Brewers sign Darin Ruf in hopes of addressing woes against left-handed pitching
ST. LOUIS – It’s no secret that the Milwaukee Brewers have struggled to hit left-handed pitching.
Roughly six weeks into the season, they made a move to hopefully do something about that.
The Brewers signed veteran first baseman/designated hitter Darin Ruf to a major-league contract Monday and activated him as they kicked off a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
Luke Voit was moved to the 10-day injured list with neck stiffness in a corresponding move.
Ruf, 36, has made a name for himself as a lefty crusher. In 727 career plate appearances against them, Ruf is batting .271 with 39 homers to go along with an .886 OPS.
After returning from a three-year stint in the Korea Baseball Organization with the Samsung Lions, Ruf was placed into a platoon role with the San Francisco Giants and had a .890 OPS against lefties in 2020 before breaking out with a 1.007 OPS the following year.
“Darin does something that we haven’t been great at so far this year, and that’s hit left-handed pitching,” Counsell said. “That’s kind of what he’s made his calling for since he came back from Korea, essentially. He’s been very good at it.
"So, he’ll get a shot over these next couple weeks to see what happens.”
Ruf was released by the New York Mets in spring training after struggling with the team following a trade from the Giants at the deadline last year.
He hit only .152 with a .413 OPS and no homers in 74 plate appearances with the Mets in 2022. He was ultimately released with one year remaining on his two-year, $6.25 million contract.
Ruf signed with the Giants in April and appeared in nine games, batting .261 with a .718 OPS, but was ultimately a roster crunch casualty and designated for assignment last week.
“Every player deals with stuff at the end of your career,” Ruf said. “I say that the beginning and the end are a little less stable than that middle portion. I’m blessed and fortunate to still be playing and getting opportunities. The short time I had with the Giants this year was great for me to go back and see familiar faces and get back to getting some coaching where they were familiar with me and knew what made me successful.”
As for Ruf’s role with the Brewers, it didn’t require a long conversation.
“I think my role is pretty well solidified by now in my career,” Ruf said. “...That’s what I hope to do: Go out and excel at what I’m good at, and hopefully build upon that into something more.”
Brewers recall reliever Trevor Megill
Two weeks after acquiring him from the Minnesota Twins, the Brewers called up right-handed reliever Trevor Megill to add a fresh arm to the bullpen.
Megill, 29, has appeared in 67 games with the Cubs and Twins since his debut in 2021 with a 6.03 ERA but features a high-velocity, high-spin fastball that the Brewers hope to get the most out of.
“We acquired him because we think there’s ingredients there for success,” Counsell said. “His strength is a big fastball and then we went with a fresh arm, essentially, just to make sure. We’re entering a tough stretch of the schedule and we’re playing good teams and we want to make sure we’re fully staffed to go through these games especially at the start of it.”
Former Brewers second-round pick Micah Bello retires
Micah Bello, taken by the Brewers in the second round of the 2018 MLB draft out of high school, has retired after spending parts of six seasons in the organization.
Bello was the first Hawaiian prep position player to go in the first five rounds since 2013 when he was initially drafted as a speedy, power-hitting outfielder.
The results never came for Bello, however, has he posted a .687 OPS in the minors overall and just a .582 mark across 34 games at High-A, the highest level of the minors he reached.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers sign Darin Ruf to address problem hitting left-handed pitchers
