Carlos Rios (minors04)

Carlos Rafael (Lopez) Rios

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 168 lb.

• Born June 13, 1960 in Santurce Puerto Rico

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Infielder Carlos Rios played five seasons at AAA then became a minor league coach and a prominent scout.

He began his career in the Pittsburgh Pirates chain, splitting 1978 between the GCL Pirates (4 for 22, 2 2B, 4 BB) and Charleston Pirates (.201/.265/.216 in 47 G). He was the starting shortstop for the 1979 Shelby Pirates, fielding .919 and batting .248/.316/.302. He stole 20 bases in 34 tries. The next year, he fielded .924 for the Salem Pirates and hit .256/.347/.316; he was 35-for-45 in steal attempts. He finished 10th in the Carolina League in swipes. In 1981, he continued his development offensively with the Buffalo Bisons (.285/.331/.370) while fielding .928 at SS. His 31 errors were two shy of Eastern League SS leader Tony Phillips despite playing in fewer games.

After four years in the Pirates organization, he spent 1982 with the Knoxville Blue Jays in the Toronto Blue Jays system. He produced at a .285/.343/.348 clip, stole 23 bases in 32 tries and fielded .926 at short. His 42 errors were one shy of Southern League leader Kelly Gruber at short. He then moved on to the Atlanta Braves organization for seven seasons, five of which were at the AAA level. In 1983, he nearly cut his error total in half with the Savannah Braves; he hit .292/.381/.376, though he only stole 17 bases while being caught 13 times. He also got into 15 games for the Richmond Braves (.286/.327/.347, 11 R, 11 RBI). He fielded .954 for the 1984 Greenville Braves and batted .255/.371/.299. He was .004 behind Bob Hegman for the best fielding percentage among SL shortstops.

He fielded .978 as Richmond's shortstop in 1985 and hit .242/.285/.283. He led the 1985 International League with 15 sacrifice hits. Back with Greenville in 1986, he fielded .943 and batted .302/.384/.393 with 78 runs. He paced the SL with 13 sacrifice hits. He split 1987 between Greenville (.291/.367/.348 in 41 G) and Richmond (.274/.302/.358 in 52 G). As a utility infielder for Richmond in '88, he hit .257/.321/.333 in 97 games. He was 13 for 61 with two doubles, a triple and seven walks for the same club in 1989, ending his playing career.

Following his playing days, Rios was a minor league coach for the Braves. He was later a Braves scout, before moving on to the New York Yankees. As a Yankees scout, he was responsible for signing Joaquín Arias, Zoilo Almonte, Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Mario Holmann, Jesus Montero, Dioner Navarro, Maximo Nelson, and Ivan Nova among others. He was fired, along with Dominican scouting supervisor Ramon Valdivia, in August 2008, following allegations of taking bonus money from prospects Kelvin De Leon and Elio de la Rosa. He sued the Yankees and was awarded nearly $700,000 when the court found in his favor, saying there was no evidence he had skimmed bonuses. The fathers of both prospects testified for Rios.

Sources

• Assorted Baseball Guides and Baseball America Statistics Reports
• ESPN story on the lawsuit