June 20th is the date to remember

Phil Gurnee ♦ January 10, 2019 ♦ Leave a comment

I can’t get hung up on Austin Barnes as the starting catcher. Barnes will either grow into the role and be more than adequate, or the Dodgers replace him externally or internally. I’m betting on internally.

HOF Pudge Rodriguez was twenty years old on June 20th, 1991 when he started his major league career.  It just so happens that Pudge was playing minor league ball in AA for Tulsa when he was brought up by the Rangers to be their starting catcher for the next twelve seasons.  Does Tulsa sound familiar? It should because that is where Keibert Ruiz played last summer as a 19-year-old.

As you can see from the minor league history of Pudge, he never hit much in the minors. His receiving skills were so prodigious that his defense got him to the major leagues before his bat was ready.  When Pudge was in AA in 1991 he was 5 years younger than the average AA player.

Year    Age AgeDif            Tm   Lg Lev Aff    PA  BB   SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
1989     17   -4.4      Gastonia SALL   A TEX   418  21   58 .238 .278 .355 .633
1990     18   -4.6 PortCharlotte FLOR  A+ TEX   432  12   50 .287 .316 .377 .693
1991     19   -9.5           TEX   AL MLB TEX   288   5   42 .264 .276 .354 .630
1991     19   -5.0         Tulsa   TL  AA TEX   188   6   27 .274 .294 .389 .683
MLB     MLB    MLB                MLB     MLB 10270 513 1474 .296 .334 .464 .798
Mino   Mino   Mino               Mino  Minors  1063  40  140 .265 .296 .372 .668
AA (   AA (   AA (               AA (  Minors   198   7   28 .272 .294 .386 .680
A+ (   A+ (   A+ (               A+ (  Minors   447  12   54 .286 .314 .381 .695

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/10/2019.

Keibert Ruiz is the Dodgers number one prospect. Keibert Ruiz is the number one catching prospect in baseball. He’s a switch hitter who makes constant contact. When Ruiz was in AA last summer he was 4.9 years younger than the average AA player. The Dodgers didn’t have to be so aggressive in promoting Keibert up the minor league ladder but they were. Don’t be surprised if Keibert is the Dodgers starting catcher by August of 2019.

Year    Age AgeDif              Tm    Lg    Lev   PA BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS
2015     16   -2.3         Dodgers  DOSL    FRk  159  8  15 .300 .340 .387  .726
2016            17         2 Teams 2 Lgs     Rk  245 15  27 .374 .412 .527  .939
2016     17   -3.6           Ogden  PION     Rk  206 12  23 .354 .393 .503  .896
2016     17   -2.8         Dodgers  ARIZ     Rk   39  3   4 .485 .513 .667 1.179
2017            18         2 Teams 2 Lgs   A-A+  411 25  53 .316 .361 .452  .813
2017     18   -4.7 RanchoCucamonga  CALL     A+  160  7  23 .315 .344 .497  .840
2017     18   -3.3      GreatLakes  MIDW      A  251 18  30 .317 .372 .423  .795
2018     19   -4.9           Tulsa    TL     AA  415 26  33 .268 .328 .401  .728
2018     19   -3.4        Glendale  AZFL    Fal   56  6   2 .286 .357 .306  .663
Mino   Mino   Mino                  Mino Minors 1230 74 128 .309 .357 .441  .798
All     All    All                          All 1286 80 130 .308 .357 .435  .792

Rk ( Rk ( Rk ( Rk ( Minors 245 15 27 .374 .412 .527 .939

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/10/2019.