Baltimore Orioles: Are You Ready to Trust Third Base to Rio Ruiz

For most of the 2010s, the Baltimore Orioles had one of the most consistent third basemen in the league.

But after trading him to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Baltimore Orioles have struggled to fill that position with anyone close to Manny Machado‘s skill level on defense and offense.

With Rio Ruiz on the roster to play third base again, are you ready to trust him at the hot corner?

This is a tough question to answer. On one hand, he did perform better in 2019 with the O’s than he did with the Braves in 2018. But, is he the man who should lead the Orioles through their rebuild?

With Hanser Alberto expected to be at second base, the Orioles look to be trusting Ruiz with everyday third base duties. The 25-year-old seems to be taking it seriously, too. Prior to the shutdown, his Spring Training numbers looked good. He hit .440/.464/.680 with a home runs and a pair of doubles.

Ruiz looked like he had been working out during the off-season. His shoulders looked a bit broader and his legs stronger. That’s saying something has he looked fit in 2019. Expectations are high for Ruiz, and they have been for most of his life. As a high school freshman, he verbally committed to play baseball at USC. But, he never did. Instead, he signed with the Astros right out of high school.

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But the Big Leagues have proven to be a bit harder than expected for Ruiz. With the Astros preference for Alex Bregman at third, Ruiz had nowhere to go with the organization, so they traded him to the Braves in 2015. He saw a little bit of time with them, but hat organization also had a different third baseman in mind in 2019: Josh Donaldson. He’s since joined the Minnesota Twins and the Braves are looking to 26-year-old Johan Camargo to fill his shoes.

The MLB is loaded with outstanding third basemen. Unfortunately, when it comes to hitting, Ruiz doesn’t rank in the top 20 in any category when comparing him to others in the League. However, when looking at his defense, his .969 fielding percentage ranks him in the eighth spot, behind Donaldson. His range factor of 2.16 put him 15th between Gio Urshela and Eduardo Escobar. Hopefully, the hitting will improve, as it looked to be during the shortened Spring Training season.

Honestly, what do the Orioles have to lose? Their expectations are low. They already have the lowest payroll in the MLB, and the team is loaded with young players who are hungry for success. They have something to prove, and Baltimore might just be the place they get to do it.