The Rise of Alex Rios

I may be a diehard Red Sox fan, but I know talent when I see it—and after the MLB Home Run Derby, there's no doubt about Alex Rios.

Though many astute fans have been tracking Rios for years, it wasn't until his runner-up performance in San Francisco that he finally emerged on the national stage.

Since 2004, Rios has steadily improved on his base hit, home run, and RBI totals. Last year, he finished above .300 with 17 homers, 82 RBI, and 15 stolen bases. This season, the outfielder is on pace for 32 home runs (nearly double his career high), 100 RBI, 16 stolen bases, and 116 runs.

Such a performance wasn't totally unexpected, but you wouldn't know it from the way Rios arrived in the Blue Jays organization.

Rios was the only first-round pick in the 1999 amateur draft who failed to garner a seven-figure signing bonus. The Jays paid the young Puerto Rican $845,000, and selected him because their other top choice, Ball State's Larry Bigbie, probably wouldn't have signed for less than a million dollars.

At the time, Baseball America reported that the team was "intrigued" by Rios' skill set, and the Jays were soon vindicated when Rios won the 2003 Eastern League batting championship en route to Baseball America's Double-A Player of the Year award. Still, Rios started 2004 in the minors, then struggled after a May call-up before finishing with a .286 average, one home run, 28 RBI, and 55 runs. 

The Blue Jays made the smart decision to place Rios on the Opening Day roster in 2005, but he underwhelmed again with a .262 average and 10 home runs. It wasn't until last year, in fact, that Rios began to show off the big league skills that made him such a bargain in the '99 draft.

Through 90 games in 2007, Rios is leading the Blue Jays in at bats (361), runs (64), hits (109), triples (3), home runs (18), RBI (55), total bases (194), stolen bases (9), and batting average (.302), and is tied for the team lead with Aaron Hill in games played (89) and doubles (25).

The consensus seems to be that Alex Rios has arrived—and barring injury or the kind of unforeseen statistical decline that can be oh-so-common in baseball, it seems safe to say that the Jays made a smart decision when they bypassed Bigbie, who is currently in the Atlanta Braves' minor league system.