Ruiz rebounds to league-leading form

After toiling in the minors for 10 years before reaching the majors, Reno first baseman Randy Ruiz appeared to hit full stride in 2009, when he compiled a career year for the 51s and went on a home run binge for the Toronto Blue Jays.

But the three-time minor league batting champion's swing got lost in translation in Japan, where he struggled the past two seasons, batting .244 in 110 games.

A .300 hitter over parts of 14 pro seasons, Ruiz hit a career-low .195 last year for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, who demoted him to the minors after 38 games.

"For a guy like myself, who is a competitor and wants to win all the time and wants to do well, having a bad year and going to the minor leagues was tough," he said. "It was a tough year, especially with the earthquake and tsunami we had.

"There are no excuses, but we were living out of hotels for four months, and we felt aftershocks every day. It was a big scare."

Ruiz's team was based in Sendai, which was the closest major city to the quake's epicenter in the western Pacific Ocean. Fortunately, the team was out of town when the disaster struck, and no family members were harmed.

"Little by little over there, it's getting better," Ruiz said.

So is the 6-foot-3-inch, 250-pound Bronx, N.Y., native, who played for Las Vegas manager Marty Brown in Japan in 2010.

"He just never was the player people thought he'd be over there," Brown said. "I think he went over with the idea he had it all figured out. But it's not easy.

"He was pitched to totally different than he was over here. He didn't really make the adjustment effectively."

Ruiz, 34, has had no problem readjusting to the Pacific Coast League, where he earned Most Valuable Player honors in 2009 after hitting .320 with 25 homers and 106 RBIs in his only season in Las Vegas, where he now resides.

This year, he's among the league leaders with a .331 average, 14 homers and 53 RBIs and has been a key cog on the Pacific Northern division-leading Aces (34-26).

"He was kind of carrying us there for the first month and a half," Reno manager Brett Butler said. "We started out 5-12, but we kind of rode his back for a while.

"Only one other guy I've had in the minor leagues who hit the ball any harder on a more consistent basis might've been Wily Mo Pena. Other than that, this guy hits the ball as hard and as far as anybody."

Ruiz homered Monday at Cashman Field in Reno's 6-2 win over the 51s and sat out Tuesday's 8-1 victory over Las Vegas (32-27).

"Little by little, I'm getting better," he said. "I'm putting up some big numbers and trying to get people to say, 'Look, he's back.'

"I'm just happy where I'm at right now."

After earning a promotion to Toronto in August 2009, Ruiz belted 10 homers in 33 games while batting .313 with 17 RBIs.

He opened the 2010 season with the Blue Jays, but struggled in limited action - hitting .150 (6-for-40) in 13 games - before getting released in May to accept an offer to play in Japan.

Ruiz had to wait until he was 30 to make his major league debut with the Twins in 2008. But Butler said he might not have to wait much longer for a call from the Diamondbacks.

"The bottom line is he's been in the conversation about right-handed bats to go up there and help them," he said. "If they were to call and ask me right now who's the right-handed hitter off the bench to give them some pop, it'd be him."

■ NOTE - Vladimir Guerrero went 1-for-4 with a single and is batting .176 (3-for-17) in four games for the 51s.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.