The A’s announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Norge Ruiz from Triple-A Las Vegas. Fellow righty Domingo Tapia has been optioned to create space on the active roster. The club already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster.
Ruiz, 28, was signed by the A’s in December of 2016, earning a $2MM bonus from the club. While most international signees are teenagers, Ruiz was already 22 at the time, having already played a few seasons in the Cuban National Series.
Ruiz worked as a starting pitcher in his first few years in Oakland’s system but struggled to find success there. He moved to the bullpen in 2019 and has had better results since then. He’s spent all of this year in Triple-A so far, throwing 40 innings for the Aviators. In that time, he has a 3.38 ERA with a 22.4% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 58.3% ground ball rate.
The A’s entered a rebuilding phase this year by trading away or releasing most players who were making a significant salary or approaching free agency. That’s left the roster with a number of young players still getting acclimated to big league ball, helping them drop to a 43-76 record, worst in the American League. Over the final weeks of the season, they will continue evaluating those youngsters for roles on future rosters, with Ruiz now entering the mix.
