Boasting one of the deepest farm systems in all of baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers have unsurprisingly received contributions from a number of their rookies this season. From starters such as Will Smith and Alex Verdugo to role players like Matt Beaty and Edwin Rios, there was no shortage of talent to reach the Majors.
Rios is among the 10 rookie players who appeared in a game for the Dodgers in 2019 and further helped his cause after enjoying a productive campaign with Triple-A Oklahoma City.
During his stint with the top Minor League affiliate, he hit .270/.340/.575 while accumulating 23 doubles, two triples, 31 home runs and 91 RBI in 444 plate appearances (104 games).
Rios traveled back and forth from Triple-A and MLB this season before settling down with yet another promotion in September, which he admitted was difficult at times, per Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times:
“It’s frustrating,” said Rios. “You want to be up here. It’s what you work your whole life for and being on the 40-man [roster], being a call-up year, a lot of things factor in. But you can’t let it affect you.”
Rios made his MLB debut on June 27 as a pinch-hitter and received his first career start at first base two days later, going 2-for-4 with a triple and RBI.
Rios remained with the Dodgers through the first week of July before being optioned back to Oklahoma City, where’d he spend the remainder of the month. Returning to L.A. in early August, the 25-year-old made the most of his opportunities and posted a stellar 1.067 on-base plus slugging across only 24 plate appearances (nine games).
Rios was sent back to Oklahoma City for a second time at the end of the month and did not return to the Dodgers until the second week of September. He wasn’t initially expected to rejoin the team, but plans changed when Alex Verdugo suffered a setback in his recovery from an oblique injury.
After returning to the Dodgers for the remainder of the season, Rios batted .250/.308/.750 with two home runs and four RBI in 11 games. One of those homers was the second-longest ever hit in Petco Park history.
In 28 overall games at the Major League level this season, he hit .277/.393/.617 with seven extra-base hits and eight RBI over 56 plate appearances.
