'Guy's a competitor': How Adin Ruiz is making the most of his move to Veterans Memorial
Adin Ruiz spent his whole life in Kingsville, and his family has deep roots with the city, the King Ranch and Santa Gertrudis Academy.
But last summer, the family decided to make the move to Corpus Christi. It was not easy but when the 2023-24 school year started, and Ruiz was enrolled at Veterans Memorial High School and began work in the baseball program with his father also as pitching coach, it was the right decision.
Ruiz, the Lions ace pitcher for the last few years, had played with a few of the current Eagles baseball players in summer league and travel baseball, and that helped make his transition easier. As the baseball season is set to begin, Ruiz is quickly becoming a player the Eagles will rely on this season on the mound as well as the lineup and in the field.
“It’s been fun, all these guys accepted me for who I am and let me come in and be part of the team,” Ruiz said.
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Over the course of the three previous seasons, Ruiz had gained a reputation as a being a competitor, and one of the few pitchers around that could keep District 30-3A rival London’s powerful lineup in check. The Lions struggled to win games against the Pirates, but Ruiz kept finding ways to pitch gems.
His best one was in 2022 when he pitched seven shutout innings, allowing three hits, and striking out eight before he reached the 110-pitch limit, but the Lions lost 1-0 in extra innings.
There were lessons learned for Ruiz, and Veterans Memorial coach Lee Yeager was able to watch Ruiz’s performance that day at Whataburger Field in 2022 and came away impressed. And now that Ruiz is part of the program, he continues to understand why Ruiz was a successful player.
“The guy’s a competitor, we can see that,” Yeager said. “We really like him on the mound, he’s just a bulldog, and he competes really well.”
The chance to move to Veterans Memorial came almost by chance when Yeager made a call to Ruiz’s father, Mike, last year about him coming to the school to be the program’s pitching coach. It was something Ruiz was interested in, but it certainly was not an easy decision. Ruiz’s wife was in the first high school graduating class at Santa Gertrudis Academy and her family’s history goes back generations of working at the King Ranch, and Mike Ruiz himself is a Kingsville native. They also had a son go through Santa Gertrudis Academy, while Adin had attended the school since kindergarten.
But after some family discussion, they decided to make the move.
“He was ready to make this jump,” Mike Ruiz said. “It’s one of those things that he felt it was going to be better for his career as far as college wise and being able to be seen a little more.”
Now that they are settled into Corpus Christi, Adin Ruiz is now setting about the business of trying to find his place on the team, knowing he will see plenty of time on the mound, but Yeager said he has a chance to start in the outfield and could be a key bat in the lineup. And Mike Ruiz said the consistent competition of District 30-3A is not that much different from District 29-5A, which has made the transition easier.
But most of all for Adin Ruiz, it’s a chance to show what he can do on a different, a little bit bigger stage, and continue to play the game he loves.
“Just to come out,” Ruiz said, “and be the best in myself and help the team whenever I can.”
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Veterans Memorial baseball's Adin Ruiz becoming key part for Eagles
