Those that were clamoring for Randy Ruiz to be called up by Toronto, your wish has been granted. Following the departure of Alex Rios to the White Sox, the Jays promoted the 31 year old veteran of 10 major league organizations. In his first game as a Jay, Ruiz, born in the Bronx and a former Yankees farmhand, made an impact, smashing a ball off the right field foul pole for his 2nd career big league home run, his first as a Jay. It was incredibly uncanny how Ruiz and Rod Barajas look so similar in the batters box. Each time they both were hitting I had to do a double take thinking it was the Jays catcher each time. Ruiz, who was penciled in as the DH tonight, presumably will have an extended audition to see if he can finally stick at the major league level.
A career .304 hitter in the minors, Ruiz played 22 games last year for Minnesota and cracked 25 home runs this year, piling up 106 RBI's in 114 contests with AAA Las Vegas. Time will tell if he can finally put it all together in the bigs and contribute for a Blue Jays team in desperate need of more offense.
