By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia Phillies, over the past decade plus, developed Ryan Howard into their every day first baseman and his power at the plate made him an extremely dangerous hitter during his prime years in red pinstripes. Since his decline though, the Phils have had some trouble finding their new first baseman of the future.
This season, Tommy Joseph has gotten the majority of playing time, but has been struggling offensively, slashing .183/.234/.296 in 20 games. Brock Stassi is hitting just .194 with two home runs, so he's unlikely to take Joseph's spot, but he might get more playing time.
One of the players who was thought to be Howard's successor at one point was Darin Ruf. A .295 career Minor League hitter, Ruf never really got consistent at-bats with Ryan Howard at the helm, but showed plenty of pop in the minors, hitting 20 homers in Lehigh Valley during the 2016 season and 38 long balls in 2012 with Double-A Reading. The Phillies tried him out in the outfield, just to get his bat in the lineup, but his offense in the minors never transitioned to the majors. Philadelphia dealt Ruf to the Dodgers in the Howie Kendrick trade this offseason, and Los Angeles released the 30-year-old in February. Shortly after his release, Ruf signed with the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization for one-year.
In 19 games, he's hitting just .172 (11-for-64), but his power bat came up big on Monday night, as he belted a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th, sending the Lions to a 6-5 victory. They are now 5-20, last place in the 10-team KBO standings.
Ex-#Phillies 1B Darin Ruf (Samsung) hit a walk-off HR vs. Doosan tonight. Love how the broadcaster shouts his name out – what a call. #KBO pic.twitter.com/8JnZEq0Kyt
— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) May 2, 2017
In five seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, Ruf, hit .240/.314/.433 with 35 home runs and 96 RBIs over 286 games. Ruf once held the single-season home run record at Double-A Reading with 38 in 2012, however it was broken this past season by prospect Dylan Cozens (40).
If Joseph and Stassi continue to have issues at the plate, you have to wonder how long the Phillies wait to try out Rhys Hoskins at the big league level. He's hitting .338 this season, leading the International League in home runs (6), slugging percentage (.636), on-base plus slugging (1.063) and total bases (49).
