MLB Pipeline ranks Christian Arroyo as 5th best 3B prospect

The prize of the Evan Longoria trade, Christian Arroyo, has been ranked as the 5th best 3B prospect in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline.

Arroyo joins Brandon Lowe, Brendan McKay, and Brent Honeywell as the Rays prospects who have made it on these positional breakdowns from MLB Pipeline, who still have a few more positions to cover with short stops being covered tomorrow, outfielders on Thursday, and then they’ll announce their top 100 overall on Saturday.

Arroyo made his major league debut this past season while still with the San Francisco Giants where he struggled over his limited opportunity as he hit .192/.244/.304 with 3 HR over 34 games.

However, MLB Pipeline rated Arroyo as the most likely of his class of third basemen to win the Rookie of the Year award in 2018.

The headline prospect in the December trade that sent Evan Longoria from the Rays to the Giants, he offers the best combination of readiness and opportunity. Arroyo is a pure hitter with a career .300 average in the Minors, and his steady approach should help him adapt to big league pitching.

Arroyo will be with the Rays major league squad during spring training, but is likely ticketed for Triple-A Durham, barring any injuries to those projected for the majors, as the Rays still have veterans projected for infield roles to start the year.