Wendell Rijo

[Merkle's Boner]

DOB: 9/4/95
Ht: 5-11
Weight: 170 lbs
Bats R Throws R
 
Wendell is the #18 prospect based on Baseball America.  He signed for $575,000 and is from the DR.  He's my prediction for the annual "Mookie Betts Helium Award" winner as he shoots up the charts this year.Has been assigned to Greenville where he will reportedly be one the youngest players.
 
His numbers last year in the GCL were .271/.368/.359, indicating good patience at the plate. SO/BB ratio was 29/22.
 
Apparently he blew his ACL in 2012, so he is expected to improve the further away from that surgery he gets. 

 

[Merkle's Boner]

2B depth Chart per BA:
 
1. Mookie
2. My man Wendell
3. Sean Coyle
4. Brock Holt
5. Heiker Meneses
 
BA also ranked Rijo as the #9 prospect in the GCL last year.

 

[kevlog]

I have been following him on Instagram, ever since he liked one of my pictures from Game 6 of the World Series in the fall.  He has a pretty good feed. 
 
That's all I got!
 

 

 

[Merkle's Boner]

Mister Wendell hit his first professional HR yesterday.  He's off to a good start with a .321/.441/.500 line.  Here's a write-up from Alex Speier.
 
– While it may be little consolation to the Sox at a time when they are fretting about whether Pedroia is injured, their system does appear to have some depth of quality second base prospects thanks to Holt, Betts and Greenville’s Wendell Rijo. On Sunday, Rijo cleared the fence in left-center for his first professional homer as part of a 2-for-4 day in which he also walked. Rijo has reached base at least once in all eight of his games this year, posting a .321/.441/.500 line with five walks and seven strikeouts, a statistical picture of a player whose hitting approach is uncommonly advanced given his age (the average age of position players in the South Atlantic League is 21). He and middle-of-the-diamond partner Tzu-Wei Lin also collaborated to turn four double plays. Thanks in no small part to that duo, Greenville leads the South Atlantic League with 15 double plays to date.

 

[Merkle's Boner]

Another 2/3 day with a double for Rijo. Up to .355/.474/.548.  And I just learned he is the fourth youngest player in the Sally league this year at 18.6 years (9/4/95).  He is a full twelve months younger than the next youngest guy on the Drive, Manuel Margot.

 

[Merkle's Boner]

13 games in and he's .333/.472/.571 with two HRs. One wonders when he will be moved up in the order, or why they are keeping him in the 8th spot for most of the season. I assume to protect him but I think we need to see if we have another Mookie on our hands. A plethora of riches at 2B?

 

[Merkle's Boner]

Wendell tends to get a little hashtag-happy with his Twitter posts...
 
https://twitter.com/wendellrijo/status/458630522097651712

 

[semsox]

#modebeast is awesome

 

[Merkle's Boner]

Rijo finished the month of April with a .313/.446/.478 line.  His OBP is good enough for 4th in the SAL.  The three ahead of him were born in '91 and '92.  Again, he's the 4th youngest guy in the league.
Nice start.

 

[LondonSox]

Rijo finished the month of April with a .313/.446/.478 line.  His OBP is good enough for 4th in the SAL.  The three ahead of him were born in '91 and '92.  Again, he's the 4th youngest guy in the league.
Nice start.

 
Nice is one word. Fucking awesome is two.

 

[WenZink]

Two errors for Rijo in the first inning, on consecutive plays, last night in Greenville's game vs Augusta.  He helped turn Ty Buttrey's debut into a nightmare, who couldn't get out of the first inning.  I hope someday, a few years down the road, they'll laugh about this in the Fenway clubhouse.  For now, Rijo should treat Ty to a free meal.

 

[Merkle's Boner]

Rijo hit his third HR last night, after not hitting any all of last season.

Now hitting .317/.441/.500 through 104 ABs.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

In 80 less at bats than 2013, he has 1 less walk and 5 less xbh. Not to get ahead of myself, but I think he'll be our #1 at some point in the next 2 years.

Does he profile well at any position other than 2b? Reports on his D?

 

[Paradigm]

I don't know how scouts grade out his hit tool, but that's the missing piece for so many prospects these days. It's exciting to have another (potentially) plus-hit prospect in the system along with Mookie. I'm not sure whether Cecchini warrants the same label - what's the word there?
 
And why isn't "batting eye" a tool?

 

[Merkle's Boner]

Rijo has hit his first wall.  It will be interesting to see how he responds.  His numbers for May are a paltry .200/.291/.329, bringing his season totals down to .254/.368/.399 for a .767 OPS.  In reality, this is probably what we should expect for an 18 year old in his first year of full season ball.  Let's see if he levels off in the .750-.800 level or if May is more indicative of the player he will be.
 
I also wonder whether he is dealing with some nagging injuries, as there have been at least two occasions where he has sat for multiple games.

 

[Gash Prex]

I saw him in in Greenville last week and he was clearly the best player on Greenville - I didn't even know what he looked like or his number, but I could guess from simply watching that it was Rijo (I forgot to get a program!).  I later confirmed I was correct. He got unlucky a couple of times when he smoked a couple of line drives that were outs and stole a base but was called out on a bad call.  Even the Asheville fans acknowledged it was a bad call.  

 

[Merkle's Boner]

So Wendell finished his first season of full season ball this weekend. It is hard to call it anything but a success, given his age and the level he was playing. But I still feel like we don't know fully what we have in Mr. Rijo. Here are the numbers:

.254/.348/.416 for a .764 OPS. He had 42 extra base hits, including 6 triples and 9 HRs, stole 16 bases and was caught 6 times and had a K/BB ratio of 103/56.

Rijo will turn 19 on Thursday and seems poised to start next season at High-A Salem. I believe he deserves a spot in any top 20 list of a Sox prospects, and I believe he represents a classic "lottery ticket" throw in to any off-season trade, as teenage High-A middle infielders don't exactly grow on trees. It will be interesting to see what the Sox do with him.

 

[Savin Hillbilly]

Bumping this to wonder what the Sox will do with Rijo now. He's been the starting 2B in Portland, which will now be Moncada's job. He's been pretty terrible at the plate this year, and in fact has been on a downward offensive trajectory his whole minor league career. But he's still quite young (younger than Moncada, in fact). Seems like you don't often hear of prospects being demoted--usually they're just left at a level till they get it--but in this case a simple level swap with Moncada might make sense, right?

 

[Soxfan in Fla]

Thank you Wendell Rijo.

 

[luckysox]

Bumping this to wonder what the Sox will do with Rijo now. He's been the starting 2B in Portland, which will now be Moncada's job. He's been pretty terrible at the plate this year, and in fact has been on a downward offensive trajectory his whole minor league career. But he's still quite young (younger than Moncada, in fact). Seems like you don't often hear of prospects being demoted--usually they're just left at a level till they get it--but in this case a simple level swap with Moncada might make sense, right?

Demoted to Milwaukee.