Darin Cortland Ruf (born July 28, 1986) is an American former professional baseball first baseman, left fielder, and designated hitter.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers.

Subsequently, he attended Creighton University, excelled playing baseball there, and was named the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Player of the Year.

In the minor leagues, he initially hit for a high batting average, but in 2011 combined that with power numbers to become one of the Phillies' top prospects.

He was embroiled in a roster battle for a bench spot entering 2014, but hurt his oblique, and landed on the disabled list prior to the season.

He was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he did not play in any games before they sold his contract to the Samsung Lions of the KBO League.

After two more successful seasons at the plate, he returned stateside and signed with the San Francisco Giants, with whom he earned a major league roster spot.

[1][2] He attended Westside High School, where he helped the team win a Nebraska state championship his sophomore season and finish as the runner-up his senior year.

"[6] While at Creighton, he earned a degree in finance, compiled a 3.51 grade point average (GPA), and aspired to be a successful businessman.

After the Phillies drafted him, scouting director Marti Wolever asserted that Ruf "is an outstanding defensive first baseman with a chance to hit and has tremendous makeup.

[citation needed] Ruf's power emergence began in 2011 when he hit a Florida State League–leading 43 doubles, as well as 17 home runs (8th in the league) and 82 RBI (4th) and a .308 batting average.

[12] Ruf enjoyed great success playing for the Reading Phillies (since renamed the Reading Fightin Phils) in 2012, earning Eastern League Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors, as well as the Paul Owens Award, which is given to the best player in the Phillies' minor league system.

That all changed.Ruf started the 2013 season in Triple-A with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, but was recalled by the Phillies on July 6 when Ryan Howard was placed on the disabled list.

Entering the 2014 season, he was set to compete for a spot on the bench, as Amaro declared that he was not good enough, particularly defensively, to play every day.

[8] However, the Phillies placed him on the disabled list (DL) due to a strained oblique; his estimated recovery time was around the end of April or the beginning of May.

[20] He returned to the major league Phillies on July 22 when John Mayberry, Jr. landed on the disabled list, but struggled in his first several games; in his first 17 at-bats, he had just two hits.

[29] In his first season in South Korea, Ruf batted .315/.396/.569 and led the KBO League with 124 RBIs while also hitting 38 doubles (5th) and 31 home runs (6th).

[35] On August 2, 2022, Ruf was traded to the New York Mets in exchange for J. D. Davis, Carson Seymour, Nick Zwack and Thomas Szapucki.

[36] He made his Mets debut on August 5, entering as a pinch hitter for Tyler Naquin and remaining in left field.

[48] On June 2, Ruf suffered a knee laceration after colliding with a tarp while chasing a foul ball in a game against the Cincinnati Reds.

Eric Longenhagen, a baseball analyst for Crashburn Alley, asserted in 2013 that Ruf's ceiling was a platoon player at first base, but that his superior intangibles had allowed him to overachieve in terms of his potential.

We’ve never seen a player of this age with a similar skill set (a fringe average hitter with a huge hole in his swing and plus raw power who is a 20 runner with pretty much unknown arm strength) do anything sustainable of note at the major league level.

It's a very weird situation but it's a triumph of the Phillies player development system and of Ruf's effort that he ever put on a Major League uniform at all.Ruf is a strong power hitter who, according to one talent evaluator quoted in Lindy's Sports 2014 baseball preview magazine, possessed "raw country strength" at the plate.

[9] In the outfield, Ruf is a "liability", and he is "pretty shaky" at first base, further underscoring his "man without a position" persona within the Phillies' organization.