In recent years, the Phillies’ pitching program has been able to develop some very useful players out of pitchers who were underperforming in other organizations or were tossed to the scrap heap. Cristopher Sánchez is the biggest example, but the team also helped Jeff Hoffman resurrect his career, unlocked José Alvarado, got a surprising performance out of Spencer Turnbull, and even got a few good performances out of Walker Buehler.
José Ruiz was one of those such success stories in 2024. The right-handed
reliever was a below average pitcher before coming to Philadelphia, owning a 4.51 ERA across 212 MLB appearances with the Padres, White Sox, and Diamondbacks. However, Ruiz came to Philadelphia in 2024 and turned in one of the best seasons of his career with a 3.71 ERA across 52 appearances. It was good enough for the Phillies to give Ruiz another contract for 2025, paying him $1.2M, avoiding arbitration with a $200k raise from his 2024 salary.
But the magic he had in 2024 was gone.
2025 stats with the Phillies:
16 games, 14.1 IP, 8.16 ERA, 1,88 WHIP, 3 home runs
What went right:
Ruiz did not suffer any major injuries.
What went wrong:
Ruiz entered the season as the Phillies third right-handed reliever in their bullpen and was designated for assignment by June 1st. He struggled mightily in his few appearances and simply couldn’t replicate any of the success he had in 2024. His regression coupled with the even worse performance from Jordan Romano were the first two dominoes that led to the Phillies eventually signing David Robertson and trading for Jhoan Duran. Ruiz simply wasn’t missing bats, as he allowed 21 hits including 10 extra base hits in just 14.1 innings pitched. His average velocity on his fastball was also down almost a full mile per hour, clocking in at 95.7 after sitting at 96.4 in 2024.
The future with the Phillies:
Obviously, Ruiz’ time with the Phillies ended when he was designated for assignment. After that DFA, Ruiz was claimed by the Atlanta Braves one June 7th. But he would only appear in two games with the Braves, as he was once again DFA’d on June 20th following two major league appearances where he allowed three runs on two hits. Ruiz cleared waivers and was sent to Triple-A on June 22nd. He once again changed teams on July 17th, as Ruiz was traded to the Texas Rangers for Dane Dunning. In 29 games at Triple-A in 2025, Ruiz had a 2.73 ERA in 33 IP with 31 strikeouts to 7 walks.
Ruiz ultimately elected free agency on September 29th and then signed a $1.2M deal with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball on December 3rd. He will spend 2026 in Japan trying to rediscover some of the success he once had with the Phillies. As for his former club, the Phillies are once again lacking in quality right-handed reliever options and are likely to ty and discover their new version of Ruiz in Spring Training.
