Baseball Prospectus | | Eyewitness Scouting Report


	Keibert Ruiz Born: 07/20/1998 (Age: 19)
	Bats: Switch	Throws: Right
	Height: 6' 0"	Weight: 225
	Primary Position: C
	Secondary Position: DH

Medium height, athletic catchers build with sturdy muscle in lower body and lean torso. Mostly filled out despite age; could put on a little extra weight on upper body.

More fluid than twitchy with coordinated athleticism.

Evaluator	Kevin Carter
Report Date	07/05/2018
Dates Seen	7/1/2018-7/2/2018
Affiliate	Tulsa Drillers (AA, Dodgers)

MLB ETA	Risk Factor	OFP	Video
2020	Moderate	60	No

Tool	Future Grade	Report
Hit	50	Starts with big leg kick and hands low at letters, fires hips when foot lands and opens up the lower body before upper body comes through. Swing is usually long with some arm bar in front arm. Average bat speed and quality swing path. Excellent coordination and feel for contact. Right-handed swing is more compact and the lower body doesn't open up as early. Aggressive approach that leads to poor contact more than strike outs when he chases. Can get fooled on average or better breaking stuff.
Power	40	Average raw power. Strong hips with swing path that should translate into pull-side home run power, especially from the left side. Bat speed and approach will likely limit his contact ability and keep his home run totals down.
Baserunning/Speed	35	Average top speed currently, but below-average acceleration. At least early in career will be better runner than most catchers, but will slow down with wear and tear.
Glove	55	Receiving normally natural, but occasionally isn't smooth, especially on pitches above and below zone. Above-average footwork that should continue to improve with reps. Controls the game well and recognizes when the pitcher needs a moment.
Arm	50	Average arm strength with quality footwork on throws that make up for having less arm than usual for the position.

Keibert Ruiz's excellent hand-eye coordination and fluid athleticism should lead the way to his overall projection as a major-league regular at catcher. The switch-hitter makes contact consistently on balls in and out of the zone. As his approach improves, he should hit for an average batting average while hitting 8-12 home runs, more coming from the left side. Ruiz should be an above-average defender who controls the run game well enough to let the other tools shine through.

Ruiz is currently over-aggressive at the plate which leads to mostly weak contact on balls that should have put him into a more advantageous count. This combined with his average bat speed could limit his contact to the point where he will be more serviceable as a backup catcher.

More than likely, the 19 year old will iron out some of the kinks in his approach and he will be able to tap into the skill-set enough. His upside is tied to his approach and how much of his average raw power he taps into and with large improvements he could produce fringe-allstar value.