Amherst native Ryan Rua has made the Texas Rangers’ Major League roster out of spring training, according to multiple reports.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound left fielder/first baseman earned a spot on the Rangers’ roster after a standout spring, where he collected 22 hits in 53 plate appearances, and nine of those hits went for extra bases. Rua smacked six doubles, a triple and a pair of home runs to go along with driving in 10 runs during 19 spring-training games.
In addition to the .440 batting average, Rua posted a .472 on-base percentage with a .720 slugging percentage and 12 runs scored.
Rua has played at the Major League level for parts of the last two seasons, and in 56 career games with the Rangers, the Marion L. Steele High School alum has registered 47 hits in 188 at bats, including 12 doubles and six home runs, 21 RBI and 21 runs scored.
Rua has a .250 career batting average, a .277 on-base percentage, as well as a .410 slugging percentage, and hustled his way to an inside-the-park home run against the New York Yankees in Arlington, Texas, last July.
Rua was a 17th-round pick of the Rangers in the 2011 MLB Draft out of Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio.
