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2008 The average NL catcher hit .257/.318/.394 last year, so Ruiz's mediocre season still put the Phils slightly ahead of the pack. Their advantage would have been greater had Ruiz only done what we might expect a right-handed batter to do against lefty pitchers. Last year, the average NL righty batted .281/.351/.447 against southpaws, while Ruiz hit .189/.265/.311 in 104 plate appearances against them, a split that's very likely to improve this year. Ruiz was fine in the field last year, displaying an accurate arm. He's an asset for now, but given his late arrival in the major leagues, he's not going to grow from this point beyond the aforementioned correction. 2007 Given a second shot at Triple-A, Ruiz cranked up his hitting, just as he had done in second tries in Double-A and High-A ball. He did the same thing in miniature in the majors, going 5-for-35 with no extra base hits in his first call-up in May, and then hitting .379/.455/.793 in his subsequent trips to the bigs. The only thing not to like about him is that he`s already 28. That would normally elicit a comment about this being as good he gets, but there`s something about his pattern of improvement that cautions against taking a normal career path for granted. 2006 After his 2004 breakout year in Double-A and a bravura performance in the AFL, Ruiz was on the fast track of the Reading R.R. to Philly. Act II was an even better year in Triple-A in 2005, though his newfound home run power in 2004 evaporated from 17 to only four. The Panamanian didn`t sign his first pro contract until age 19, and didn`t play professionally until he was 20, so there are mitigating circumstances to his late maturation. The Phillies signed Sal Fasano for 2006, and the Italian backup stallion is the odds-on favorite to go north with the big club next April, while Ruiz heads back to Scranton. 2005 Ordinarily, it would be safe to ignore a 25-year-old who suddenly started hitting at Double-A, but Ruiz has a good excuse for being a late-bloomer: The high school that he went to in Panama did not sponsor baseball, and unlike the vast majority of Latin American prospects who get signed to contracts in their teens, Ruiz's first year in American professional ball came at age 20. Though he had never played catcher at the time of his signing, Ruiz's arm and overall defense are considered to be assets. He was added to the 40-man roster in November, and has a good chance to be a major league-caliber backup.
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