Ruiz 'runs routes' in first start at second base

Part of the reason manager Brandon Hyde trusted Rio Ruiz enough to move across the diamond and morph into the Orioles’ emergency Opening Day second baseman, stems from Ruiz’s football background.

A high school quarterback in Southern California, Ruiz put the pigskin away for good during his teenage years to focus on baseball, rising to the big leagues with the Orioles in 2019 and serving as their starting third baseman for the next two seasons. But glimpses of Ruiz’s past life remain and translate, after all this time, to the diamond.

“One thing about Rio is: he’s got a great clock in his head,” Hyde said. “I think it comes from playing third and shortstop when he was younger, and playing quarterback. With those type of things, you get used to feel a game. I think Rio has a great feel.”

Perhaps it’s fitting then the way Ruiz turned heads on Opening Day, with glove work that required running football-like routes. Making his first career start at second base, Ruiz completed three of the finest defensive plays of his career in Friday’s 3-0 win over the Red Sox -- two over-the-shoulder catches and one diving stop in the hole, at an entirely new position.

In short order, he quelled what became a surprise and pressing question for the Orioles heading into Opening Day: Who would play second base, after cutting ties with Yolmer Sánchez? Utility-types Pat Valaika and Ramon Urías may still see time there. But for now the answer is Ruiz, who started at the position again Saturday.

“I was more than happy to do it and more than happy to get to work,” Ruiz said. “[When Hyde asked] it was a quick ‘Yes.' I don’t think I even let him finish his question.”

For Ruiz, the experiment meant finding room on a roster suddenly crowded after the Orioles signed Maikel Franco on March 16. It was a move that signaled the O’s might be considering moving on from Ruiz, who from 2019-20 hit .229 with 21 homers and .692 OPS and struggled defensively at times. His glove work Friday changed that narrative.

“I was extremely pleased with how he played defensively yesterday,” Hyde said. “I wouldn’t say surprised, because I think Rio has the ability to play multiple positions. He made three well-above average plays. We hadn’t seen him in practice or the games range out like that. How impressive was that?”

Let’s break those plays down, one by one:

Play: Back, to his left
When: 2nd inning
Batter: Rafael Devers

Ruiz made lone appearances at second base in 2019 and '20, totaling just two innings at the position. Two innings into his first start there on Friday, he covered 106 feet in 6.4 seconds to rob Devers with an over-the-shoulder grab, nearly avoiding a collision with right field Anthony Santander in the process. He saved winning pitcher John Means from what could have been been a big inning, after Xander Bogaerts reached on an error to open the frame. And he got Means on a roll; the lefty would retired the next 17 straight en route to his Opening Day victory.

Play: Back, to his right
When: Fifth inning
Batter: Marwin Gonzalez

This is the one Ruiz gets style points for -- for the snow cone, and the way he casually walked it off. By the time he tracked down Gonzalez’s pop fly, Ruiz was more or less in mid-shallow center field. His positioning allowed him to beat the much speedier Cedric Mullins, who was playing deep, to the spot, and help Means keep the game scoreless.

Play: Left, to the hole
When: 7th inning
Batter: Alex Verdugo

Now cradling a two-run lead in the seventh, Means was in the game on a batter-to-batter basis as his pitch count approached the century mark. So what Ruiz did to rob Verdugo, ranging to his left to make a diving stop in short right field, didn’t just keep a vital leadoff man off base. It also kept Means in the game for two more hitters; he’d complete seven scoreless innings, and react incredulously afterwards.

“How about that? That was unbelievable,” Means said. “Those are two of the toughest catches you’re going to see made in a season. Those are not easy. And then the diving play to go along with it? That was awesome.”