Darin Ruf Drafted By Phillies in 20th Round
6/10/2009 4:00:00 PM | Baseball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Creighton University baseball standout Darin Ruf was selected by World Series champion Philadelphia today in the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Ruf went in the 20th round and was the 617th overall pick in the 50-round draft, which started yesterday and ends tomorrow.
Ruf, a first baseman who started all 227 games over the past four years for Creighton, recently wrapped up one of the top careers in Bluejay history.
Ruf was named the 2007 Joe Carter Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore when he hit .374 and finished with career-best totals of eight homers and 57 RBI. He was also named the winner of the Rawlings Gold Glove as the best fielding first baseman in the country and helped the Bluejays to its only MVC Tournament title in school history. That team reached the NCAA Tournament.
As a junior, Ruf led Creighton in eight offensive categories, including batting average (.347), slugging percentage (.545), on-base percentage (.483), hits (70), doubles (17) and walks (51). He was also named first-team all-MVC as a junior.
In he recently completed senior season, Ruf was a second-team all-Missouri Valley Conference pick after hitting .303 with eight homers and 51 RBI. He continued his excellent work around the base, setting a Bluejay record with 615 putouts. Ruf was also named a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Third Team Academic All-American, just the sixth baseball player in school history to earn that honor.
Ruf finished with 2,251 career putouts, a figure that ranks third-most in NCAA history and just 38 shy of the all-time mark. He is Creighton's all-time leader in sacrifice flies (22) and putouts (2,251). Other notable accomplishments Ruf had during his CU career were being second in RBI (201), third in total bases (423) and hits (275), sixth in walks (135), seventh in doubles (57) and 10th in home runs (27). He graduated with a 3.52 GPA in Finance and was a three-time member of the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team.
Ruf is a native of Omaha, Neb., where he earned all-state honors in baseball and football at Westside High School.
Philadelphia, which won the 2008 World Series, currently employs fellow Missouri Valley Conference standout Ryan Howard (Missouri State) at first base. Former Bluejay catcher Tim Gradoville had been Creighton's most recent draft pick by the Phillies organization, going in the 37th round (1,109 overall) of the 2002 draft. Gradoville retired from pro baseball last winter and is currently the bullpen catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Led by sixth-year head coach Ed Servais, Creighton finished the 2009 season with a 31-25 overall record.
| Draft Picks Under Ed Servais | |||||
| Year | Name | Position | Round | Pick | Team |
| 2009 | Darin Ruf | 1B | 20 | 617 | Philadelphia |
| 2008 | Pat Venditte | RHP/LHP | 20 | 620 | New York (AL) |
| 2007 | Marc Lewis | LHP | 20 | 616 | Florida |
| 2007 | Chris Gradoville | C | 24 | 740 | Texas |
| 2007 | Pat Venditte | RHP/LHP | 45 | 1345 | New York (AL) |
| 2006 | Zach Daeges | OF/3B | 6 | 193 | Boston |
| 2006 | Marc Lewis | LHP | 26 | 782 | Milwaukee |
| 2006 | Adam Schaecher | RHP | 31 | 928 | Texas |
| 2006 | Chase Odenreider | OF | 49 | 1472 | New York (AL) |
| 2005 | Eric Wordekemper | RHP | 46 | 1391 | New York (AL) |
