On Monday, Stanford junior outfielder/catcher Alberto Rios was selected 79th overall by the Los Angeles Angels in the 3rd round of the 2023 MLB Draft. Rios was the second Stanford player selected in the draft, following Tommy Troy who went 12th overall to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After not playing much his first two years on The Farm, Rios had an explosive junior season, batting .384 for a team-high 18 home runs and 73 RBIs to go along with a .707 slugging percentage and a .485 on base percentage. Rios also had a .978 fielding percentage and only three errors on the season, showing he can be trusted on defense as well.
In addition to not playing much his first two seasons at Stanford, Rios also underwent a position change, making the change from catcher to outfielder before the season. Stanford head coach David Esquer knew he had to get Rios into the lineup somehow and with freshman Malcolm Moore getting the start at catcher, Esquer had to get creative, moving Rios to the outfield.
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Rios thrived in his new position, becoming Pac-12 Player of the Year. As a result of his stellar success, it was obvious that Rios was going to get selected in this year’s draft. The only question was where. One thing that makes Rios going to the Angels particularly special is he is from the Los Angeles area. He takes great pride in representing the City of Angels and now he’ll get to do so at the major league level. That is certain to motivate him even more knowing that he’ll be representing his town.
Overall, the Angels are getting a really good player in Alberto Rios. He can hit, defend, and play multiple positions. He’s a guy who could DH, play in the outfield, or even catch if needed. It’ll be fun to see how the Angels put him to use and what kind of impact he makes on their organization.
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