The Houston Astros seem to be preparing an all Big Ten Conference outfield made up of players for whom football was almost a certainty. The Astros made their current eighth-ranked prospect, outfielder Jordan Brewer their third-round pick in the 2019 draft out of Michigan. Injuries prevented him from walking on as a Wolverine wide receiver. Then, there’s Ronnie Dawson, former high school running back and linebacker.

In high school, as a three-sport player, he was a second-team All-Ohio running back, and a three-year letter winner in football, while also earning two basketball letters.

Ronnie was promoted from Houston’s AA Corpus Christi Hooks to the Triple-A Round Rock Express, August 21, which sets him up for a final run up the gut through the line of outfielders at Minute Maid Park sometime in 2020.

The Ohio Player

Born in Grove City, Ohio, Ronnie Silas Dawson attended Licking Heights High School in Pataskala, just east of Columbus. While excelling at three sports, Dawson always saw himself as a “football guy,” attending any football camps that came along.

A chance meeting with a baseball insider helped sway Dawson from a life on the gridiron to a decidedly diamond-studded path.

George Robinson, director of clubhouse operations for the Cleveland Indians’ AAA Columbus Clippers affiliate, came to a Licking Heights Hornets game to watch one of their batboys play. Dawson, the batboy’s teammate, managed to pick the right day to turn in a memorable performance, causing Robinson to seek him out after the game. “[Robinson] invited me to come to Huntington Park and hit,” the left-handed-hitting Dawson told MiLB.com in July 2017. “He said they hit every day, and since it was only five or 10 minutes from my house, I decided to try it. I started hitting every day and talking to him about baseball. I really did hit every day.” “I Was Raw” Dawson, now Houston’s 17th-ranked prospect, according to MLB.com, accepted a role as a Clippers’ batboy and proceeded to soak up everything baseball that he could. “George Robinson is a big reason I’m here playing baseball,” the 24-year-old Dawson said. “I was a good athlete, but as far as baseball, I was raw, and I mean raw. He asked me about being a batboy, and it was such a valuable experience. Things I learned from being a batboy — I still apply today.”

“I was there with Francisco Lindor, Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar… all those guys, they were in Triple-A, and now they’re with the Indians,” Dawson continued, almost as surprised as anyone at his good fortune.

“I got to see all of those guys in the Minor Leagues. That experience is priceless. I got to see future All-Stars, future Cy Young winners, the way they prepare for the game. A lot of guys don’t get to see that.”

Dawson, 6’2″ and 225 pounds, bats left and throws right-handed. He closed out his high school career hitting .459 with 24 doubles, five triples, and nine home runs as a junior, and batting .578 with 14 home runs, 51 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases as a senior in 2013.

Minorleagueball.com offered this post-prep assessment of Dawson: “He wasn’t drafted in 2013 as he was seen mainly as a football player, but he chose baseball for college. His freshman year at The Ohio State University was loud enough to get noticed: .337/.396/.454 as a full-time player, and leading his team in both OBP and SLG while stealing 10 bases.”

Big Ten Record Breaker

Once Dawson narrowed things down, and got serious about baseball, college offers rolled in. He committed to play for Ohio State and led the Buckeyes to the 2016 Big Ten Championship. He was named the conference tournament MVP with a .577 (15-for-26) batting average, with eight runs scored, six doubles, one home run, six RBIs, and four stolen bases. Dawson set Big Ten tournament records for hits and doubles that year.

Scouting grades: Hit: 40 | Power: 50 | Run: 55 | Arm: 45 | Field: 55 | Overall: 40

Dawson was drafted by Houston in the second round of the 2016 draft, bookending him between first-round pick and current #2 prospect Forrest Whitley and third-round selection catcher Jake Rogers, who was sent to the Detroit Tigers in the 2017 deal that brought Houston Justin Verlander. Awarded his MLB promotion in late July, he has struggled early with the Tigers.

Abraham Toro, who made his MLB debut August 22, was taken by Houston in the fifth round of that draft.

Related: Forrest Whitley Learns Patience as Fellow Draft Classmen Pass Him By

Some MLB Network draft pundits were eager to compare Dawson, on draft day, to current and former major leaguers Will Venable, Matt Lawton, and even Jackie Bradley, Jr. Dawson signed with the Astros for a reported bonus of just a tick over $1 million.

Contact Challenge

The athletic and deceptively speedy slugger struggled a bit in his first pro season, hitting .225 in 70 games for Class A Tri-City. Most of Dawson’s 2017 was spent at full season Class A Quad Cities, where he turned in a solid .272, with 23 doubles, four triples, and 14 long balls in 438 ABs. His strikeouts nearly doubled his walk total, though, with 55 bases on balls to 101 Ks. A late-season promotion to High-A ball gave him a brief taste of where he’d spend three-quarters of his 2018 season.

In 90 games for Houston’s Advanced-A affiliate at the time, the Buies Creek Astros, Dawson turned in a .247 average and a .728 OPS, with 18 doubles and 10 homers. His BB/K rate was still concerning: 39/96, a strikeout total that came within five of matching his 2017 mark in 129 fewer plate appearances than the previous year.

Following his organizational pattern, the last month of 2018 gave Dawson a glimpse of the lion’s share of his destination for the next season… in this case, AA Corpus Christi. In 29 games, Dawson hit .289, with six doubles and six homers, and a career-high .859 OPS to close out his 2018 regular season. He drew only six walks while whiffing 34 times.

A 25-game stint in the Arizona Fall League with a particular focus on improving contact rate, swing decision, and pitch recognition yielded encouraging results: 15 walks to only 26 strikeouts in 96 plate appearances. Pair that with a .291 average and an .885 OPS, and a springboard to a successful 2019 seemed to be in place.

In The Now

The other Astros got an extended look at the outfielder of the future as Dawson was invited to Florida Spring Training 2019 as a non-roster invitee. He hit .250 in 28 ABs, with no extra-base hits, but a small sample 2/1 K/BB rate: 6/3.

In nearly 400 ABs with the Corpus Christi Hooks, Dawson hit .212, with 20 doubles and 17 homers, and a .723 OPS. The strikeouts mounted to 141, with 47 walks, a 3/1 K/BB rate. Since his August 21 promotion to Round Rock, he’s gotten three hits in 20 ABs (through August 28), with a double and two RBIs.

2020 Projection

Dawson will start 2020 back in Round Rock, and drawing walks with consistent contact will be a focus, as will tweaking his base-stealing technique. In his pro career thus far, Dawson has stolen 79 bases and has been caught 41 times for a rather humdrum 66% success rate

He may end up being an occasional call-up piece like Myles Straw has been the past two seasons in Houston: A solid outfield fill-in that can come off the bench for a speed element. Dawson may also end up being attractive to another team trying to rebuild.

One of Dawson’s former managers effectively summed up the hard-working and upbeat outfielder:

“Ronnie [Dawson] has an infectious personality, and that’s really important,” Russ Steinhorn, then-manager of Houston’s Class A Quad Cities River Bandits told reporters in 2017. “He’s a great guy and a great teammate. He leads by example. He’s always working hard and doing the extra things. Ronnie just needs to work on being consistent. He knows exactly what he has to do.”