July 20th, 2019 at 4:40 pm 
by Ron Cervenka ThinkBlueLA has learned from a trusted source that Dodgers number one-ranked prospect Keibert Ruiz has been promoted from the Double-A Drillers to the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers.
Ruiz, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Saturday, was signed by the Dodgers as an international free agent at the age of 16. He immediately gain attention as an excellent defensive catcher and with the bat. As a result, he moved up quickly through the Dodgers minor league system, arriving at Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga midway through the 2017 season as an 18-year-old. After the season, he was selected to participate in the prestigious Arizona Fall League.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
The Valencia, Venezuela native returned to Double-A Tulsa this season, where he slashed .254 / .329 /.330 /.659 with nine doubles and four home runs, while driving in 25 runs. Defensively, Ruiz posted a phenomenal .995 fielding percentage with the Drillers, having committed only three errors in 592 total chances.
There has been no official announcement on the move, nor has a corresponding roster move been announced. That being said, Ruiz is being promoted to a team that already has an MLB-ready catcher in Will Smith. As such, one has to suspect that something is up on the Dodgers catching front.
Stay tuned…
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They are getting ready to dump Barnes.
Looks like the Dodgers are finally ready to flip Ruiz in that potential bullpen arm deal as well as send Smith back up with the parent club where he should’ve been all along. And yeah, this also means that either Barnes is going right back to AAA OKC (never to be seen nor heard from again, hopefully) or will get shipped out in another deal for what seems to be Friedman’s favorite return for players like him: “cash considerations”, lol.
Ruiz is probably the most valuable (and practical) trade chip the Dodgers have, but I don’t see why it would be necessary to send him to OKC to facilitate it.
Regarding Barnes: I think he’ll be in another uniform no later than next season (possibly next week) but he’s not disappearing. A solid defensive catcher will always have a place on somebody’s roster. Add his versatility and we’ll be seeing him for a long time.
>>Ruiz is probably the most valuable (and practical) trade chip the Dodgers have, but I don’t see why it would be necessary to send him to OKC to facilitate it.<>Regarding Barnes: I think he’ll be in another uniform no later than next season (possibly next week) but he’s not disappearing. A solid defensive catcher will always have a place on somebody’s roster.<<
Perhaps, just not on the Dodgers' roster though. Time to start separating the wheat from the chaff at this point in the season and Barnes ought to make a fine start in that sense.
🙂
You’re absolutely right and yet it bothers me because Barnesy has been a solid team player. Never a malcontent, always trying hard, not blaming anyone. Just the kind of personality you want on a championship team. To leave him off the team now after making both 2017 & 2018 WS will be cold but I suppose he’s had plenty of time to emerge from whatever is holding back his offense….like maybe he just doesn’t have it. It’s a tough, tough decision but someone has to make it.
What do you THINK Friedman could get for Barnes about now? You want a non-prospect prospect taking up roster space just so they can say they got someone?
Barnes is a solid defensive catcher and even a serviceable 2B in the rare instances they have played him there. That DOESN’T justify keeping him on THIS team, but I have to wonder about going down the stretch run (much less post season play) with a rookie like Smith and an old-though-solid veteran in Martin.
All that said, I have baad feeling Ruiz will become a star with another team. UGH.
Dan, Smith is no typical wide-eyed rookie and actually does have postseason experience (at the college level, anyway). From what I’ve seen of him on the parent club so far, he’s READY. And maybe Ruiz does end up starring on another club in due time, but at least the Dodgers built up his trade value enough to potentially get something good back in return for once (no more Yordan Alvarez for Josh Fields-type deals going down here, lol). Besides, Dodgers are not running out of quality C prospects anytime soon and they even got a couple interesting ones moving up the pipeline as I’m typing this out.
The idea of a Smith/Martin C tandem moving forward is about what I was expecting the Dodgers to roll with at some point. And as for what Friedman could possibly get for Barnes right now, a nice low-level “sleeper” prospect wouldn’t hurt…
“I have baad feeling Ruiz will become a star with another team.”
That is likely to happen, and someday we may be hearing how the Dodgers “gave up” on Ruiz. Of course, that’s not what’s happening.
It wouldn’t be beneficial to either player, nor the team, to keep them both. Though on a small sample size, IMHO, Smith has established his MLB credentials. Having another year to choose between the two would be nice but I’m thinking the time is now and at this point it’s Smith.
I agree with everything you said about Barnes, but we all know he’s going to lose the everyday catching job soon. There will always be a place for a solid defensive catcher and he’ll probably have a good career, maybe longer because much of that time he’ll be #2, and end it like Russell is doing now, as a veteran presence and mentor to a young catcher.
I’ll have to go check him out while he’s here