Former Phillie Darin Ruf won't return to the MLB in 2018. (Frank Klose/SportsTalkPhilly)
By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
In his first season in the Korea Baseball Organization, Darin Ruf slashed .315/.399/.569, while working 60 walks, hitting 31 home runs and driving in 124 runs. Instead of using a strong season in South Korea to propel his return to the majors, Ruf apparently will stay in the Korea Baseball Organization for another season.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the 31-year-old agreed to a one-year deal for the 2018 season to remain with the Samsung Lions:
South Korean baseball club Samsung Lions announced Thursday they've re-signed the reigning league RBI champion Darin Ruf for another season.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) team retained Ruf on a US$1.5 million deal.
Ruf played in 286 games across five seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, playing first base primarily. The peak of Ruf's tenure with the Phillies came in 2013, when he hit 14 home runs and drove in 30 runs in 73 games, while displaying an ability to mash left-handed pitching.
Unfortunately, he also struck out quite a bit, and wasn't able to adjust to right-handed pitching at the major league level. For example, between 2015 and 2017, Ruf had 226 at-bats against right-handed pitching. In those at-bats, he slashed .159/.211/.279 with 67 strikeouts. When you couple that with the fact that Ryan Howard was pretty firmly entrenched at first base for much of his tenure and consider that Ruf was a below replacement level outfielder, it isn't hard to see how he ended up wearing out his E-ZPass traveling between Triple-A Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia.
Just over a year ago, the Phillies traded Ruf and Darnell Sweeney to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Howie Kendrick. Ruf never played a game for the Dodgers, as the aforementioned Samsung Lions acquired him in February of 2017.
Trending: Anonymous Executive Thinks Phillies "Will Go After Someone Big"
Ruf is now faced with a dilemma similar to that of former college basketball standout Jimmer Fredette. Fredette, after failing to gain traction in the NBA, has become a star for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association. In an ESPN feature earlier this year, Fredette discussed struggling with the idea of whether to return to the NBA or stay in a league where he has become a star. Like Fredette, Ruf is a star in an Asian league, something neither would be in America. Also like Fredette, Ruf is from America, so he's not only playing in a different country, but living there throughout the course of the season.
Already 31, Ruf could attempt to come back to America, but he would probably be hard-pressed to be guaranteed a spot on a major league roster. He certainly wouldn't be a starter. He also would struggle to top the $1.1 million salary that he made in the Korean Baseball League in 2017 – something he'll do by remaining there for another year.
The best route for Ruf, who was once Double-A Reading's single-season home run king, may be to remain overseas for the foreseeable future. For at least one more year, that's exactly what he'll do.
