Black MiLB Players You Need To Know About #3: Vidal Bruján
Background + Path To Professional Baseball
Vidal Bruján is a 23-year-old second baseman in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. He is a Haitian-Dominican from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, one of two cities in the Dominican Republic that have a large concentration of individuals of Haitian descent. Many professional baseball players of Haitian descent do not publicly claim to be Haitian to protect themselves and their family members, as Haitians that live in the Dominican Republic are subject to systematic racism. Former and current MLB players that claim to be of Haitian descent include Alfonso Soriano, Tony Fernandez, Miguel Sanó, and Touki Toussaint.
Bruján began playing baseball at the age of five years old, receiving a large amount of support from his parents. Bruján’s dream of becoming a professional player and providing for his family was a huge source of motivation. When Bruján was 14, he enrolled in a baseball academy and began to focus on training to try and get the attention of a major league organization. After three years of hard work, he got the opportunity to participate in a tryout hosted by the Tampa Bay Rays.
Rays scouts were intrigued by Bruján’s elite athleticism and ability to hit from both sides of the plate, and the organization signed him for $15,000 dollars during the 2014 J2 signing period. Bruján and his family were extremely ecstatic to see the possibility they all wanted to come to fruition, and since becoming a professional baseball player Vidal Bruján took his opportunity to climb the ladder to the major leagues and ran with it.
Bruján’s professional career started in the Dominican Summer League during the 2015 minor league season and since then he has steadily risen through the minor leagues. Bruján was an irrelevant prospect that needed extreme physical development, but after showing elite contact skills, maintaining his ability to run, and gaining muscle in the lower minors he began to show up on the radars of evaluators throughout baseball.
The bigger picture became clearer for Bruján’s potential role in the major leagues after he leaped to Double-A in 2019, which is considered the most difficult and important step for professional baseball players to take. Since his impressive first stint in Double-A, Bruján began to show up on the top 100 prospect lists of well-respected evaluators. Many executives within the Tampa Bay Rays front office have raved about his progress as a professional baseball player and off the field, ecstatic with the mature individual he has become in addition to what he can do in between the lines.
He is now one of the best prospects in all of baseball, being a consensus top 50 prospect on the lists on Baseball America, FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus, and MLB Pipeline. He is the second-best prospect in a Tampa Bay Rays farm system that is the best in all of baseball, and he should be in the majors soon.
Player Profile
Vidal Bruján is 5'10'’, and weighs 180 pounds. He is a switch hitter and throws with his right hand. Bruján’s primary position is second base, but he has accrued time at shortstop during his time as a professional baseball player.
Bruján’s ability to put the bat on the ball is excellent, and he compliments this by being able to draw walks at an above-average rate. His cumulative slash line as a professional baseball player is .294/.377/.417, and it shows that he is not your typical slash and dash speedster. BABIP is a great statistic to discern what minor leaguers truly have an above-average cognition when it comes to hitting, and Bruján has put up very high BABIPs throughout his minor league career. His BABIPs also play up due to his elite speed, as fast players get an uptick due to their ability to snag a few infield singles. Bruján is an elite baserunner and knows when he can stretch singles into doubles with his instincts.
Bruján’s approach as a left-handed hitter is centered around pulling the ball into left field, but he also has the ability to spray the ball to all fields. All of his home runs as a professional have come from the left side of the plate, which shows he has some power. Bruján is a better hitter from the left side of the plate, which is a good thing considering most of his plate appearances will be against right-handed pitchers. Bruján has a contact-oriented approach as a right-handed batter that hinges on spraying the ball to all fields. He also drives the ball less from the right side based on the charts below, so if he can make harder contact versus left-handed hitters he would see better results even though it is far from being a detriment to his game.
Bruján has a high groundball rate and would benefit from focusing on lifting the ball and hitting more line drives. Despite his small size, Bruján’s average exit velocity is a respectable 87 mph and I think he has room to add more strength. Whether or not he focuses on lifting/driving the ball for extra-base hits, Bruján has a very good chance to be an above-average hitter.
Bruján is the best baserunner in Minor League Baseball right now, as he has led all of Minor League Baseball in runs scored and stolen bases over the last two years. Bruján does not just steal a lot of bases but does so with elite efficiency, which shows his instincts and intelligence on the diamond. Bruján’s baserunning skills combined with his ability to get on base at a high rate makes him a prime candidate to bat first or second for the Tampa Bay Rays once he makes the major leagues.
Bruján is an elite second baseman, as he has more than enough range due to his elite athleticism to cover everything that goes to the right side of the plate. He has even been able to moonlight at shortstop, and probably would be a full-time shortstop if not for his average throwing arm. Bruján lacks the arm strength and ability to throw from multiple arm slots required to play shortstop.
Due to Brandon Lowe being entrenched at second base for the near future, I think the Tampa Bay Rays organization will take advantage of Bruján’s 80-grade speed and give him time in centerfield to add some versatility to his profile. Bruján has the potential to be a Chone Figgins-esque super-utility player, and that possibility seems very common since he plays for the Tampa Bay Rays. I am looking forward to seeing how Bruján does at Triple-A during the upcoming season that starts in May. Based on the Rays front office manipulating the service time of its best prospects, Bruján probably will not be seen in a Rays uniform until 2022 at the earliest unless the Rays decide it is appropriate to start his service time clock sometime this year.
