Mets’ Darin Ruf’s wrist problems could be issue as season nears

PORT ST. LUCIE — The results are not yet there for Darin Ruf, which does not matter much in March. What may matter are his persistent wrist issues.

The Mets DH and first baseman, after a disappointing couple months with the club last season, has not been able to fully shake arthritis in his right wrist.

Ruf received a cortisone shot in the wrist last month, which did not completely resolve the issue.

“It feels a little bit better than it did,” Ruf said Friday after a loss to the Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla. He added that he still feels the wrist pain “at times.”

The 36-year-old has played in two Grapefruit League games and managed the pain.

In the tiny sample size of six at-bats, Ruf has struck out four times and gone hitless.

He said he is not sure about the next steps for his wrist, though manager Buck Showalter alluded to a different treatment the Mets have recently tried.

“I don’t think he’s completely where he’s going to be,” Showalter said. “But he’s fine to play.”

There might not be a Met who could have used a solid few weeks of spring training more. Ruf came from the Giants at the trade deadline last season as a righty-hitting lefty-killer, but he did not hit lefties or righties. In 28 games after the swap, he went just 10-for-66 (.152) without a home run, and the Mets never found their DH complement to lefty Daniel Vogelbach.

Ruf is due $3 million this season and still carries an intriguing bat that demolished opposing southpaws as recently as 2021, when he posted a 1.007 OPS in 140 plate appearances against lefties.

The Mets have held on to him with the upside in mind, but his fit on the 2023 club is unclear.

Last year, the slow-footed Ruf played some left field, but the Mets picked up righty-hitting Tommy Pham as a fourth outfielder.

Ruf has been playing first base in camp, but outfielder Mark Canha has received more looks as a potential backup to Pete Alonso, and Showalter also has mentioned Vogelbach and even Luis Guillorme as possible fill-in first basemen.

Maybe Ruf could be relegated to a DH or pinch-hitting role against opposing lefties, but he likely would have to out-hit Pham and Mark Vientos, a high-upside prospect who knocked around lefties with Triple-A Syracuse last season.

For his part, Ruf suggested the very early Grapefruit League results are not much of a concern.

“There’s been camps I’ve done well, there’s been camps I’ve done bad,” said Ruf, who has played parts of eight seasons in the majors and has spent time in the Korean Baseball Organization. “You can be feeling good and go out and not be good. You can be feeling bad, and something clicks right at the beginning of the season.

“I don’t think there’s a rhyme or reason to how things go in spring versus how they go on Day 1.”

With less than three weeks to go until Opening Day, Showalter is not panicking. Ruf has a track record that the Mets are relying upon.

“Had a lot of time off, had an injection,” Showalter said. “I expect him to get better as spring goes on.”