Ryan Shealy - No. 7 of Baseball's Best Minor League Players - MLN FAB50 Baseball 2005 - Colorado Sky Sox - Colorado Rockies - MLN Sports Zone

No. 7 Ryan Shealy - Colorado Springs Sky Sox

Ryan Shealy is yet another of the high-quality players coming out of the gold mines of Colorado Baseball. The big first baseman has turned a few heads since his arrival in Tulsa last year, and he shows no signs of slowing up.

The Rockies tried to get Shealy out of high school, drafting him in the fifth round in 1998. He elected to go to the University of Florida.

Shealy claims that he wanted his degree to fall back on. Some scouts think he was trying to improve his lot in the draft post-college.

We tend to believe Shealy. The time in college was injury plagued for a good part of his college career. He had surgery on his knee prior to the close of his amateur career.

Six letters tell you why Shealy moves to the head of the class in the Rockies organization, and is one of the best players in minor league baseball overall: BIG BAT.

"I've never seen a ball come off the bat the way it does with his," Bill Geivett, the Rockies Director of Player Personnel told MLN last year, when Shealy came in 26th in the 2004 FAB50™.

Player: Ryan Shealy

Position: First Base

Height: 6-5
Weight: 240

Birthdate: 08.29.79

Birthplace: Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Resides in: Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Bats: R
Throws: R

High School: Cardinal Gibbons

College: University of Florida

Acquired: Rockies, 2002 Draft, 11th Round

Signed by: Mike Day

Organization: Colorado Rockies

Last Ballclub: Colorado Springs

2004 FAB50 Ranking: 26

The big muscular Shealy is more power plant than player. If it was illegal to hit baseballs, he's be doing life: Shealy doesn't just make contact, he crushes baseballs. In the high altitude of Colorado, we have one word for him: Scary.

While at UF, even with his injuries, he turned in a .379 average with 23 home runs in his senior year.

In 2002, the Rockies turned him loose on the Rookie level Pioneer League at Casper. He demolished pitchers leaving the league with a .368 average and a soarin' .714 slugging percentage. 19 Home runs, 21 doubles, and 70 RBI later, he went into Spring in 2003 still on the career building tour.

He was dispatched to the Visalia Oaks of the High-A California League, where he ground out 31 doubles, 14 home runs, and 73 RBIs for the season with a .299 batting average and .519 slugging percentage off of 341 at-bats.

In 2004 Shealy had a good Spring and was promoted to Class-AA Tulsa, where he stayed the whole year, with a .318 average and a .584 slugging percentage from 469 at-bats. He put up power year end numbers: 32 doubles, 3 triples, 29 home runs and 99 RBIs.

Naysayers in the scouting and touting world ding Shealy for his knees. Hey guys: HE PLAYS FIRST BASE! This is an offensive player who puts the big-O into the word.

Any critics should be duly humbled with both his Triple-A season at Colorado Springs this year and his time with the Rockies. This Dean of Dingers has 20 home runs just before mid-season! With a .334 batting average, a .602 slugging percentage and 71 RBIs with the season incomplete, this is a guy that you go to the top of the roof and start shouting about. Not convinced? His cup of coffee with the Rockies should have given acid indigestion to major league pitchers who will have to face him more regularly one day. In 75 at-bats, Shealy hit .333 with a .507 slugging percentage, 2 home runs, seven doubles and 14 RBIs. Whew. You get tired just typing it all in.

Yet, with all of that, Shealy knows all too well how easy it is to fall into the political traps of not being high enough on the radar. He takes instruction and notes from his coaches to heart.

"My goal is to finish up strong and get back up," Shealy says, with a big grin when you ask him about his time in the majors this season.

Oh, and major league pitchers: That grin isn't the confidence of a cocky rookie. It's the cat who ate the canary. He's tasted big league pitching, and he's hungry to take a bite out of a few ERAs.

Shealy was a Triple-A (AAA) All-Star with the Pacific Coast League in 2005.

We expect Shealy to make the major league roster in 2006, either with Colorado, or in some trade. As long as he stays healthy he is the green Godzilla of the Sky Sox, soon to be the Colorado Crusher in Denver.

See Also: MLN FAB50™ Baseball 2004; Triple-A All-Star Game

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