Surviving the past is one way to escape briefly the clutter we are all in, and so without going much further, Yankees underage lieutenant Ben Ruta dug through boxes from his childhood when he encountered a dream he was in. 2004 about had written and his mother had saved all these years.
The fantasy led him to the Yankees after an unlikely comeback against the Red Sox in the ALCS after going three games to none.
“I literally did not even know I was writing that,” Ruta said in a telephone interview this week.
The memory of a forgotten dream was obviously not necessary for Ruta. The versatile outfielder radiates a healthy dose of confidence needed to make the big leagues. He said, “my resume,” which includes a steady climb in the Yankees farm system, despite being a 30th in 2016, “speaks for itself.”
But the coronavirus is a very different ballgame.
After seeing a strong bat with Double-A Trenton last season, Ruta was among the nearly 8,000 underage players whose seasons at the end of June were stripped of them with the cancellation of the baseball season for the minor leagues – the first time that occurred in the 119-year history of the system.
“It was a hard pill to swallow,” said the 26-year-old, who grew up in West Windsor, NJ. “Especially for someone like me, a late choice. Every year I have to come in and really prove myself, and a name. To lose a whole year of it is hard to deal with, I would say mentally, because you work hard in the offseason to make the changes you feel are necessary to take the next step no, and I’ve been doing that for the last three years and have had really good success with it.And I felt like this offseason I’m even better prepared.
‘But everyone is busy with it. That it’s not like it’s just me screwing it over, or just a couple of guys, it’s everyone in baseball. It’s everyone in the world with most of their jobs. Everyone’s jobs are different now. I mean, I was there a few days, a week over, but after that it’s like, ‘ok, you can’ t just be in the dumps. No one will feel bad for you. Everyone goes through what is similar to you. ‘”
Ruta started turning heads last summer when he hit .406 in his first 19 games with the Thunder, and eventually finished with a .260 / .330 / .396 dash with eight home points and 55 RBIs in 117 games. Ruta also stole 25 bases while “just trying to cause destruction” on the base paths.
His hunger to make it and drive away his design status led Ruta to set up a probationary gym in the garage of his Tampa Bay townhouse, where he lives with fellow prospect and first baseman Brandon Wagner, about 15 minutes away from George M. Steinbrenner Field, home of the Yankees jumping complex.
Another memory of his dreams is hung on the garage wall in a framed cover of Sports Illustrated to commemorate the Yankees’ last World Series victory, in 2009, and a poster of Ruta’s favorite player growing up – Derek Jeter.
Like so many others during the pandemic, Ruta spent more time in the kitchen, trying to channel his Italian father’s cooking skills. He also started playing the piano again, and spent hours at the keyboard.
But perfecting “Let It Be” on the piano as growing a quarantine beard without the Yankees’ zero-hair policy holding him back does not compare to being on the field or in the Thunder clubhouse with his teammates and Rookie, the ball of the team -haling golden retriever.
Ruta said he would have felt comfortable playing this season, even after seeing outbreaks of coronavirus in clubhouses threatening the MLB season.
Then again, he may not have made much of a choice, for baseball lives of minor leagues are by nature precarious – 45 minor leagues were released by the Yankees in June, though Ruta said he was not at all afraid he was in danger .
That for now, Ruta’s career is safe, and he said he’s ready when the Yankees come to call this season. It’s a long shot, seen, because he is not part of the 60-player roster pool, but in this beautiful year, everything seems possible.
The Yankees have promised minor leaguers a $ 400-a-week stipend by Sept. 7, which would be the end of the minor season, according to Baseball America. The salary of a Double-A player, although expected to increase next season, appeared in 2018 to be $ 9,350, according to The Athletic, below the $ 12,760 poverty line for a single-person household in 2020, as reported by the U.S. Department of State. health and human services. Ruta is one of the lucky ones and has not yet thought about getting a job outside of baseball.
After driving straight for 16 hours last month to spend time with family on the Jersey Shore, where he watched Yankees games more as a student of the game instead of the diehard he once was. , Ruta said he plans to increase workouts in the coming weeks with the hope that baseball will resume in 2021.
Then he can pick up where he left off his childhood dream.
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