Baseball: Rio Ruiz, the pitcher, is looking good
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Rio Ruiz, a junior at La Puente Bishop Amat, is already considered a standout infielder in baseball and quarterback in football. Now you can add standout pitcher to his many talents.
He struck out seven in four shutout innings of relief on Thursday night during the Lancers’ 12-1 victory over Anaheim Esperanza in the championship game of the Hard 9 National Classic.
Even more impressive is that he had zero walks. Bishop Amat has been reluctant to use him on the mound, fearing its defense would be weakened without him at third base or his control might not be good. But if he pitches like he did, there could be a 10-year-old playing third base because all he’ll be doing is watching strikeouts.
His arm and 92 mph fastball adds another dimension to the scouting report on Ruiz, who has been a long-time USC commit but could be a first-round draft choice next June.
Here’s video of his pitching skills.
-- Eric Sondheimer