Key member of record-breaking 2021 SF Giants team lands new coaching gig

Former SF Giants fan favorite Darin Ruf has a new gig. Andrew Baggarly reported on X that Ruf landed a job on the coaching staff at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. It is great to see Ruf stay involved in the game of baseball.

Ruf was born in Omaha, playing high school baseball at Omaha Westside, so this is a homecoming of sorts for him. Ruf is joining the staff as an assistant coach and will serve on the staff of head coach Evan Porter who praised Ruf for, "his respect for the game and for the people around him."

SF Giants fan favorite Darin Ruf has landed a coaching job

Many Giants fans are familiar with Ruf for the role he played on the 107-win 2021 Giants. That year he hit .271/.385/.519 with 16 home runs and 43 RBI in 262 at-bats which was the best season of his career. He was signed in 2020 by the Giants after an impressive stint in the KBO and impressed in the COVID-shortened season. However, in 2022 he struggled quite a bit and was traded to the New York Mets in exchange for 4 players including J.D. Davis. The Giants absolutely won this trade as Davis played solid ball for the team while Ruf went on to struggle mightily in New York much to the ire of Mets fans.

However, Ruf would return to the Giants in 2023 after he was let go by the Mets and the Giants were in need of a temporary right-handed bat. Ruf played in 9 games for the Giants last season and recorded 6 hits. He was let go due to a roster crunch and played briefly for the Milwaukee Brewers before being let go and eventually deciding to hang it up.

Ruf has not been a stranger to Oracle Park since leaving the Giants, though. He and his good friend Brandon Belt, a pretty decent Giant in his own right, are close and their two families took a trip out to San Francisco last month where they caught a Giants game.

Ruf was a very good Giant and seems like a very good guy so it is great to see him stay involved in baseball with this coaching gig. Who knows, maybe we will see him as a big-league manager somewhere down the road if he sticks with it.