Carlos Ruiz

Carlos Joaquín Ruiz (born January 22, 1979), nicknamed "Chooch", is a Panamanian former professional baseball catcher.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Seattle Mariners.

Ruiz stands 5ft 10in tall, and weighs 215 lb. He bats and throws right-handed.

As a seven-year-old, Ruiz resolved to play in the big leagues after both his father and grandmother died within two weeks of each other.

He made his way through the Phillies farm system from 1998 until 2006, playing at each level of Minor League Baseball (MiLB).

In 1998, Ruiz followed his dream of playing professional baseball first by attending the Phillies Baseball Academy in La Vega, Dominican Republic, where he played catcher for the first time, moving from his initial position of second base.

Though he was ready to quit because "he looked and felt like a 10-year-old among the tall, athletic prospects surrounding him", his uncle convinced him in a phone conversation to stick with it.

The Phillies signed him as an amateur free agent on December 4, 1998, for US$8000, and he made his professional debut in 1999 with the Dominican Summer League (DSL) team DSL Phillies, with whom he compiled a .305 batting average, 4 home runs, and 35 runs batted in (RBIs) in 60 games.

Prior to the 2000 season, Ruiz met Mick Billmeyer, the Phillies' minor league catching coordinator, who served as his mentor.

Billmeyer sought to learn Spanish while Ruiz sought to learn English, and the two bonded as Billmeyer helped mold Ruiz into an eventual top prospect and ultimately a starting catcher.

In 2000, he came to America, progressing to play in the Gulf Coast League (GCL) for the GCL Phillies, and hitting .277 in 38 games.

He earned another promotion in 2001, playing for the Lakewood BlueClaws of Class A Minor League Baseball.

In 2001, his performance was similar in quality to his first two seasons, and he was promoted to the Clearwater Threshers of Class A-Advanced, with whom he played over parts of the next two seasons.

He struggled at the plate in 2002, compiling just a .213 batting average in 92 games, but hit .315 in 15 games in 2003, and that year earned another promotion.

In 2004, Ruiz spent the entire season with the Double-A Reading Phillies, posting a .284 batting average and hitting 17 home runs, the latter of which was second among catchers in the Eastern League.

In addition to his strong offensive numbers, he threw out 25 of 76 attempted base stealers (32.9%).

Off the field, it was in 2004 that Ruiz first gained the original form of his nickname "Chooch".

Though a quiet individual, Ruiz frequently muttered "chucha" (a strong curse word in Panama) under his breath, and teammate Anderson Machado thus began to address Ruiz as "chucha", which was later shortened to "Chooch", and the nickname's usage snowballed from there.

His strong performance earned him another promotion in 2005 when he played for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, and posted a better batting average but fewer home runs than in Reading: .300, 4 home runs, 40 RBIs in 100 games.

Ruiz soon fulfilled his childhood dream, making his MLB debut with the 2006 Phillies.

He battled adversity in his progression through the system, including feeling homesick, a position change, and the language barrier (he spoke Spanish, while most teammates and team officials spoke English).

Before the 2006 season, he played for his native Panama in the first World Baseball Classic.

Ruiz spent his first full season in MLB with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2007 and remained there until he left the Mariners, electing free agency after the 2017 season.

Over the following seasons, he was a part of the core group of players that led the Phillies to five consecutive playoff appearances, from 2007 until 2011.

In 2008, for his strong postseason performance, including a walk-off hit, during the Phillies playoff run that concluded with victory in the 2008 World Series, he earned the nickname "Señor Octubre" (Mr. October).

Despite being one of the quietest players on the team, Ruiz was subsequently called the "heart and soul" of the Phillies, serving as a constant source of encouragement and rebuke alike to his teammates.

Ruiz had his best season in 2012, holding a batting average of over .300, earning his first appearance in the All-Star Game, and finishing in the top 30 of the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) voting.

In 2013, he began the season with a 25-game suspension for using Adderall, and subsequently spent time on the disabled list, ultimately playing in fewer than 100 games for the first time in his MLB career.

Ruiz is the only player in the history of the NL to catch four no-hitters, and one of only two catchers in all of MLB to do so (the other being Jason Varitek).

Ruiz grew up in David, Chiriquí, Panama, and was the oldest of three sons.

His father was a police officer and his mother was an elementary school teacher.

When he was seven years old, his father Joaquin was patrolling in his police jeep when a tire blew out, causing the vehicle to flip, throwing Joaquin into a ditch, and then crushing him when it fell on top of him.

Just weeks before, his grandmother died of cancer.

As a result, Ruiz became "the new father", starting work shortly thereafter as a laborer on a coffee farm to supplement the family income, and by age 10 was earning about US$3 per day.

He also promised his widowed mother that he would make it to Major League Baseball to support the family.

Subsequently, he began attending college to earn a degree in physical education, but dropped out shortly after he began to attend the Phillies baseball academy.

Ruiz's upbringing contributed to his approach to the game.

His mother insisted that he excel academically, and would not allow him to play baseball unless he did well in school.

Baseball was his first love, and he was responsible for organizing the community's games:

"Ruiz's natural leadership skills flourished. As a boy, Ruiz, who had chosen to play with baseballs instead of toy cars even as a toddler, was always the one in his neighborhood to organize pickup baseball games. It was he who brought the balls and bats, and it was he who picked the teams and ordered everyone to their positions. He had an acute understanding of the game. Ruiz was made to lead, and playing catcher eventually suited him perfectly."