Leonardo Rivas –
The second player Leonardo Rivas is an interesting player and someone many Angel fans do not know. Rivas just turned 22 years old last month and has never been past High Single-A Inland Empire. Rivas was signed as an International free agent in 2015 as a 17-year old from Maracay, Venezuela.
Rivas is a middle infielder who is ranked as the 25th best prospect in the Angels organization and he can play both shortstop and second base and even a little at third base. Rivas is a slick fielding infielder with a plus arm. He also possesses tremendous speed who can hit for a decent average, with very little power.
So far in four seasons in the minors he has hit a decent .252 with 15 homers with 147 RBIs and 87 stolen bases. What maybe most impressive is Rivas’ knowledge of the strike zone having walked 263 times in 1668 plate appearances which has led him to a .380 OBP.
The Angels will probably leave Rivas unprotected because most teams would not want to put Rivas on their major league roster for the whole season since he has never played a game in Double-A.