Miami Marlins acquire Justin Ruggiano from Houston Astros

The Miami Marlins have added some outfield depth by acquiring former Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Justin Ruggiano from the Houston Astros. He signed a minor league deal with the team this offseason and has now been shipped to the Marlins for MiLB catcher Jobduan Morales.

The 30-year-old right-hander has a .339/.424/.607 triple slash in 132 minor league plate appearances for a terrific 162 wRC+. Ruggiano is a good fringe-roster OF and plays solid defense, as he has been worth just over four runs above average per UZR in his last two MLB cameos with the Rays in 2008 and 2011.

Last season, Justin Ruggiano was worth 0.4 WAR in 111 plate appearances with a .400 slugging percentage for a wRC+ of 83. In 2010, he had a 124 wRC+ for the Tampa Bay Rays in a full season of play in AAA, and he had a 109 wRC+ the previous season for the Rays AAA team.

The minor league star will be “extra depth” for the Marlins, and he has solid defense and a bit of pop. Ruggiano can actually be a serviceable fifth outfielder, and he does provide the Marlins will solid depth. After all, he has been tearing it up in AAA.

Although Ruggiano has been impressive this season in the minors for the Astros and would have been a solid veteran backup for the young squad, the team would rather have a young piece than Ruggiano, who means little to this team in the long run. They were able to ship him off to a team and get a young catcher in return.

Jobduan Morales is a 20-year-old switch-hitter who can play at catcher and first and was the Marlins ninth round choice in the 2009 MLB Draft. He had a 139 wRC+ both in rookie ball in 2010 and in low-A last season. Morales hasn’t had many plate appearances, but he has shown promise in his limited playing time in the minor league system.

For the Marlins, Morales was expendable and the team will receive more value in a capable MiLB veteran in Justin Ruggiano who can also play in the Majors and be worth 0.5 WAR and provide depth. Even if he isn’t called up, he provides some value for the team in the minors as a veteran stopgap (he’s also cheap), and it will be interesting to see how the Marlins employ Ruggiano.

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