Jose Julio Ruiz

[Jeffy25]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/0...o-signing.html

I know basically nothing about this guy....if signed, how far would he realistically be from the majors? Is he a legitimate future ball player? who would you compare him to?

[dickay]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/0...o-signing.html

I know basically nothing about this guy....if signed, how far would he realistically be from the majors? Is he a legitimate future ball player? who would you compare him to?

my guess is he's closer to 30 (if not over) than 25. other than that, i know nothing of him.

[Jeffy25]

do you just assume that because it's happened in the past w Cuban ball players? even if it's a vast minority.

[dickay]

do you just assume that because it's happened in the past w Cuban ball players? even if it's a vast minority.

yes. how do we know its a vast minority? with every significant cuban athlete i can recall there have been many questions about the validity of their listed age. yes, i'd agree only a few have been "confirmed". but where there's smoke there is usually fire.

here's an interesting blog post naming many who have lied about their age;

http://www.faniq.com/blog/Miguel-Tej...-Age-Blog-8201

Today the Houston Astros got a little bit of a surprise. It turns out that that Miguel Tejada is actually not 31, but instead 33. That's never something you want to hear when you just traded for a guy in the offseason.

Tejada said he wanted to get a burden off his chest, so he told them his true age. Strangely, he's OK with that steroids burden still on his chest.

But the truth is that Tejada is far from the first person to do this, and he certainly won't be the last. Here's a look back at some of the other athletes that have fudged their ages.

* Danny Almonte (born April 7, 1987) played in the Little League World Series for his Bronx team in 2001, despite being over the cutoff age for the league. His parents had provided a doctored birth certificate misrepresenting his birth year as 1989. A Sports Illustrated writer discovered the discrepancy when Almonte's Dominican elementary school records gave his correct birth year.
* Orlando Hernández, born on October 11, 1965 or 1969, depending on the source, claimed to have been born in 1969 when he defected from Cuba in 1997 to pitch in Major League Baseball. The Smoking Gun published what was purported to be his divorce decree from Cuba, which gave his year of birth as 1965. 4 years is quite a big difference.
* Rafael Furcal (born August 24, 1977) was first believed to have been born in 1980. Thus, during his major league rookie season, his 40 stolen bases were considered the most ever by a teenage player, breaking the record set in 1906 by Ty Cobb. When it was discovered that Furcal had been a 21-year-old rookie, the 84-year-old record reverted to Cobb.
* Here's a list of Latin American players who have fudged their ages, most by at least one or two years: Manny Aybar, Bartolo Colón, Deivi Cruz, Octavio Dotel, Juan Guzman, David Ortiz, Ramon Ortiz, Luis Polonia, Alfonso Soriano, Luis Vizcaino, and Enrique Wilson. In a milder case, Odális Pérez was discovered to be six days older than originally reported. A few players' ages have even dropped in age, including Adrián Beltré, Edgar Rentería, Esteban Yan and Wilson Betemit; in these cases the players had lied about being older so that they could sign contracts before turning 16.
* Kirby Puckett was reported throughout his playing career to have been born on March 14, 1961. When he died in 2006, it was confirmed that he had actually been born on the same day in 1960.

[HoustonGM]

I think it's silly to jump to conclusions about every athlete that comes from the Caribbean as some people do. It should be taken on a case-by-case basis. When you know nothing about the guy, I don't think it's logical to just automatically assume he's older than his age.

[dickay]

I think it's silly to jump to conclusions about every athlete that comes from the Caribbean as some people do. It should be taken on a case-by-case basis. When you know nothing about the guy, I don't think it's logical to just automatically assume he's older than his age.

and its not illogical or silly to question it considering the frequency at which it has happened.

[Jeffy25]

I think it's silly to jump to conclusions about every athlete that comes from the Caribbean as some people do. It should be taken on a case-by-case basis. When you know nothing about the guy, I don't think it's logical to just automatically assume he's older than his age.

agree with this.

And where do you get that he could be 30?

There have been some guys that have fudged their information, but it has been the extreme minority if you base it solely on the players that are listed in that blog.

[HoustonGM]

and its not illogical or silly to question it considering the frequency at which it has happened.

Case by case basis. With absolutely nothing to go on, yeah, I think it's pretty silly for us random fans to question it. But us random fans do a lot of silly things I guess.

[Jeffy25]

and its not illogical or silly to question it considering the frequency at which it has happened.

this is the same mindset that annoys me when people say players must be taking steroids just because they have played during the steroid era.

It is illogical to continuously question those that have shown no reason for you to question them.

That's like saying Albert Pujols must do roids because he is great and played for a year with Mark McGwire and he came up during the roid era....it is insane to randomly go pointing fingers at everybody....even more so it's exhausting.

[Jeffy25]

now back to my question about the player....does anyone know much about him?

[HoustonGM]

That's like saying Albert Pujols must do roids because he is great and played for a year with Mark McGwire and he came up during the roid era....it is insane to randomly go pointing fingers at everybody....even more so it's exhausting.

People still question that Albert Pujols is 30 years old. There's no stopping irrationality.

[Jeffy25]

People still question that Albert Pujols is 30 years old. There's no stopping irrationality.

Even though he went to high school and college in America and has lived in the states almost his entire life?

Haha, well if he isn't 30, then the guy is aging very well.

[HoustonGM]

* Danny Almonte (born April 7, 1987) played in the Little League World Series for his Bronx team in 2001, despite being over the cutoff age for the league. His parents had provided a doctored birth certificate misrepresenting his birth year as 1989. A Sports Illustrated writer discovered the discrepancy when Almonte's Dominican elementary school records gave his correct birth year.
* Orlando Hernández, born on October 11, 1965 or 1969, depending on the source, claimed to have been born in 1969 when he defected from Cuba in 1997 to pitch in Major League Baseball. The Smoking Gun published what was purported to be his divorce decree from Cuba, which gave his year of birth as 1965. 4 years is quite a big difference.
* Rafael Furcal (born August 24, 1977) was first believed to have been born in 1980. Thus, during his major league rookie season, his 40 stolen bases were considered the most ever by a teenage player, breaking the record set in 1906 by Ty Cobb. When it was discovered that Furcal had been a 21-year-old rookie, the 84-year-old record reverted to Cobb.
* Here's a list of Latin American players who have fudged their ages, most by at least one or two years: Manny Aybar, Bartolo Colón, Deivi Cruz, Octavio Dotel, Juan Guzman, David Ortiz, Ramon Ortiz, Luis Polonia, Alfonso Soriano, Luis Vizcaino, and Enrique Wilson. In a milder case, Odális Pérez was discovered to be six days older than originally reported. A few players' ages have even dropped in age, including Adrián Beltré, Edgar Rentería, Esteban Yan and Wilson Betemit; in these cases the players had lied about being older so that they could sign contracts before turning 16.
* Kirby Puckett was reported throughout his playing career to have been born on March 14, 1961. When he died in 2006, it was confirmed that he had actually been born on the same day in 1960.

Nearly all of those players are from the Dominican Republic. Orlando Hernandez is the only Cuban case listed there. Most of the disputed age cases come from the D.R.

[HoustonGM]

Even though he went to high school and college in America and has lived in the states almost his entire life?

Yes. They're irrational.

[dickay]

this is the same mindset that annoys me when people say players must be taking steroids just because they have played during the steroid era.

It is illogical to continuously question those that have shown no reason for you to question them.

That's like saying Albert Pujols must do roids because he is great and played for a year with Mark McGwire and he came up during the roid era....it is insane to randomly go pointing fingers at everybody....even more so it's exhausting.

I question whether or not Pujols does roids. To say he "must do roids"...yes thats silly. but yes, i question it. I question it with all modern day athletes, especially in a sport where quite a few players have come out stating the use of such stuff was rampant and over 50% of the players were using something. I don't view them as users, just as I don't view a latin player as a liar....but I do question it and am not surprised when i see it.

i think its naive to think pujols or anyone is completely innocent, or at least not naive to not suspect or question it at all, and then be shocked if you hear differently. In todays climate, it shouldn't surprise or shock you if you heard he does use in the least. If it does....shame on you.