San Francisco Giants fans excited as Darin Ruf rejoins team after his New York Mets exile: "He is a good luck charm for us" "Bark bark! Let’s Go!"
After an inglorious exile with the New York Mets, San Francisco Giants fan favorite Darin Ruf is back in the city by the bay. The Giants placed Ruf on their major league roster Wednesday after signing him to a minor league contract over the weekend.
The Mets, who traded for Ruf last summer in hopes of enhancing their offense for the pennant drive, cut him before this season after a poor stint in New York was followed up by a woeful spring training.
In 29 games with the Mets last season, he hit just .159 with zero home runs. This spring training, he was batting a scant .167 with one RBI and nine strikeouts in 11 games.
#SFGiants roster moves:
• IF/OF Darin Ruf selected to the Major League roster.
• RHP Sean Hjelle optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.
Needless to say, San Francisco Giants fans are overjoyed to have Darin Ruf back.
While he is just a .239 career hitter, Ruf batted .276 with five home runs over 40 games for the Giants in 2020 and followed that up by hitting .271 with 16 homers in 2021. San Francisco threw its arms around Ruf after he returned to MLB following three seasons of playing in Korea, acknowledging him as a friendly, yet hard-nosed player with a penchant for clutch hits.
@SFGiants Man why-gotta keep Hjelle up here. He's been pretty good. And hes super intimidating. But Ruf-thats exciting. I really do feel like he is a good luck charm for us. ALways good vibes with/from him last year. And how about the joining of BOTH JD Davis and Ruf. STEAL from mets.
@SFGiants HES BACKK https://t.co/r635T7JUuu
@SFGiants Bark bark! Let’s go!!!
Giants fans are hoping for bounce-back season from Ruf, if for nothing else, just to rub it in the face of Mets fans who booed him unmercifully at Citi Field.
The San Francisco faithful are no doubt looking forward to New York paying a visit for a three-game series April 20-22.
@SFGiants mets fans are gonna be sick when he gets 2 dingers tonight
@SFGiants https://t.co/WWIxP2ULO5
@SFGiants Darin ruf hitting a grand slam
Darin Ruf is back. San Francisco Giants fans can't wait.
@SFGiants Ruf returning to 2021 form
@SFGiants https://t.co/QhlNO4dGxd
@SFGiants Can’t wait for the Giants cheating lab to make Darin Ruf not terrible again
While the Mets traded for Darin Ruf in hopes of bolstering their offense, it was the players they sent away who had a better end to the 2022 season. Left-handed pitcher Thomas Szapucki was moved to the bullpen by the Giants, where he logged a 1.98 ERA with 16 strikeouts over 13 2/3 innings over 10 games.
Davis punched up his batting average of 25 points with San Francisco, hitting .263 in 49 games. He also doubled his home run total after the swap, hitting eight homers after tallying four round-trippers in 66 games against New York.
While Szapucki is on the injured list, Davis is batting .323 for the Giants through 10 games this season.
And now the San Francisco Giants have Darin Ruf back, too. Thanks, Mets.
@SFGiants https://t.co/UD9h6d0faB
Darin Ruf happy to return to the San Francisco Giants
Ruf spoke with Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic Tuesday on his return to the Giants organization. He said:
“I am very happy to be back. Last year … it didn’t go the way I personally wanted it to. Obviously not for the Giants as a team, either. And getting traded didn’t work out the way anyone wanted.”