Edwin Rios trying to make up for lost opportunity

Phil Gurnee ♦ June 11, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

By all rights, the call to Oklahoma for Max Muncy should have gone to Edwin Rios the 2016 Dodgers position prospect of the year.  The problem for Rios was that he wasn’t at Oklahoma to accept the call, instead, he was rehabbing in Arizona. Rios could only think of what could have been as Max Muncy replaced Justin Turner at 3rd base, then Cody Bellinger at 1st, and then Justin Turner again, all the while watching Muncy mashing like he belonged in the major leagues his whole career instead of being classified as a AAAA player.

Rios was one of the Dodgers highest ranked position prospects not Max Muncy.  Rios was the guy who put on a hitting clinic this spring, not Max Muncy.  Rios was the guy who also just happened to play the exact same positions as Max Muncy, 1st and 3rd base.

They both tore up the PCL last year but one guy was twenty-three and the other was twenty-six.

In 2017 on the same team in the same league:

• Rios had nine home runs in 169 plate appearances and posted a .901 OPS.
• Max Muncy had twelve home runs in 320 plate appearances and posted a .905 OPS.
• Muncy got his .905 OPS by virtue of a plus .400 OBP while Rios did it more with a plus .500 slug%.

But it is Max Muncy who is in now in the catbird seat that Rios would have rightly expected to be his. It was common talk this spring that Rios could hit, but had no position because of Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger. Now we sit in the middle of June and even after coming off the disabled list, you can see Justin Turner sitting on the bench more often than manning third base as his injury has lingered longer than his disabled list stint. It would surprise no one if he takes another 10-Day DL stint to get more time for his troublesome injury. At least Justin Turner had an injury when Max Muncy replaced him at 3rd base. Max simply shoved Cody Bellinger to centerfield.

Without Max Muncy, I’m not sure where the Dodgers would be, but at least we now know that if something happens to Max, Edwin Rios is ready to get his shot.

Rios finally showed up to play in 2018 on May 25th and has done what he has done his entire minor league career. Punish the baseball. Rios has had multiple hits in seven of the thirteen games he’s been in, including eight extra-base hits in just fifty-two at-bats for a triple stat line of .365/ .411/ .635.

Rios hit two home runs yesterday and Baseball America checked in him.

• Edwin Rios, 1B, Dodgers. Rios is one of the best pure hitters in the minors and he was on fire on Sunday. Rios hit a pair of home runs and a double as part of a 4-for-5 with 2 runs scored and 5 RBIs