February 3rd, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by 0799291000348 Over the last few years the Dodgers have resisted the temptation to trade its very best prospects for short term roster improvements; the names are well known to the team’s fans: Julio Urias, Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, and Walker Buehler. At least one more player has likely been added to that select list, Venezuelan Keibert Ruiz. The scouting reports on the 20 year old, switch hitting catcher are glowing and Baseball America just rated him as the games top catching prospect and overall, the 20th best prospect.
Baseball America’s most recent scouting report praises Ruiz as: “… a gifted switch-hitter with excellent timing, bat speed, and loose wrists … giving him excellent plate coverage against all types of pitches;” “…he has progressively added strength … and is now projected to hit double-digit homers to go with his plus bat;” “(his) defense … is advanced for his age and constantly improving…;” “Ruiz’s success on both sides of the ball as a teenager in Double-A makes him the top catching prospect in baseball. His potential as a switch-hitting, middle-of-the-order hitter has him in line to be the next great Dodgers’ homegrown catcher.” High praise indeed!
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka and MiLB.com)
In 2015, the sixteen year old Ruiz started his Dodgers career playing on its Dominican Republic team, where he was more than two years younger than the average player in the league. Scouting reports at the time said that Ruiz’s defense was ahead of his offense, yet his slash line at the end of the season was .300 / .340 / .387 / .726. In 2016 he was assigned to the Arizona Rookie League Dodgers where he hit .485 / .513 / .667 / 1.179 in his first 39 plate appearances and was promoted to the Ogden Raptors where he hit .354 / .393 / .503 / .896 competing against many who had played several years of college baseball.
In 2017 Ruiz was assigned to the Dodgers Low Single A affiliate the Great Lakes Loons and once again he was an offensive force (.317 / .372 / .423 / .795). At the very young age of 18 he was again promoted, this time to the Dodgers Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the extremely competitive California League, where he was almost five years younger than the average player, yet slashed .315 / .344 / .497 / .840.
Last season, playing for the Dodgers Double-A affiliate Tulsa Drillers of the equally competitive Texas League, the nineteen year old Ruiz hit .268 / .328/ .401 / .729 with 12 home runs in 415 plate appearances while striking out only 33 times. Following the season Ruiz played in the prestigious Arizona Fall League along with some of the top prospects in the game. With the Glendale Desert Dogs, Ruiz posted a slash-line of .286 / .357 / .306 / .663.
You only have to watch Ruiz play a few times to know that he is special, very special. Yes, he is only a prospect who has yet to play a game above the Double-A level – a long way from The Show – but he is currently on the Dodgers 40-man roster (a precautionary move to prevent him from being snatched up in the Rule-5 Draft) and very well could be the next generational catcher for the Dodgers and should be considered “untouchable.”
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Should have just called this thread, “The Untouchable”.
Those are amazing accomplishments by the 20 yr old.
It is easy to see WHY Realmuto is probably not coming to the Dodgers.
I believe Marlins will accept a package of Verdugo, Barnes, Smith, Rios, and Alvarez for Realmuto, but will the Dodgers offer that much? I think yes if we compare what team gave up for 2+ months of Machado.
SoCal, that does appear a lot to give up but the one thing we know is certain, and that is Bellinger AND Ruiz are untouchable no matter what. So if a deal can be done without Bellinger and Ruiz being involved, great and I would certainly include Verdugo if he gets a deal done along with Barnes, who now has the MLB experience Marlins would be looking for.
Would you give up all those players to get Muto for 2 yrs? I would not, and I’m betting neither will Friedman. But as much as I like Verdugo, Toles might be even better.
Unless it’s generational talent, I’ve started leaning towards getting established MLB talent (Realmut… https://t.co/rMZuY1ArRn
I’m not sure that we will ever see “generational talent” (I LIKE that term) again in our beloved National Pastime. With arbitration and free agency as it is today, the best we can hope for is/are five-year Dodgers.
That being said, and assuming that you have not followed Keibert Ruiz closely (and despite his tender age), he may be as close to “generational talent” as we are going to see for a while … along with Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger.
BTW – My gut is that the Realmuto ship has already sailed.
Ron, I would guess that any big impact deal now has sailed away
Brandon, the only way to find out if “can’t miss” guys miss is to play them, not trade them away, even if it’s for someone “established” –because even veterans suffer from slumps, age and diminished skills.
Personally I prefer a homegrown team, even if the roster is stocked with nothing but unproven kids. Buehler, Seager and Bellinger were can’t miss guys and they showed they can play. Even if they “missed” elsewhere (see Taylor, Chris or Muncy, Max or, better yet, Turner, Justin)… well, baseball is a funny game at times.
It seems to me what you’re suggesting is let other teams develop the talent then we can buy them off. That’s an expensive way to do things.
Personally, I like the homegrown talent.
You are going to LOVE tomorrow’s article, Bob.
Needs to be!! Untouchable!