On Monday night time, within the backside of the eighth inning with two outs, the Mets trailing by 4 and the bases loaded, Buck Showalter despatched Darin Ruf to pinch hit towards Cubs’ lefty reliever Brandon Hughes.
The transfer was a reasonably apparent one from a matchup standpoint. Subbing within the right-handed Ruf for Tyler Naquin, a left-handed hitter, was one thing most managers would do ten out of ten occasions. Given Ruf’s profile as a power-hitting lefty killer, it made sense to ship him up there seeking a game-changing extra-base hit. Prior to the at-bat, Ruf was 6-for-17 this season when pinch-hitting towards a left-hander. A base hit from him in that spot would have gotten the Mets proper again in it, and a house run would have tied issues up whereas making Showalter — and common supervisor Billy Eppler, who particularly focused him on the commerce deadline — appear to be geniuses.
Instead, Ruf fell right into a 1-2 gap and looped a weak, humpbacked liner into proper subject that was caught for the inning’s remaining out.
“Darin has been really good in that spot in his career,” Showalter stated. “It just hasn’t been there for him lately.”
The spot Showalter was referring to is the precise sort of spot that the Mets acquired Ruf for. When the entrance workplace despatched J.D. Davis and three minor leaguers to the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 2 in change for Ruf, they did so envisioning that he would proceed torturing left-handed pitchers. At the time of the commerce, Ruf had a .886 OPS towards left-handed pitching in 2022. Pinch hitting him on Monday was theoretically a very good course of, however the outcome, but once more, was not what the Mets wished.
This has grow to be a theme with Ruf. Since Aug. 5, the day he performed his first sport as a Met, he has an unpleasant .137/.179/.196 slash line (.375 OPS). He has 15 strikeouts to 3 walks in that point and remains to be trying to find his first Met house run. He is at present mired in an 0-for-September stoop, throughout which he has gone 17 at-bats and not using a hit and never reached base in any respect. While Ruf doesn’t play each day, it’s nonetheless surprising to appreciate a longtime MLB participant has not managed successful or stroll in practically two weeks. The final time he stood safely on the bases was Aug. 31.
In digesting all of that, in addition to the significance of the Mets’ remaining 20 video games, it’s time to face the music. This experiment hasn’t labored out in any respect, and it’s higher to chop bait and admit defeat than hoping and praying Ruf can rapidly determine it out. Since becoming a member of his new crew, Ruf has had 38 plate appearances towards lefties, the group he was speculated to terrorize. Those 38 plate appearances have spit out 4 hits, three walks and ten Ok’s. When going through a lefty with runners in scoring place, Ruf has a .091 batting common for the Mets. It is, merely put, going about as poorly because it may have.
“It’s frustrating,” Ruf stated on Monday when requested about his immense struggles. “But it’s baseball, so, it happens.”
On the flip aspect, Davis is raking. While these numbers are most likely due, in some capability, to the truth that he doesn’t play for the Mets anymore, Davis has a .797 OPS for the Giants because the commerce. By wRC+, Davis’ change of surroundings has made him 24% higher than league common. Ruf, in the meantime, has a wRC+ of seven with the Mets, that means he’s a mind-blowing 93% worse than the common hitter over the course of his transient tenure in Flushing.
“I understand how people like to dwell on one thing and rightfully so,” Showalter stated whereas fielding a collection of questions on Ruf.
In the olden days (final 12 months), Ruf’s spot on the roster might be justified by having him sometimes hit for the pitcher. With the common designated hitter now in place — satirically, one thing Ruf most likely thought would assist lengthen his profession — the Mets can’t even use him that manner. That leaves only a few conditions by which it makes logical sense to have Ruf seize a bat. While the one manner out of that is most likely with extra at-bats, not fewer, the Mets simply can not afford to attend for that breakout which can by no means come.
“I’m trying to have good at-bats,” Ruf stated in his postgame scrum on Monday. “Sometimes you need a little luck. You need some soft contact to fall and you certainly need hard contact to find holes. When the two don’t line up, you can get on a little stretch where you make more outs than you want.”
There’s no extra time to dwell, no extra time to hope contact, onerous or gentle, finds some grass. As powerful a capsule as it could be to swallow, Ruf can’t be trusted in large conditions proper now. Moving ahead, his foremost position ought to most likely be giving Pete Alonso some relaxation days as soon as the Mets are lastly locked into their postseason seed.
Continuing to play Ruf looks as if some of the surefire methods to actively make that postseason seed worse.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com