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DAVID RUBINSTEIN
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CENTER FIELDER
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Born: May 18, 1987 Height: 6′ 2″ Weight: 190 Bats: Right Throws: Right Drafted: 11th Round, 324th Overall, 2008 How Acquired: Draft College: Appalachian State Agent: N/A |
WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES |
| Rubinstein showed solid all-around hitting skills in college. He was a third team All-American, his school’s first in 19 years. He’s got good enough speed to play some in center, but is probably best suited to a corner, where his range is reasonably good. His arm is about average.
2008 The Pirates rotated various players in the State College outfield and at DH, so Rubinstein shared positions with Ciro Rosero, Quincy Latimore, and Andrew Biela, joined by Cole White early in the season and Kyle Morgan later. Rubinstein played half the time in center and a quarter each in right and left. He got off to terrible start at plate, hitting .172 in June and July, with poor BB and K numbers. He may just have needed time to get acclimated to wood bats, as he turned things around in August, hitting 348/451/478, with 11 walks and 12 Ks. 2009 Surprisingly, Rubinstein returned to State College, but his performance showed why. His OPS was about the same, as he replaced some OBP with power, but his plate discipline declined badly. He played right exclusively, except for one game in left. 2010 Moved up to West Virginia in 2010 and made significant progress, hitting for a good average and tying teammate Jarek Cunningham for fourth in the SAL in doubles. Rubinstein is somewhat similar to former Pirate farmhand Jason Delaney. He generally tries to line the ball toward RF, which means he won’t have much HR power. Like Delaney, has had big platoon splits. He hammered LHPs for a .904 OPS in 2010, compared to .698 against RHPs. One difference from Delaney is plate discipline, which isn’t very good. Rubinstein had three times as many Ks as walks in 2010. He played mainly in right, moving to center when Evan Chambers wasn’t there. 2011 Rubinstein went to Bradenton and served as a semi-regular in the outfield, playing left almost exclusively. He struggled increasingly, hitting .348 in April, .283 in May, and just .202 thereafter. His playing time dropped accordingly, as players like Adalberto Santos, Carlos Paulino and, eventually, Cole White hit better. He struggled badly against RHPs, posting an OPS of .595 against them, compared to .832 against LHPs. He did improve his plate discipline, increasing his walk rate and cutting his K:BB ratio to a little better than 2:1. Rubinstein will turn 25 a month and a half into the 2012 season and hasn’t yet shown he can handle high A pitching. If he returns, he’ll probably be back at Bradenton. He was eligible for the Rule 5 draft, but wasn’t selected. |
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STATS
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| Baseball Reference–Minors Fangraphs MiLB.com
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