José Julio Ruiz Barzán (born March 24, 1985) is a Cuban

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player who is a free agent. After playing in the Cuban National Series for Santiago de Cuba from 2003 through 2009 and for the

Cuba national baseball team The Cuba national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de Cuba'') represents Cuba at regional and international levels. The team is made up from the most professional players from the Cuban national baseball system. Cuba has been des ...

in international tournaments, Ruiz

defected In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...

from Cuba to play baseball in the United States.

Career

Ruiz debuted with Santiago de Cuba in the 2003-04 Serie Nacional, going 6 for 26 with a walk; he also pitched 1 1/3 innings, allowing four runs. He did not play in 2004-05. In 2005-06, he hit .357/.428/.473 but only homered twice in 241 AB despite manning a power position. He was 7th in the league in average. Ruiz batted .323/.430/.455 in 2006-07 and led the Serie Nacional with 72 RBI. He was with Cuba for the

2007 World Port Tournament The 2007 World Port Tournament was an international baseball competition held at the DOOR Neptunus Familiestadion in Rotterdam, the Netherlands from August 2–12, 2007. It was the 11th edition of the tournament and featured teams from Chinese Ta ...

and put on a fine show, hitting .290/.405/.742. He was second in the tourney in slugging (behind

Alfredo Despaigne Alfredo Despaigne Rodriguez (born June 17, 1986) is a Cuban professional baseball outfielder who is a free agent. He played for the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Career In 2009, Despai ...

), led in home runs (4, winning the World Port Tournament Home Run King award), tied

Jordan Danks Jordan Cooper Danks (born August 7, 1986) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies. Early life Danks graduated from Round Rock High Scho ...

for second in runs (8, behind Hector Olivera Jr.), tied

Roger Kieschnick Roger Keith Kieschnick (born January 21, 1987) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks. Early life Born in Dallas, Texas, Kieschnic ...

for 4th in RBI (6), tied for second in doubles (2), second to Despaigne in total bases (23) and tied for 4th in walks (4). Ruiz had another fine campaign in 2007-08 batting .341/.423/.492. He was third in the Serie Nacional with 83 runs, led with 126 hits, was 10th with 69 RBI (only 4th on his own team one year after leading the circuit), 8th with 182 total bases and led with 32 stolen bases (caught stealing 9 times). Ruiz was hitting .305/.408/.467 after 52 games in 2008-09 with no steals after his speedy 2007-08 campaign. He then vanished from Cuban boxscores and was rumored to have defected to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. The defection was confirmed in July, when Ruiz appeared in Miami, FL to announce his intention to try to make the majors. Ruiz signed a one-year deal with the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...

and made his US debut in 2010.Pelotero Cubano firma contrato
When the Rays failed to re-sign him immediately after his contract expired, the Texas Rangers took him and invited him to

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

for the 2011 season. After playing part of the 2019 season with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, Ruiz was released on July 2, 2019.

References

External links

2007 World Port TournamentArticle from mlbécom about Ruiz at the Rangers training camp in 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz, Jose Julio 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Santiago de Cuba Defecting Cuban baseball players Baseball first basemen Montgomery Biscuits players Frisco RoughRiders players Round Rock Express players Fort Worth Cats players Southern Maryland Blue Crabs players Avispas de Santiago de Cuba players Dominican Summer League Rays players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Peoria Saguaros players Leones de Ponce baseball players Indios de Mayagüez players Cuban expatriate baseball players in Puerto Rico Camden Riversharks players Tigres del Licey players Cuban expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Acereros de Monclova players Saraperos de Saltillo players

Career

See also

References

External links