Ruiz an unlikely — but deserving — hero
Humberto Ruiz, who stole the show in Game 3 of the IBL Finals, has been the most pleasant surprise for a Majors ballclub one win away from a championship.
(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).
Twelve hours after playing the hero Tuesday night at Labatt Park, his clutch hitting and highlight reel catch in the outfield helping put the London Majors on the precipice of a championship, Humberto Ruiz found himself at home, on little sleep, taking care of his 10-month-old daughter.
“She’s all over the place right now,” Ruiz said by text. “Let’s wait until my wife is back.”
With his wife returned, and Ruiz was available to chat over the phone, the question needed to be asked: ‘Is it harder chasing around your daughter or chasing around fly balls at Labatt Park?’
“Chasing the daughter, for sure,” the outfielder said with a laugh. “She’s trying to walk and everything, so I’m really working the whole time.”
Well, almost the whole time. The 33-year-old did manage to sneak in time to watch the video clip – several times – of his catch the night before, in which he robbed a home run off the bat of Intercounty Baseball League legend Sean Reilly in the 7th inning, preserving a 6-2 lead for the Majors at the time.
“That was awesome,” Ruiz said, his elation after the catch Tuesday night still in his system. But was it truly a home run-saving catch? Ruiz isn’t totally sure.
“Honestly, in the moment I thought it was close, but now that I see the video, I think it was going to hit the top of the fence. Who knows if it was going to go the other way or come back.”
At the very least, it would have scored one run – and left another in scoring position for the Maple Leafs’ cleanup hitter, Garret Takamatsu. Numerous scenarios can be played back after a game, but had that run scored, too, the Leafs would have tied the game up in the 8th inning when they managed to push two runs across. In other words, Ruiz’s catch could have been a game saver.
“Sometimes, in batting practice, we do that just for fun … but it actually happened in a game, and it was really important to keep them [from scoring]. So, I’m pretty happy that I was able to make the catch, but especially that it helped my teammates to be up 2-1 [in the series] right now.”
The catch was the icing on the cake on what Ruiz believes was the best game of his career. At the plate, he went 4-for-4 with three runs batted in, including a bases-loaded single that scored two in the 5th inning to break a tie, putting London ahead 4-2. Then, his single in the 6th drove in what turned out to be the game’s winning run.
“He was the star of the game on offense, for sure, with Eduardo (Perez) the star on the mound,” said manager Roop Chanderdat, his team now one win away – with two cracks at it – from winning the franchise’s first IBL title in 46 years. “Humberto got some clutch hits, and it’s incredible what he did in the outfield. That was a phenomenal play.
“But he’s been doing things like that all year, making catches, making big defensive plays, and coming up big at the plate.”
***
You want an unlikely hero? Humberto Ruiz is your man. If you’d told Chanderdat a few years ago that Ruiz, a native of Matanzas, Cuba, would be hitting third in the lineup – with a .421 batting average in the playoffs – on a team one win away from a championship, there’s no way he’d have believed you. That’s not to say he didn’t believe Ruiz had potential, but his 2021 season has exceeded even the loftiest of expectations.
“He’s been the most improved player I’ve had from when he first started [in 2014] to where he’s at now,” Chanderdat said. “This guy has put so much work into learning the game and getting better. Every time I go to him with something, he eats it up. He’s improved so much, and you see the stuff he can do now – defensively and offensively. I think he’s the hardest guy to strike out in the league.”
Ruiz joined the Majors not as an import player – or even a recruited one. He’d moved to Mississauga from Cuba, on his own, in 2012 and played with Burlington’s IBL team in 2013. He moved to London the following year because a friend from back home was living in the Forest City.
“I sent Roop an email, and he said I could come try out. Fortunately, I made the team.”
Chanderdat’s recollection? “I like guys that work hard. He endeared himself to me and I kept him on the team.”
He appeared in 21 games that season, batting .280 in 50 at-bats. In 2015, he got a full season’s worth of at-bats (110), and he made the most of them, batting .300 and managing to lead the team in runs scored (30). His talent was raw, but he continued to improve. Looking back now, Chanderdat is blown away by how far Ruiz has come.
“He’s improved so much. When he came to us, he was fast … and maybe that’s it,” Chanderdat said with a chuckle. “He’d just go up there and swing. Now, he has an approach up there … he rarely strikes out. And he’s strong defensively. His arm is very good. He’s had some unbelievable throws from the outfield. He’s come a long way to understanding the game, and he’s still learning, all the time.”
He finished just above .300 again in 2016 (.303) and showed off his speed on the basepaths that year with 20 steals.
But his progress wasn’t necessarily linear. In fact, his career hit a roadblock in 2017. Offensively, he seemed to get more exposed by opposing pitchers that year, and he hit just .226 in 29 games.
But that wasn’t the worst of it.
A league rule change, which re-classified import players, actually left Ruiz off the team the following season. He was a permanent resident, but not a Canadian citizen. The new rule meant that he’d have to be counted as one of the Majors’ import players.
(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).
The problem? Those spots – which have ranged from three to five over the years – are almost always reserved for ace pitchers or game-changing hitters – often from Venezuela or the Dominican Republic. Usually, guys with plenty of professional experience under their belts. It left Ruiz on the outside looking in.
“I had to let him go,” Chanderdat said. “He’d shown flashes, but he’d never put it all together. And your import guys, they’ve gotta be your best pitcher, your best hitter, the best at whatever it is you’re bringing them in for.”
Ruiz continued to play, joining the Southwestern Senior Baseball League, where he continued to improve his game and stay in shape. Carlos Arteaga, the Majors’ third baseman, joined him there as well when work commitments didn’t allow for him to commit to a full IBL season.
Then, the rule changed again. If a player had played four years in the league and had permanent residency, they’d be considered a Canadian player – and not count towards a team’s import spots. That impacted not only Ruiz, but also shortstop Keith Kandel and long-time veteran Cleveland Brownlee.
Ruiz’s first game back? The Legacy Classic exhibition contest played in August of 2020 that kept alive Labatt Park’s streak as the world’s oldest continuously operating baseball grounds. It was a nice return to the Majors for the Cuban native, and it offered a taste of what was to come in 2021.
But before that, there was work to be done.
“I decided I was going to come back this year, and I prepared myself well for this season.”
That’s an understatement.
Ruiz dedicated himself to an arduous offseason training regimen with the goal of having his best season as a ballplayer – if, in fact, there was a season to be played (the 2020 campaign had been wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic, save for that one exhibition contest).
“I always worked out normally, exercised and stayed in shape, but I decided [last offseason] to focus more on baseball-specific exercises,” Ruiz said. “I set up a gym at my house and I put in a lot of hours.”
When the weather allowed for it, he was in his backyard, doing various exercises he’d researched (mostly on YouTube) that included truck tires … and a sledgehammer. It was intense. He also regularly hit baseballs off a tee into a net. Not regular five-ounce baseballs, but heavier 15-ounce balls.
When the warm weather came, he did a lot of swimming in his pool.
“I swung the bat under the water, too. That helps me a lot to have quicker hands,” he said. “I actually swing under the water all the time.”
***
If Ruiz didn’t arrive a completely different player in 2021, he was Humberto 2.0, a more polished, smarter and stronger player ready for everyday duty in the London Majors’ lineup.
“What I want everyone to know is he worked hard,” said Chanderdat. “Ever since we talked and he said he was coming back for this season, he did whatever he could to prepare for the year. He put a gym in his house, and anytime he could hit, he would hit. He put in the work to get better.”
Those ‘flashes’ that Chanderdat had seen in previous seasons? They weren’t mere flashes anymore. And, it was clear right from the beginning of the year, that Ruiz, as Chanderdat had hoped, had managed to ‘put it all together.’
The 33-year-old went from hitting at the bottom of the order to jumping into the No. 3 spot in the lineup, a position often held down by a team’s best hitter. As a result, Humberto quickly earned the nickname ‘3-hole Bert’ as he racked up the hits in the first half of the season.
Over the first month of the year, Ruiz hit .432 in 13 games, collecting 19 hits in 44 at-bats in helping lead the Majors to first place in the IBL standings at 10 wins and 3 losses (they’d end up winning the pennant on the strength of their big start). During a win against Brantford on Aug. 7, the outfielder went 4-for-4 with a double and four RBIs in a 10-4 win.
(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).
Then, Ruiz’s season was derailed.
A significant hamstring injury was the culprit, and it left him on the sidelines for several games. He tried to make a return in Kitchener, on Aug. 22, and he managed a hit in four at-bats, but the aftermath wasn’t pretty.
“The next day I couldn’t walk at all,” Ruiz said. “I told Roop I didn’t think I’d be able to come back until maybe the middle of the playoffs, or who knows. I was really worried it was the end for me and I wouldn’t be able to help the team.”
It was a tough loss, for sure.
“When he got hurt, he was arguably our MVP at the time,” said Chanderdat. “He was hitting over .400 … he was one of the top hitters in the league. He was doing everything.”
He’s been getting treatment since from one of the team’s doctors, Alex Coulson. After that game in Kitchener, it was decided, in fact, that Ruiz wouldn’t return until absolutely needed. That meant the playoffs.
And when the Majors hosted Brantford for Game 1 of their IBL semi-final series at Labatt Park, Humberto Ruiz was on the lineup card, in the No. 3 spot. He went 2-for-4 with an RBI in that contest, a 9-5 London win. And he’s played each game since – at about 80 percent health, he estimates – as the Majors seek their first league title in 46 years.
They’re now one game away from doing so – thanks in large part to Ruiz’s stellar Game 3 performance Tuesday night. His 4-for-4 game made him 6-for-10 in the series against the Maple Leafs thus far. He’s not able to run fully, but it’s unlikely many in the raucous crowd at Labatt Park noticed he’s playing with a bum hamstring when he leapt and made that phenomenal catch in front of the left field wall.
“I’m doing the treatment to be able to keep going and help this team try to get our goal of winning the championship,” Ruiz said. “I think we have a pretty good chance, especially now that we’re up 2-1.”
Smartly, Ruiz booked a few days off work this week to help him focus on the finals. Not that he hasn’t been kept busy. Ten-month-old children will do that. But he’s been trying his best to rest up that hamstring Wednesday and Thursday to prepare for Game 4 – and, if necessary, Game 5.
“We’re gonna give our all Thursday and try to finish it there [in Toronto],” he said. “But if it doesn’t happen, we’ll win it here at home, because nobody likes to play us here. We’re really tough here.”
The London Majors are looking to bounce back — in a big way — from a disappointing 2023 campaign following back-to-back championships. Do they have what it takes to contend again in 2024? …