Edwin Rios

Throughout Edwin Ríos' career, he popped 13 home runs with a .207 batting average in 199 plate appearances. It's a small sample, but Ríos boasts a career barrel rate of 16.5% with a 113.5 mph maximum exit velocity (89th-percentile) in 2021. Ríos has below average contact rates, evidenced by the 78.7% Z-Contact% and 67.7% Contact% in his career. Unfortunately, Ríos underwent surgery to repair a partially torn right labrum in May 2021, so it's to be determined when he returns in 2022. Assuming health, Ríos will likely struggle to find playing time with other lefty bats on the Dodgers filling a similar role, including Gavin Lux, Matt Beaty, Zach McKinstry, and Luke Raley. The raw power exists with Ríos, but temper expectations as he recovers from the shoulder surgery, especially with question marks surrounding playing time.

Rios earned a spot on the Dodgers' 30-man roster and backed up the corner-infield spots until he was felled by a hamstring injury, initiating an IL stay for the final two weeks of August. On Sept. 15, Rios was slashing just .196/.263/.510 but finished with a flourish, recording a .360/.385/.920 line down the stretch. With eight homers and six doubles among Rios' 19 hits, he exhibited his 70-grade power. Rios' 21.7 K% was in line with his minor-league track record, though he'll need to be more selective than a 4.8 BB% to maximize production. Defense at the hot corner and being blocked at first base pose a playing-time concern, but there's no doubt Rios' bat is major-league ready for his age-27 season and the Dodgers will find a way to get it in the lineup. You'll need to find steals elsewhere, but Rios' contact provides a playable batting average floor with plus power.

In a lesser organization, Rios would be a more exciting prospect. The 25-year-old hit .270/.340/.575 in 104 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City and .277/.393/.617 in his first 56 plate appearances for the Dodgers. Limited to the corners defensively on one of the deepest rosters in the National League, however, Rios has as high of a bar as anyone in the league to clear if he's to earn a starting role. He ranked in the top-five in average exit velocity (95.0 mph) and Brls/PA% (12.5), but he has struck out at least 32% of the time for two straight seasons, raising questions about his ability to consistently get to that power. The Dodgers excel at getting the most out of their players, so with sufficient playing time, Rios would make for an excellent flier. However, barring injuries ahead of him or a trade, it seems likely he will spend another year getting shuttled between Triple-A and the majors.

The first baseman was added to the Dodgers' 40-man roster in November for Rule 5 protection, but it will be hard for a player with his defensive limitations to crack one of the deepest rosters in the league. The 25-year-old's .304/.355/.482 line in 88 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City was certainly good, but it came with a 32.3% strikeout rate and was propped up by an unsustainable .433 BABIP. Scouts like Rios' big raw power, but his plate discipline is poor. The offensive bar at first base is even higher on a team as good as the Dodgers, and barring multiple injuries ahead of him on the depth chart, Rios may not see more than a handful of at-bats in Los Angeles this season.

A pop-up first base prospect in 2016, Rios' production merited tracking, but his lack of pedigree (2015 sixth rounder), age and position pointed toward a future Quadruple-A hitter. In 2017, he did everything in his power to extinguish those concerns. After posting walk rates around four or five percent, he walked 9.5 percent of the time in his first exposure to Triple-A pitching while keeping his strikeout rate in a very manageable range (22.1 percent). He doesn't rely on pulling the ball, posting a .237 ISO in the Pacific Coast League while spraying 38.3 percent of his hits to the opposite field. Rios hits left-handed, so at worst, he would profile on the strong side of a platoon, assuming he can work his way into a regular role. He can masquerade in left field or at third base, but it's hard to envision the Dodgers sacrificing defense to that extent. He will return to Triple-A to start the season and will be ready to answer the call if there is a need on the big-league club.

A sixth-round pick out of Florida International in the 2015 draft, Rios had a productive 2016 campaign. Across three levels, the 22-year-old hit .301 with 27 home runs and 76 RBI. Red flags put a damper on the rather deceiving totals for Rios, though. He fanned 110 times in 108 games, while drawing just 24 walks. In addition, his numbers are skewed by his brief time in the hitter-friendly confines of the California League: .367 with 16 home runs and 46 RBI in 42 games for High-A Rancho Cucamonga. By contrast, Rios hit just .253 with 11 home runs and 30 RBI in 66 games at the other levels in 2016. Will the real Edwin Rios please stand up? He should open his age-23 campaign at Double-A Tulsa, where a much better sense of his trajectory will take hold.