Jose Ruiz gets another opportunity at long stay in Major League Baseball
Texas Rangers are in for a tough season this year and their main focus will be on enhancing their playoff chances as the regular league will go into high gear in the coming days.
The club has made worthy additions over the recent weeks and one player has joined the organization with the aim of staying with the club for a longer period of time. That man happens to be none other than Jose Ruiz.
The Cuban native left his family behind in Cuba to make it to the American continent. His aim has been to star in the Major League and his wish was partly realized last year when he signed on with the Tampa Bay Rays. The player was denied an option to continue
with the club as a first baseman. That’s when the Rangers made their bid for the star man.
When Ruiz was in Cuba, he wasn’t open about being a regular viewer of Major League baseball.
"I watched it a lot on TV", Jose Ruiz said. "But you have to be careful and hide it in Cuba. If they see you watching too many games on TV, they think you're going to leave. But I watched it every chance I could get".
The player featured in Cuba’s National Series as a first baseman. Posting a batting average of .330 in his career, the new Rangers’ man took the critical decision to make his way to the United States in July, 2009.
"It's pretty tough", said Ruiz, who is trying to get his family out. "The worst thing is you leave your family behind and your life behind, knowing that you cannot come back. That's a big decision. I sacrificed my life to come here. I put everything on the
line to be here".
The player was denied a $4 million option for four years by the Rays. The Rangers have signed on Ruiz with a similar one year deal that Tampa had offered. Ruiz has a club option for three years on the line and 2011 will provide a chance for the player to
make his addition worth the deal. General Manager of the Rangers, Jon Daniels, also had a chance to talk about Ruiz.
"He's got a good-looking swing, and he's a big man", Jon Daniels said. "The question is how much power will he have"?
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