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Darin Ruf

Darin Ruf Joins University Of Nebraska Omaha Coaching Staff

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Former big league first baseman/outfielder Darin Ruf has joined the University of Nebraska Omaha baseball program as an assistant coach, the school announced Wednesday. There’s been no formal announcement of retirement for the 38-year-old Ruf, but this certainly seems to indicate he’s turning the page on his playing days and moving onto the next phase of his baseball journey.

“We are thrilled to have Darin join our baseball family,” Mavericks head coach Evan Porter said in a statement within today’s announcement. “Darin’s incredible track record speaks for itself, but his character and work ethic are perhaps more impressive. I’ve been fortunate to know Darin for the past 20 years, his respect for the game and for the people around him is admirable. I couldn’t be more excited to work with Darin, he is a tremendous addition to our program.”

A 20th-round pick out of Omaha’s Creighton University back in 2009, Ruf reached the majors with the Phillies in 2012 and went on to enjoy a nine-year career in the major leagues in addition to an excellent three-year run with the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization (2017-19).

Ruf’s debut campaign with the Phils was brief but showed clear potential for a meaningful big league career. He appeared in 12 games as a September call-up and popped three homers while batting .333/.351/.727 in 37 trips to the plate. The following season saw Ruf tally 293 plate appearances while hitting .247/.348/.458 with 14 round-trippers. He’d ultimately spend parts of five seasons with the Phillies, from 2012-16, batting a combined .240/.314/.433 while serving as a part-time first baseman and corner outfielder who could provide some right-handed thump off the bench.

From there, Ruf’s next stop was overseas. He not only found success with the KBO’s Lions — he took the entire league by storm. Ruf smacked 38 homers in his first Korean season and wound up posting a massive .313/.404/.564 batting line in 1756 plate appearances as a Lion. He belted 86 homers, 105 doubles and six triples during his run in the KBO, with overall offense about 45% better than league-average, by measure of wRC+.

Ruf returned stateside for the 2020 season, taking a minor league deal with the Giants that proved to be an outstanding deal for San Francisco. He cracked the Giants’ opening day roster in the shortened 2020 campaign, his age-33 season, and in 100 plate appearances turned in a .276/.370./517 slash that made him an easy call to keep for the Giants to tender him a contract in arbitration in the 2020-21 offseason. Ruf’s 2021 output was even better than that small-sample 2020 showing; in 312 plate appearances he hit .271/.385/.519 with 16 homers.

That sudden resurgence in the majors prompted the Giants to ink Ruf to a two-year, $6.25MM contract. His bat took a step back in the first season of the deal, but Ruf was still hitting at a slightly better-than-average level when the Mets acquired him at that summer’s trade deadline. His bat cratered following the move to Queens, however, and New York designated Ruf for assignment just before Opening Day 2023. He was released in early April, signed a minor league deal to return to the Giants, and split the 2023 season between San Francisco and Milwaukee, seeing brief playing time at both stops.

It now seems likely that’ll be the final stage of Ruf’s playing career. If he’s indeed shifting his focus to a coaching track, he’ll conclude his time in the majors with a career .239/.329/.427 batting line, 351 hits, 67 homers, 69 doubles, three triples, six steals, 198 runs scored and 205 runs driven in. Between MLB and the KBO, he cracked more than 150 homers and piled up more than 800 hits — all while earning more than $9MM in the majors and more than $4MM in South Korea.

The Omaha native will now help mold a younger generation of players while returning to his hometown. Ruf expressed excitement and gratitude in a statement of his own within today’s announcement:

“I am thrilled to be joining Evan’s staff in Omaha. I have been blessed with amazing coaches throughout my career and I am honored Evan has given me the opportunity to give back and work with these student athletes. I look forward to working with them on the field to become the best ball players they can be and off the field as they continue to develop into great people for the community of Omaha.”

Brewers Reinstate Luis Urías, Transfer Darin Ruf To 60-Day IL

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3:55pm: In addition to the laceration, Ruf has a non-displaced fracture of his patella, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. The expected recovery timeline is six to eight weeks, leading to today’s transfer.

3:30pm: The Brewers announced a series of roster moves today, reinstating infielder Luis Urías from the 60-day injured list. Fellow infielder Mike Brosseau was optioned to open a spot on the active roster. To open a spot on the 40-man, first baseman Darin Ruf was transferred to the 60-day IL.

Urías, 26, played in Milwaukee’s Opening Day game this year but hurt his left hamstring in that contest. He was diagnosed with a strain and it was estimated that he would miss six to eight weeks. He was eventually transferred to the 60-day injured list and now returns after a slightly longer absence than that initial estimated time frame.

In the past couple of seasons, he has established himself as a solid and versatile member of the club. Over 2021 and 2022, he hit 39 home runs and slashed a combined .244/.340/.426 for a wRC+ of 111. He was also able to bounce around the infield, slotting in at the three positions to the left of first base as needed.

His recent absence led to greater playing time for certain utility players, one of which was Brosseau. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to take advantage of the opportunity, hitting .205/.256/.397 so far this year for a wRC+ of 75. Other players like Owen Miller and Andruw Monasterio have fared better this year, leading to Brosseau getting squeezed out today. Assuming Urías is able to get back to his previous form, the swap should be a positive one for the club.

The move could potentially impact Brosseau’s path to free agency, as he came into the season with three years and 31 days of service time. If he were to spend more than a month in the minors, it could prevent him from reaching the four-year mark this season. But he also might find himself at risk of being non-tendered at season’s end anyway since he’s making $1.4MM this year and would be in line for an arbitration raise for next season.

As for Ruf, he suffered a laceration on his knee last week when he was chasing after a foul ball and collided with the rolled-up tarp. He was placed on the 10-day IL on the weekend but it seems the issue is serious enough that he’ll need to miss a couple of months. Ruf had just joined the club a couple of weeks ago and effectively replaced the now-released Luke Voit as the right-handed platoon partner for the lefty-swinging Rowdy Tellez. The club recently called up first baseman Jon Singleton, though he also swings from the left side.

Players like Miller, Brian Anderson and Abraham Toro have a small amount of first base experience and bat from the right side, with Toro being a switch-hitter. Perhaps one of them could attempt to take that short-side platoon role. Tellez could also play on a more everyday basis as his career splits aren’t that drastic. He’s hit .237/.308/.486 against righties for a 110 wRC+ and .242/.313/.396 against lefties for a 93 wRC+.

Brewers Place Tyrone Taylor, Darin Ruf On 10-Day Injured List

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Prior to today’s 10-8 win over the Reds, the Brewers placed outfielders Tyrone Taylor and Darin Ruf on the 10-day injured list.  Taylor (whose placement is retroactive to June 2) is dealing with a right elbow sprain, while Ruf has a laceration on his right knee.  In corresponding moves, Milwaukee called up Blake Perkins from Triple-A, and as reported yesterday, Jon Singleton’s contract was selected from Triple-A.

The new faces delivered today, as Perkins hit a grand slam to help the Brewers score the victory in Cincinnati.  However, losing Taylor and Ruf further thins the Brewers’ depth, as the club now has 14 players (six of them position players) on the injured list.  It isn’t yet known when either player could be back, as Bally Sports’ Sophia Minnaert notes, since Ruf’s laceration is quite severe and Taylor will undergo tests to determine the nature of his elbow problem.

Taylor first sprained his right elbow in late February, which kept him out of action for Spring Training and delayed his 2023 debut until May 2.  Whether due to the lost spring prep time, lingering elbow soreness, or both, Taylor has badly struggled at the plate, hitting only .160/.179/.240 over 78 plate appearances.  It’s a big dropoff for a player who had a solid .241/.303/.453 slash line over 729 PA of part-time duty in 2019-22, and it seemed like Taylor might have been in line for a larger role given the rather unsettled nature of Milwaukee’s outfield.

Ruf just signed the Brew Crew in the middle of May, coming to Milwaukee after he elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate.  Stepping into a first base platoon as the right-handed hitting complement to Rowdy Tellez, Ruf also wasn’t hitting much (.531 OPS) over his first 30 PA for Milwaukee before he badly cut his knee during Friday’s game.  Ruf was chasing a foul ball when he collided with the tarp rolled up on the sidelines at the Great American Ballpark.

Brewers To Select Jon Singleton

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The Brewers are selecting the contract of first baseman Jon Singleton, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). Milwaukee has an opening on the 40-man roster after releasing Luke Voit this week, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding 26-man move.

It sets the stage for Singleton’s first major league action in nearly eight years. A top prospect during his days in the Astros’ farm system a decade ago, he signed a $10MM extension before reaching the majors. Singleton debuted midway through the 2014 campaign but slumped to a .168/.285/.335 line over 362 plate appearances. He’d get into 18 games the following year, with what seemed to be his final MLB appearance coming in October 2015.

After a season and a half in the upper minors, Singleton was hit with a third career suspension for a failed drug of abuse test. The Astros released him and he was out of the sport entirely for a couple seasons. Singleton has since spoken about his struggle with marijuana addiction. After a few years away, he began a comeback in Mexico in 2021. A monster showing there led Milwaukee to add him on a minor league deal for 2022.

Singleton has spent the past season-plus with the Brewers’ top affiliate in Nashville. He hit .219/.374/.439 there last season. The Brewers re-signed him and carried him on the 40-man roster for a spell over the offseason before waiving him on the eve of Spring Training. He returned to the organization on a new minor league deal and is hitting well for the Sounds.

In 48 games, Singleton owns a .259/.387/.489 line. He’s connected on ten home runs, walked at a stellar 17.5% clip and kept his strikeouts to a lower than average 19.3% rate. Singleton showed plenty of patience and power last season as well but he’s putting the ball in play far more consistently this year. He’s sliced his strikeout percentage more than eight points from 27.7% year over year.

As a result, Singleton earns a promotion that marks a huge moment in an incredible comeback effort. He returns to the big leagues a few months shy of his 32nd birthday having overcome the personal hurdles about which he’s been open. Now that he’s back in the majors, he’ll add a left-handed first base/designated hitter option to Craig Counsell’s bench. The Brewers have Rowdy Tellez and Darin Ruf in a first base platoon. The latter suffered a leg laceration in this evening’s game, however, raising the possibility of an injured list stint.

Brewers Sign Darin Ruf, Place Luke Voit On IL

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The Brewers announced they have signed first baseman/outfielder Darin Ruf to a one-year contract. Right-hander Brandon Woodruff was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster while first baseman Luke Voit was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained neck to get Ruf onto the active roster. Additionally, the club optioned righty Colin Rea and recalled fellow righty Trevor Megill.

Ruf, 36, has had some success as a lefty-mashing specialist in his career, though he’s been struggling a bit over the past year. After a successful stint in the KBO League from 2017 to 2019, he returned to North America by signing with the Giants prior to 2020. In that shortened season and the subsequent campaign, he hit .272/.381/.519 in 412 plate appearances for a 142 wRC+, including a .275/.390/.579 line and 156 wRC+ against southpaws.

Last year, his overall line dipped to .216/.328/.373, which led to a passable 104 wRC+ but that was obviously not as strong as his previous work. After a trade to the Mets, his production cratered, as he mustered a paltry .152/.216/.197 line the rest of the way. The Mets held onto him through the winter but designated him for assignment at the end of Spring Training. Ruf then returned to the Giants and hit a solid .261/.370/.348 in a tiny sample of nine games before landing on the injured list due to wrist inflammation. He was later reinstated from the IL and designated for assignment when the club selected shortstop prospect Casey Schmitt.

Ruf cleared waivers and elected free agency. Since the Mets initially released him, they are still on the hook for the majority of Ruf’s salary, which is $3MM this year along with a $250K buyout on a 2024 option. The Brewers will only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time Ruf spends on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay. That makes it a fairly low-risk move, at least from a financial perspective, as the Brewers see if Ruf can get back to the excellent form he showed a few years ago.

He will effectively be replacing Voit on the roster as the club’s right-handed hitting first baseman/designated hitter. Voit was signed to a one-year, $2MM deal for this season but has slumped to a .221/.284/.265 showing so far this year for a wRC+ of just 55. Once one of the most potent power hitters in the league, he led the league in homers in the shortened 2020 season before various injuries seemed to slow him down. He hit an average-ish .230/.314/.412 for a wRC+ of 105 over 2021 and 2022 while bouncing from the Yankees to the Padres and Nationals, going on the injured list for an oblique strain and ongoing knee problems. The Brewers gave him a shot this year but he hasn’t been able to capitalize on it just yet and he might have to battle Ruf for his roster spot whenever his neck strain subsides.

As for Woodruff, his transfer to the 60-day IL doesn’t come as a surprise. He was diagnosed with a Grade 2 subscapular strain in his right shoulder in April and isn’t expected back until late June. He’ll now be ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement of April 8, which would be early June. Since he wasn’t expected to return until after that point anyway, this transfer was an inevitable formality.

Darin Ruf Elects Free Agency

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The Giants announced that Darin Ruf has cleared waivers, and elected to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A (hat tip to MLB.com’s Maria I. Guardado).  Ruf was designated for assignment earlier this week, and due to his Major League service time, he was eligible to reject the outright assignment and re-enter the open market.

Ruf’s second stint in San Francisco began when the Mets released him in early April, and Ruf rejoined the Giants on a minor league deal.  While he was pretty quickly selected onto their big league roster, Ruf only appeared in nine games before being placed on the 10-day injured list due to right wrist inflammation.  The Giants activated him from the injured list on the same day of his DFA.

Though in a brief sample size of 27 plate appearances, Ruf hit a respectable .261/.370/.348, mostly in his usual role against left-handed pitching.  Ruf has mashed southpaws for most of his nine MLB seasons, so between these splits and his ability to chip in as a first baseman and corner outfielder, there stands a pretty good chance that Ruf can catch on with another team.  Even with the Giants’ love of platooning and matchups, their roster is crowded enough that Ruf apparently didn’t want to wait in Triple-A for another opportunity to open up in San Francisco.

Ruf’s return to free agency doesn’t impact his salary, as the Mets are still responsible for the bulk of the $3.5MM he is owed for the 2023 season.  A new team will only have to pay Ruf the prorated portion of the minimum Major League salary, as the Giants did during his short time on their roster.

Giants Select Casey Schmitt, Designate Darin Ruf For Assignment

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11:02am: The Giants announced that they’ve selected Schmitt’s contract. In a corresponding move, they reinstated first baseman/outfielder Darin Ruf from the injured list and designated him for assignment. Outfielder Cal Stevenson was also optioned to Sacramento.

11:00am: The Giants will select the contract of infield prospect Casey Schmitt prior to tonight’s game, reports Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. The 2020 second-round pick will be making his Major League debut.

Schmitt, 24, has gotten out to a .313/.352/.410 start in Triple-A Sacrmento, striking out at a 19.3% clip against a more tepid 5.5% walk rate. For the season’s first few weeks, Schmitt was hitting for average but doing little else, walking at only a 3.6% clip with just a .367 slugging percentage. He’s picked up the pace of late, however, hitting .327/.393/.473 with a homer, five doubles, three stolen bases, an 8.2% walk rate and just a 13.1% strikeout rate over his past 14 games and 55 plate appearances.

While Schmitt has played primarily shortstop so far in 2023, the bulk of his minor league work has come at third base. In all, he has 512 career innings at shortstop and 1223 innings at the hot corner. The Giants have also played him at second base three times this month — the first three appearances of his career at that position — likely in an effort to increase his versatility and his utility on the big league roster.

The Giants have received outstanding production from infielders Thairo Estrada (.344/.394/.534) and J.D. Davis (.287/.360/.515), but with Brandon Crawford shelved by a calf strain (and struggling even when healthy), the infield has been thinned out. Brett Wisely and David Villar have both gotten looks at second base, with Estrada sliding over to shortstop in place of Crawford, but neither has hit well at all in 2023. Schmitt can give the Giants an option at either middle-infield slot, with Estrada handling the other, and hopefully provide a spark to the lineup in the process.

Scouting reports on Schmitt peg him as a plus defender on the left side of the infield, so it stands to reason that he can handle whichever of shortstop, second base or third base the Giants ask of him on a given day. What remains to be seen is whether this proves to be a short-term call-up until Crawford returns or whether Schmitt will get the chance to play his way into a more permanent role with the club. Given the team’s 15-19 start, it’s sensible to take a look at Schmitt and adjust the roster around him if he adapts well at the big league level. If he’s indeed in the Majors for good, he’d be on track to reach arbitration as a likely Super Two player following the 2025 season and reach free agency following the 2029 season — though future optional assignments can of course alter both trajectories.

As for Ruf, the 36-year-old’s return to the Giants will prove quite brief. Released by the Mets earlier this year, he quickly re-signed with the Giants and appeared in nine games before landing on the injured list due to a wrist injury. In 27 plate appearances prior to that IL stint, Ruf posted a solid .261/.370/.348 batting line.

The veteran Ruf was an outstanding find for the Giants in his return from a productive three-year run in the KBO, batting .248/.358/.455 in 726 plate appearances with San Francisco from 2020 through the 2022 trade deadline, when he was traded to the Mets in exchange for the aforementioned Davis and three others. It proved to be a disastrous trade for the Mets, as Davis immediately began hitting in San Francisco, while Ruf’s bat cratered in Queens; he hit just .152/.216/.197 in 74 plate appearances with the Mets last year and didn’t appear in a single game in 2023 before being cut loose.

The Giants will  have a week to trade Ruf, place him on outright waiver or place him on release waivers. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and still retain his full $3MM salary. The Mets are on the hook for that sum as part of last summer’s trade, so any team that picks Ruf up will only be required to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. That’d be subtracted from what the Mets owe to him. In 727 career plate appearances against left-handed pitching, Ruf is a .271/.368/.519 hitter (142 wRC+).

Giants Activate Mitch Haniger, Austin Slater

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The Giants are welcoming back a pair of outfield reinforcements. San Francisco reinstated both Mitch Haniger and Austin Slater from the 10-day injured list prior to tonight’s matchup with the Cardinals. To clear spots on the active roster, the Giants optioned infielder/outfielder Brett Wisely to Triple-A Sacramento and placed first baseman/corner outfielder Darin Ruf on the 10-day IL with inflammation in his right wrist.

Haniger’s return is the biggest development. He’s now in position to make his club debut. Signed to a three-year, $43.5MM guarantee over the offseason, the longtime Mariner went down with a Grade 1 oblique strain in Spring Training. That cost him the first three weeks of the regular season but didn’t prove a serious long-term concern. He’s in left field tonight and hitting third against St. Louis southpaw Jordan Montgomery.

The 32-year-old outfielder appeared in four rehab games for Sacramento. He picked up four hits in 13 at-bats, clearing the fences twice. Haniger is coming off a .246/.308/.429 showing over 57 games during his final season in Seattle.

Slater also opened the year on the IL, in his case due to a hamstring strain. The role-playing outfielder had a quality .264/.366/.408 line over 325 plate appearances last season. He spent the bulk of his defensive time in center field, garnering mixed reviews for his glovework. He eases into action as the designated hitter in his first MLB game of the year after picking up six hits in 18 at-bats on a rehab stint for Sacramento. Slater will lead off tonight.

The pair of right-handed hitters add some balance to a lineup that is off to a dreadful start against left-handed pitching. Only the Tigers (.264) have a lower on-base percentage against southpaws than San Francisco’s .271 mark, while their .337 slugging ranks 27th in the majors. Those struggles were part of the reason the Giants reunited with Ruf, who has a .261/.370/.348 line in nine games this season.

Giants Select Darin Ruf

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The Giants announced that they have selected infielder/outfielder Darin Ruf to their roster. Right-hander Sean Hjelle was optioned to open a spot on the active roster. The club already had a vacancy on its 40-man roster due to designating catcher Austin Wynns for assignment earlier this week.

This move completes a strange boomerang trip to New York and back for Ruf over the past nine months. He had been with the Giants since the start of the 2020 season but was flipped to the Mets at last year’s deadline. Unfortunately, he struggled badly after the move and didn’t make the club’s Opening Day roster out of spring this year. He was released and returned to the Giants on a minor league deal, now retaking a spot on the roster.

Prior to that sojourn out east, Ruf played very well for the Giants, particularly as a lefty-mashing righty. Over 2020 and 2021, he hit 21 home runs in 412 plate appearances and walked at a 14.3% rate. That led to a batting line of .272/.381/.519 and 142 wRC+. Against lefties, his line was even stronger at .275/.390/.579. Based on that performance, the Giants signed him to a two-year, $6.25MM deal going into 2022.

Last year, he dipped a bit but was still hitting .216/.328/.373 for a wRC+ of 104 at the time of the trade. But that swooned all the way to .152/.216/.197 after the deal. The Mets fortified their right-handed offense by adding Tommy Pham over the winter and cut Ruf after his struggles continued into the spring.

Now Ruf will have a chance to get back on track in a familiar environment. If it works out, it will be nice icing on the cake for the Giants, adding an extra sweet layer to a deal that already looks like a huge win for them. They got J.D. Davis and left-hander Thomas Szapucki, as well as prospects Nick Zwack and Carson Seymour in that deal. Davis is still under club control through 2024 and the others much longer. The Mets took on the remainder of Ruf’s deal and are still on the hook for it since he cleared waivers. The Giants can pay him the prorated league minimum for any time Ruf spends on the roster, which will be subtracted from what the Mets pay.

Giants Sign Darin Ruf To Minor League Deal

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The Giants are signing Darin Ruf to a minor league contract, The Athletic’s Jayson Stark reports (Twitter link).  The Mets designated Ruf for assignment prior to Opening Day and then released the first baseman/outfielder earlier this week.

Ruf is no stranger to the Bay Area, hitting .248/.358/.455 over 726 plate appearances with the Giants from 2020-22.  Much of that production came in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, which led to a two-year, $6.25MM deal that covered Ruf’s last two seasons of arbitration eligibility.  Ruf hit a modest .216/.328/.373 over his first 314 PA of the 2022 campaign, but that didn’t stop the Mets from making a play for the veteran at the trade deadline, landing Ruf for a four-player package headlined by J.D. Davis.

Unfortunately for Ruf and the Mets, his brief time in New York was a disaster, as he hit only .152/.216/.197 over 74 PA and then finished the season on the 10-day injured list with a neck sprain.  Some wrist problems seemed to contribute to Ruf continuing to struggle during Spring Training, and the Mets finally parted ways with the 36-year-old.

Since Ruf cleared waivers before being released, San Francisco will owe Ruf only the prorated minimum MLB salary, while the Mets will cover the rest of Ruf’s $3.5MM salary.  If Ruf can recapture any of his old form, then the entire situation could become a nice mini-coup for the Giants, in obtaining four players for essentially nothing while getting Ruf’s salary off the books.

Ruf had pretty good numbers against right-handed pitching in 2020-21 before tailing off badly in 2022, but the Giants primarily used the right-handed hitter as a lefty-masher.  Over his eight MLB seasons, Ruf has a career .272/.367/.523 slash line in 706 PA against southpaws.  Between these splits and his ability to play first base and both corner outfield positions, Ruf is a very useful part-time option, especially for a Giants team that has both Mitch Haniger and Austin Slater (both right-handed hitting outfielders) currently on the injured list.

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