Know Your Jays #1: Randy Ruiz

Even if you haven't really followed the Jays for a few years, you might already know a bit about Vernon Wells, Aaron Hill, and Dustin McGowan simply through osmosis if nothing else.

That's where Know Your Jays comes in - to save you from embarrassment by introducing to the second-stringers, the lesser known members of your favourite ballclub. First up, Randy Ruiz.

An impressive spring looks to have earned Ruiz a slot on the Jays' Opening Day bench. Rumour has it he'll get the bulk of starts at first base against left-handed pitchers, and perhaps a few DH starts here and there. Judging by the rest of the bench, he'll be the first guy Cito calls on for pinch-hitting, and he can also play in left field if absolutely necessary.

The story of Randy Ruiz begins in 1999, when then-21-year-old Randy is signed out of college by Cincinnati. After four years, he had displayed a great ability to get on base, and some power, making it as high as the Reds' top single-A affiliate. But for some reason - maybe because he was 24 and still in single-A - Randy was let go.

A game of musical chairs followed, as Randy played in the minors for eight different organizations over the next five years - working his way up to AA, mastering AA, and struggling in AAA. He signed on with Minnesota for the 2008 season, and tore up AAA pitching with their Rochester affiliate - hitting .320 with 17 home runs and a 24-game hitting streak. Despite those numbers - and a respectable .274 average in a brief major league stint, his first taste of the bigs - Minnesota didn't renew Randy's contract.

Enter Toronto. Before the 2009 season, the Jays signed him to a contract to help a depleted AAA squad in Las Vegas. Ruiz posted his best numbers yet - again hitting .320, but taking far more walks (his OBP was a very strong .392), striking out less, and hitting for more power. He got the call to Toronto in August, and became a regular DH at the end of the season - hitting .313 with ten homers.

Sounds like a perfect storybook, right? Guy plows through minors, never gets a chance to make the big time. Toronto gives him a shot, he turns out to be a great hitter.

And maybe that's the case. I don't know. But there are some red flags.

In 2005, Randy was suspended twice for violations of baseball's drug policy. He claims he was not actually taking steroids and the results were false positives caused by an erectile dysfunction medication.

His bouncing from franchise to franchise also sends a tingle down my spine - generally, somebody with stats this good isn't constantly finding himself losing his job. Not unless there's something else going on. Upon his exit from the Reading Phillies, the Reading Eagle noted that Randy "never seemed to comprehend the magnitude of his mistakes", and there was also a reference to him being part of a "toxic trio" of players.

On the field, there's only one area for concern - strikeouts. Randy struck out once every 4.67 at bats in Vegas last year (once every 3.29 AB in Toronto) - and that's actually an improvement over his 2008 (once per 3.59 AB) and 2007 (4.09). For comparison's sake, only J.P. Arencibia and Travis Snider had worse ratios in Vegas (minimum 100 AB). Snider and Jose Bautista were the only Jays to have worse ratios than Randy's Vegas result, to say nothing of his Toronto numbers (again, minimum 100 AB).

Of course, there's the chance that none of this matters. Maybe Ruiz will strike out less as he adapts to big-league pitching. Maybe he's just been genuinely unlucky in finding employment. Maybe he really did have erectile dysfunction.

No matter what, he's good for some high-excitement offense. And in this season, 1 A.D., maybe that's what we're looking for.