Two weeks ago the Phillies demoted Darin Ruf to Triple-A and he won’t be back in Philadelphia anytime soon, as Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News reports that the 27-year-old first baseman/outfielder has a broken bone in his left wrist.
The injury stems from a collision with the outfield wall on June 2, but the initial diagnosis did not find any fractures. Apparently a follow-up exam saw something different, so now Ruf is out for ... well, actually the Phillies haven’t given an official recovery timetable yet. Lawrence speculates that Ruf will be sidelined for at least a month and that’s just until he can get back into the Triple-A lineup.
Ruf has hit well in the majors, smacking 18 homers with an .830 OPS in 92 games for the Phillies, but with Ryan Howard entrenched at first base there isn’t much room for him unless they want to take a big hit defensively. He’s too good offensively to deserve being stuck at Triple-A, but for now that’s a moot point.