Astros Minor League Depth - Third Base

[4/13/14 UPDATE: Ryan Dineen and Darwin Rivera are no longer in the organization.]

Earlier this week, we looked at the Astros minor league depth at the first base position. Today, let's move to the hot corner. There were a number of players who played third base in the Astros system in 2013, but those players listed below were the only players who spent a majority of their time at the position. For the sake of this exercise, I'm going to consider players such as Joe Sclafani and Angel Ibanez (who spent extensive time at two or more positions) as utility players. The players have been sorted high to low by OPS.

 

Matt Duffy - August 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

Jonathan Meyer is known as a plus defender at the position and his bat is a work in progress, but he definitely has more than a little power. My interview with Meyer, posted on Wednesday, will give you much more insight into the type of player he is. Matt Duffy started his season with Lancaster and was promoted to the Hooks in August. Duffy has been known more for his bat than for his defense in the past, but that has changed and he is now considered a solid defender by most. Duffy's offensive numbers fell off in the 24 games after the promotion, but he ended the season on a high note, hitting .289/.325/.500 over his last 10 games. Duffy's overall OPS for the season was the highest in the Astros minor league system in 2013 for any player not named George Springer. Both Meyer and Duffy were named post-season All-Stars, Meyer for the Texas League and Duffy for the California League.

Rio Ruiz - April 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

At the lower levels of the organization, Tyler White (the Astros 33rd round 2013 draft pick), went on a rampage in his first professional season. His bat earned him two promotions over a very short time frame. He breezed through 18 games with the Gulf Coast League Astros and 18 games with the Greeneville Astros before landing in Tri-City for his final 28 games. His bat cooled off a bit in the New York-Penn League, but he still managed a more than respectable .286/.362/.384 batting line there. White walked 27 times while striking out only 24 times in 64 games. Adam Nelubowich, another 2013 draftee (18th round) started off slowly with the bat, but started hitting better toward the end of the season. He hit .278/.391/.333 over his last 10 games.

Rio Ruiz' batting line for the season does not do justice to the season he had. After a slow start, he got progressively better each month. By the end of the season, the fourth round 2012 draft pick was putting up some monster numbers. In his final 10 games of the season, Ruiz hit .395/.452/.711. He hit .370 with three home runs and seven RBI in the post-season.

Darwin Rivera is in his fourth season with the Astros system. A post-season All-Star for the GCL in 2012, he wasn't able to duplicate that success with Greeneville in 2013. He turned 22 in October. 25th round 2012 draft pick Ryan Dineen has struggled with the bat in his two seasons with the organization although he has shown some decent on-base skills.

Randy Cesar, a Dominican prospect who just turned 19 earlier this month, was one of the offensive highlights on a Dominican Summer League team that didn't generate a lot of offense. Cesar hit a very solid .286/.392/.365 in August, the final month of the season.