Diamondbacks Acquire Right-Hander José Ruiz from White Sox
The Diamondbacks acquired right-handed reliever José Ruiz from the Chicago White Sox on April 9th. Ruiz struggled with the White Sox this season, allowing nine runs in 3.2 innings in his first four appearances out of the bullpen and was designated for assignment on April 7th.
The D-backs bullpen has taken some significant injury hits this season, especially from their set of right-handed arms. Corbin Martin is out for the year, Mark Melancon is out months, and Cole Sulser is out weeks for their respective shoulder injuries. In addition to the injuries, Drey Jameson will be returning to the rotation to fill a spot vacated by Zach Davies' oblique injury. The team is very thin on right-handed arms, having already called up Luis Frías and Peter Solomon from Reno this week.
"He's got a very live arm, a lot of velo" said D-backs manager Torey Lovullo. Last season, Ruiz averaged 96.9 MPH on his fastball and got very good results on both his curveball and changeup. The curveball is his main secondary pitch against right-handed hitters and he uses the changeup primarily against lefties. The two pitches yielded a weighted on base average of .202 and .284. The velocity has backed up this season, with his average fastball at 95.5 MPH in his four appearances. In the past, Ruiz was a 60% fastball user, but as the pitch got hammered, his usage dropped to 40% in favor using more of his secondary pitches.
Arizona will need to make a move with the active roster to fit in Ruiz, who is out of options. Ruiz is on his way will report with the club soon.
