The 2022 First-Year Player Draft was held from July 17 through July 19. The Dodgers selected 19 players, all but four of them position players, which was a definite difference from the 2021 draft. During the 2021 First-Year Player Draft the Dodgers also selected 19 players, all but two of them pitchers.
Once the draft is over MLB teams can start to sign undrafted free agents. Effective this year, there is no maximum on the signing bonus an undrafted player can receive, although any amount over $125,000 will count against a team’s bonus pool.
Thus far in 2022, according to Baseball America in its most recent listing, 122 undrafted free agents have been signed by MLB teams. The count goes from a high of 13 with both the Phillies and Padres to a low of zero signings by the Twins and Cubs.
The Dodgers have signed five undrafted free agents and not surprisingly four of them are pitchers. The newest Dodgers are:
- Connor Godwin, RHP, Central Florida JC
- Carter Lohman, LHP, Louisville
- Livan Reinoso, INF, Tennessee Wesleyan
- Christian Ruebeck, RHP, Kansas State
- Lucas Wepf, RHP, Louisiana-Monroe
Today’s column is reserved for Christian Ruebeck, a 6’0”/185 lb. right-hander from Kansas State.
He was born in Denison, Texas and attended Denison High School in his home town where he struck out 235 hitters over 172 2/3 innings in his career, earning Texas all-state and district MVP honors.
Ruebeck earned honorable mention all-state accolades as a Denison senior when he was 6-3 with a 0.65 earned run average in 64.2 innings with 106 strikeouts, 35 walks and 32 hits allowed. The District 10-5A Most Valuable also hit .376 with eight doubles, two triples, two home runs, 22 RBI and scored 25 times.
Ruebeck credits his high school coaches with his success and fostering his love for the game.
“I’ve loved playing Denison baseball,” he said. “The coaching is amazing. Coach Bollinger, I have to give a huge thanks to him. Coach Day, Coach Bo. They’ve coached me a long way in high school.”
Following his dream of at least playing college ball after high school, Ruebeck declared his intention to head to the University of Oklahoma. It was an easy decision.
Christian Ruebeck joins the #Sooners!
⚾ Pitcher
📍 Denison, Texas#OUrtime19 pic.twitter.com/S64MnyLheK— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) November 15, 2018
“I chose Oklahoma because I loved the school growing up,” said Ruebeck. “I grew up going to football games and baseball games there. Then I took a visit to Oklahoma with Skip Johnson the baseball coach there. He showed me around the new facilities at OU, and I just fell in love with the school even more.”
He plied his trade for two years with the Sooners and pitcher primarily in relief with limited success. His 2020 season was shortened to four innings by Covid-19 while his 2021 season was to be his last as a Sooner.
Ruebeck began his college career at Oklahoma, making 16 appearances, one start, in two years there. His start came in 2021 to go with 11 relief outings and he was 0-1 with a 10.38 ERA in 13 innings while striking out 14 and walking 10.
During Big 12 play, Ruebeck made four relief appearances covering nine innings with a 1.00 ERA to go with nine strikeouts and nine walks.
For the 2022 season he transferred to Kansas State University.
Christian Ruebeck
Ruebeck, whose fastball has touched 98 miles per hour, made 13 appearances, four starts, this past spring in his lone season at Kansas State. He was 0-1 with a 9.58 earned run average in 31 innings. He struck out 42 and walked 29. His best outing came against Central Connecticut State when he allowed an earned run on three hits with seven strikeouts in a four-inning start.
During Big 12 play, Ruebeck made four relief appearances covering nine innings with a 1.00 ERA to go with nine strikeouts and nine walks.
Ruebeck’ s numbers with Kansas State most likely did not attract much attention from MLB teams. However, something must have caught the eye of the Dodgers.
Perhaps it was the success he had in the Big 12 in his relief role or perhaps it was his success in relief in the Northwoods League prior to the draft. Memory has it, the Northwoods League is where Dodger right-hander Tony Gonsolin became noticed.
Ruebeck made seven appearances for the Fond du Lock Dock Spiders, going 1-0 with a save and a 1.80 ERA over 10 innings pitched. He has 18 strikeouts, 10 walks and a 1.30 WHIP. He struck out all five batters he faced to earn a save at Madison on June 19 and was credited with the victory on June 6 at Lakeshore after tossing 2.1 scoreless innings without giving up a hit. Over his last six outing he did not give up an earned run during a span of 9.1 innings pitched and recorded 16 strikeouts.
It would seem that he will be stepping on the mound specifically in a relief role and was signed for that role. Maybe the Dodgers saw what Prospects Live saw in the 21-year-old Ruebeck.
Prospects Live Report on Ruebeck – Sleeper Alert
Ruebeck has touched 97 MPH with the fastball and was typically 91-95 over multiple innings this summer. The fastball is of the heavy variety with sinker shape, occasionally flashing some solid tailing movement. He does a good job commanding the fastball to the lower half of the strike zone but not necessarily to either side of the plate. Ruebeck’s fastball can play above average when commanded effectively and it could have plus potential with added velocity. Ruebeck primarily works off his fastball and slider but he’ll also break out a curveball and a changeup. Ruebeck’s slider has some late downward movement on it and it can be a sharp pitch at times.
Ruebeck’s changeup gets good late movement and arm side fade, making it a potential weapon against lefty bats. There’s decent potential for three above average pitches with at least some chance for a plus pitch in the fastball or changeup.
Prospects Live had Ruebeck being selected in the fifth to seventh round of the 2022 draft and listed as a sleeper. I expect it is his command, or lack of, that prevented him from being drafted. Perhaps the Dodgers can help turn that around and turn Ruebeck into a reliever capable of working more than one inning.
Christian Ruebeck
There were two pitching stories at the MiLB level.
The story of the night was Dustin May making his 2nd OKC rehab start. All eyes were on him. For the night his line was 3.0 IP, 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 BB, 6 K, 46 pitches (32 strikes). He is getting closer to ramping up even more. He could be in a position to go 75-90 pitches for LAD by the beginning of September. He hit 99.9 on the gun last night.
The second pitcher was Bobby Miller, who continued with his good month of July. Three out of four were good starts, and two were official quality starts. Last night was one of those. He pitched 6.0 innings allowing only 4 hits, and ZERO walks. He retired the first thirteen batters in order, but allowed a single and a one out 2-run HR for the Travelers only 2 runs. He also had 11 Ks. 11 strikeouts and 0 walks. That’s a good night even if you do give up a 2-run HR.
Diego Cartaya was the hitting star with two 2-run HRs. He now has 8 HRs at Great Lakes and 17 for the season, with 56 RBIs in 68 games, 264 AB. Michael Busch had a three hit night with his 12th OKC HR. He has 23 HRs for the season with 69 RBIs.
The Reds have traded Tyler Naquin and minor league reliever Phillip Diehl to NYM for a pair of low minors prospects, right-hander Jose Acuña and second baseman Hector Rodríguez.
Ruebeck will be 22 soon. He’s listed at 6’ 185. I’d like to see what he can do against better hitters.
Rios 0 for 1, HBP and a K. He also made 2 errors at third. He’s got a ways to go.
May looks good. I would still be very cautious with him. I’m sure the Dodgers know what they’re doing, but approaching 100 this early feels dangerous to me.
While the Dodgers roll, the Rockies look awful.
Ohtani. They say the top 4 prospects. Jessica said “do it”. What say all of you?
Dodgers2080 interviews Ronan Kopp.
Dustin over @DodgersDigest is super high on Ronan.
https://twitter.com/dodgers2080/status/1553041761043365889
Newest proposal from Bowden (The Atlantic):
The Trade: Soto and C Keibert Ruiz for C Diego Cartaya, INF Gavin Lux, RHP Bobby Miller and OF Andy Pages
The Nationals got the wrong catching prospect at the 2021 trade deadline when they acquired Ruiz instead of Cartaya in the deal for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner. However, they right that wrong in this proposed deal, which would send Ruiz back to the Dodgers with Soto, and move Cartaya, the Dodgers’ best prospect, to Washington. Likened during the Futures Game by National League manager Mike Scioscia to a combination of Buster Posey and Salvador Perez, Cartaya must be the headliner in a Dodgers deal for Soto. He’s by far their best position-player prospect, and with Will Smith on the big-league roster, he’s expendable.
The Nationals would also have to get Miller, the Dodgers’ top pitching prospect, who throws 100 mph and has 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings this season. Miller, 23, is 5-4 with a 4.36 ERA in 76 1/3 innings at Double A . His command still needs work but he has great upside. Meanwhile, Lux would immediately become the Nationals’ everyday shortstop and their long-term answer at the position. Pages would give them a corner outfield bat with 30-home run potential. The Nationals might insist on another infield prospect, such as Michael Busch or Miguel Vargas, but expanding this deal to include one of them would mean taking out the Ruiz/Cartaya portion, and I think that would be a mistake for Washington.
Jeff Passan on ESPN saying that Juan Soto is destined for SoCal. Either the #Padres or Dodgers. Wow.
Joc Pederson went on the 7-day IL (concussion protocol). He will miss the Dodgers series.
Feinsand:
How crazy is the relief market with four days until the Trade Deadline? Per sources, the following teams are all out there looking for bullpen help:
Yankees, Blue Jays, Rays, Twins, Guardians, White Sox, Astros, Mets, Braves, Phillies, Cardinals, Brewers.
Obviously there are and will be others, but interesting….
Passan has Castillo going to the Mariners for four (4) prospects.
Rosenthal has the prospects:
Noelvi Marte, Levi Stoudt, Edwin Arroyo, Dylan Moore. Three of Mariners’ top five prospects,