How Ruf could be secret weapon for new-look Giants lineup

The only position player who signed a multi-year deal with the Giants this offseason had a higher slugging percentage the last two years than Carlos Correa and Kris Bryant. He had a higher average exit velocity last season than Kyle Schwarber and Freddie Freeman. He has finished well ahead of Nick Castellanos and Trevor Story in on-base percentage since he made his Giants debut in 2020. 

If you think this type of hitter sounds like the solution to a lot of the Giants' problems in 2022, you're in agreement with their front office and coaching staff. You just might not realize it yet.

Darin Ruf does not play a premium position and has never been an everyday player in the big leagues. He turns 36 in July, and he's not far removed from having his contract sold to a team in South Korea. He also might be Gabe Kapler's most important hitter at the moment.

Those stats above are somewhat cherry-picked, of course, but they do tell a fascinating story about Ruf's talent level and explain why Farhan Zaidi just gave Ruf a two-year deal after trading for him in Los Angeles and then twice pursuing him when he was hired by the Giants. They also explain why Kapler flashed a wide smile recently when asked if those outside the Giants clubhouse underrate Ruf.

"Maybe from the outside, not from the inside," Kapler said. "I think his teammates and our coaching staff and our front office, we think he just rakes."

For two years, Ruf has. He's just done it on a limited basis, which is why you won't see him on any leaderboards or mentioned among the game's most dangerous right-handed bats. Ruf returned to the big leagues in 2020 and got 100 plate appearances, and last year he had 312 of them spread out over 117 games, 55 of which he entered as a sub. 

Some of the overall numbers have been modest, but the Giants don't care much about the back of your baseball card. They won 107 games last year by finding an edge in every single at-bat, and when you look at Ruf from that perspective, you see an elite hitter. 

Since winning a job as a non-roster invitee in 2020, Ruf ranks 11th in OBP and 31st in slugging among all MLB hitters with more than 400 plate appearances. By wRC+, he ranks 14th, right alongside Jose Ramirez and George Springer, among others.

Ruf has put up these gaudy numbers mostly by absolutely crushing lefties. His 1.007 OPS against them last season ranked 10th in the Majors, and maintaining that kind of production will be crucial this year. Three Giants had an OPS above 1.000 against lefties last year. One of them, Buster Posey, is now a full-time dad. Another, Evan Longoria, is out at least six weeks. 

Ruf's role will expand beyond hitting in the heart of the lineup against lefties, though. Even before Longoria went down, Kapler was planning to play Ruf often against right-handed starters. 

"He earned that last year," Kapler said earlier this month. "His at-bats were as good as anybody against both left and right. We have a ton of confidence sending him up there against the toughest right-handed pitchers and right-handed relievers. That's not to say that there weren't times that a left-handed bat wasn't very attractive in those situations as well, but I'm comfortable with Darin in the middle of our lineup against right-handers or left-handers."

The push to get Ruf more involved was helped by an offseason rule change. Ruf and Wilmer Flores are major reasons why the Giants didn't dive into the DH market after the new CBA was ratified, and they stand as two of Zaidi's best additions. In Ruf's case, the reunion was a long time coming.

Ruf debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2014 and hit 14 homers the next season. He never grabbed an everyday job in parts of five seasons with the Phillies, though, and at the start of the 2016 offseason he was sent to Los Angeles as part of the Howie Kendrick trade. 

Ruf seemed in line for a bench role as an outfielder/first baseman, but the Dodgers, with Zaidi as their GM, kept adding. They needed to find room for several players, including Chase Utley, on their 40-man roster at the start of camp, so Ruf's contract was sold to the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization. That meant a major life adjustment, but also a significant raise and consistent playing time.

"If I had stayed with the Dodgers that would have been great, too, but I was the 39th, 40th guy on the roster without any options," Ruf said recently, smiling. 

Ruf might have been thousands of miles away, but Zaidi never lost track of him as he destroyed KBO pitching. Ruf hit 31 homers in his first season overseas and followed that with 33 more and a 1.024 OPS in 2018. Now in San Francisco, Zaidi had some dialogue with Ruf's agent, but the Lions wanted a quick decision and there was much more security in going back. 

After a third big offensive year, Ruf and his family were ready to return. His wife, Libby, was expecting in April, and the family lived in North Scottsdale at the time. The Giants again offered a chance to come to camp on a minor league deal and win a bench job, and Ruf saw it as "a really good situation." He had a late offer from the New York Mets, but he was drawn to the Giants, who were close to home and had a familiar executive in charge. 

Ruf has proven to be better than the Giants could have expected, in large part because he fits just about everything they want in a hitter. In addition to the raw power and bat speed, Ruf is incredibly patient at the plate. His 4.42 pitches per plate appearance stood out even on a team that led the National League, and Ruf would have led the Majors had he had enough plate appearances to qualify. 

"I feel more confident when I've seen more pitches, seen all of (a pitcher's) pitches," he said. "If I've seen a guy before, I'll be more aggressive earlier in the count if the situation dictates it. But if it's my first time facing someone in a season or game, I don't want to get in the box and try to guess how to time him up. It might take two or three pitches to feel comfortable, to feel in-sync with that guy, to see what he has and what it's doing that day. Then I feel like I have a better understanding of what I need to see and what to swing at."

Ruf fits right in with a staff that preaches you should wait for a pitch you can drive and then do damage, and he credits Justin Viele, Dustin Lind and former hitting coach Donnie Ecker with helping him make subtle changes to his swing, which have helped him relax at the plate and get his bat into the zone quicker, while keeping it there longer. 

While Ruf resurrected his career in South Korea, he has benefited from being back in a big league lineup. With the Lions, he was encouraged to be ultra-aggressive to drive in runs, which he did well, finishing in the top five in RBI in all three seasons in the league. But the Giants just want him to be another piece in the machine.

"It was good to get back to the one-through-nine approach," Ruf said. "I feel like that suits me well. If you don't get the opportunity to do it, the next guy will."

Ruf has fit in perfectly with the Giants, but in his third year, there will be increased pressure. The lineup sorely needs his right-handed power, although Zaidi has said repeatedly this spring that the in-house options -- including Ruf -- are better than outsiders think. As Ruf spoke at his locker earlier this month, he looked around the room. Guys like Austin Slater, Thairo Estrada and Joey Bart are being counted on to make up for some of the lost production.

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"I think we have enough guys that have done it before and young guys that are deserving of an opportunity and have the ability to step up and contribute," he said. "It's just about all of it coming together. We certainly have the people to do it."

At the top of the list is the easy-going power hitter who may finally be an everyday big leaguer at the age of 35. As all of the big free agents signed elsewhere in recent weeks, Zaidi, Scott Harris and Kapler never seemed to panic. They believe in their group, and they showed their faith in Ruf by buying out two arbitration years with a two-year, $6.25 million deal that includes an option for 2024. 

"I don't think he's recognized league-wide like he can be, but who cares?" Kapler said. "We think he's really good and we'll just keep throwing him out there."

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