his 2016 freshman year at Xavier, Bannon played summer ball with the Savannah Bananas of the Coastal Plain League. His new approach continued to work for him with the Bananas as he posted a slash line of .355/.509/.508 with 27 runs batted in over 38 games. His growth as a hitter also continued in the summer league as the Savannah coaching staff helped him to expand his game at the plate.

“He had a great year at Xavier and continues to play well here,” Bananas manager Sean West said. “He has some power, a lot of pull-side power. He can pull the ball with the best of them, but what we’ve been working on with him is to utilize the whole field. I think that’s helping his numbers.”

In his junior year in 2017 Bannon broke out and was named the Big East Conference Player of the Year. He had a triple slash of .339/.449/.633 over 61 games along with 15 home runs and 51 runs batted in. He stole 17 bases in 18 attempts and ranked in the top 10 in the Big East in 12 offensive categories.

Bannon, who turned 21 on April 22, made his professional debut with the Raptors on June 25 against the Orem Owlz. He was not to get his first hit as a professional until his second game against the Owlz in Orem. His first hit at home the next night in Lindquist Field was one to remember as he touched them all in the first inning with a two-run home run off Orem’s starter right-hander Tyler Carpenter.

“Yeah, it’s kinda cool coming out here, it’s a great atmosphere with the fans, being out here in Ogden is awesome,” Bannon said. “Being able to put one out on the first at-bat is awesome, too.”

Rylan Bannon
(Photo credit – Tom Wylie)

On the season, he is hitting .373 along with an OBP of .435 and an OPS of 1.052. Bannon has hit seven home runs and driven in 22 runs. He has hit safely in 21 of his 28 games played and has 12 multiple hit games including a 4-hit game against the Billings Mustangs on August 12.

During the current campaign – according to Fangraphs – Bannon has been putting his new approach to work as 51.9 percent of his batted balls are pulled to left field, while 30.9 percent are hit up the middle and 17.3 per cent are to the opposite field.

Rylan Bannon has continued to excel on defense, as well as at the plate, both of which will be needed as the Raptors continue their play-off push over the next 15 games. They currently enjoy a two-game lead over Grand Junction with five September games remaining with the Rockies.