Baltimore Orioles: 2020 Presents A Big Opportunity For Rio Ruiz

Is Rio Ruiz ready to take the next step for the Baltimore Orioles?

The 2019 season saw the emergence of starting pitcher John Means, outfielder Anthony Santander, and a season from Hanser Alberto which no one saw coming. Will anyone step up for the Baltimore Orioles and surprise us in 2020?

There are a few guys who could step up and have a breakthrough 2020 but when looking over the 2019 roster and numbers, the name Rio Ruiz stands above the rest in terms of a potential breakout season. The opportunity is sure to be there, but will Ruiz capitalize?

Four different Orioles started at third base last year, including Ruiz (89 games), Hanser Alberto (58 games), Renato Nunez (8 games), and Jace Peterson (7 games). Depending on how the roster situation sorts out (Does Jonathan Villar return? Is Richie Martin sent to the minors? Does Hanser Alberto play more second base?), even more playing time will be available for Ruiz, one of the more improved hitters over the course of the season in 2019.

First, a look at the positives. Ruiz is just 25 years old and coming off his first extended experience at the major league level. He’s a left-handed bat in the lineup, improved his wRC+ from 69 in the first half of the season to 97 after the All-Star break, and he played some of the best defense on the Orioles roster last year.

Despite a dip in batting average to .227 during the second half of the season, Ruiz recorded 15 extra-base hits, three more than his total before the break and in 117 fewer plate appearances (.095 ISO pre-AS break, .235 after).  He also slightly raised his walk rate to over 10% and dropped his strikeout rate by nearly 4%, down to 18.9% from the first half to the second half of the season.

With his two Defensive Runs Saved and 3.2 Defensive Rating, according to Fangraphs, Ruiz was among the team leaders in both categories. Only Hanser Alberto at second base played better defense this season, looking at the advanced defensive metrics. Among all third basemen in baseball with a least 500 innings played at the position, Ruiz ranked 16th in Defensive Rating and 14th in Defensive Runs Saved. Not bad at all for the first-year Oriole.

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Not only did Rio Ruiz show improvements, play respectable defense in the hot corner, and start to show some pop late in the year, Ruiz added value to the Orioles by posting the second-highest Win Probability Added (WPA) on the roster at 1.4, sitting only behind Trey Mancini and his 1.8 WPA.

Ruiz was largely seen as a depth piece when claimed off waivers from the Atlanta Braves, but developed into an intriguing player who has an opportunity to break out in 2020 and take the third base job for himself.  The only third base prospect of note is Rylan Bannon, who may have a better career at second base. Unless a worthy free agent is brought in this offseason, there’s no threat to Ruiz and his playing time.

While the early stages of a rebuild may be difficult to watch, it has given players like Rio Ruiz an opportunity to establish himself in the major leagues. As someone who always roots for the underdog, I love these types of stories and hope Ruiz succeeds.

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