With baseball season officially underway, the Cavaliers have already played their first two games, defeating the Hialeah Gardens Gladiators. The team however, has counted on a new face this year to help them battle through the season: freshman Jose Ruiz. Being skilled enough to make it to a high school varsity roster as a freshman is no easy feat, no matter the sport. Yet, Jose Ruiz, extraordinary athlete and the future face of Gables Baseball, has managed to do so.

The outfielder began playing when he was just six years old. Ruiz claims that it has been a great eight years on the baseball field. His father, who grew up playing baseball in the Dominican Republic and loves the sport, always made sure to show that to his son. When it came to pushing Ruiz into playing the sport, his older sister, a Gables alumna of 2015, was the one who encouraged their parents to sign him up for a team. Despite being just six years old, he would eat everything in sight so his parents thought a sport would be a perfect way to also keep him active while also keeping him out of the fridge.

Ruiz’s first significant memory was when he hit his first home run at age nine. It was particularly special to him because it was also his mother’s birthday. Since then, Ruiz has been hard at work, currently practicing the sport every Monday through Saturday. Going into the Gables tryouts, Ruiz expected to leave everything on the field. At the end of tryouts, he tried to remain calm and confident in his performance.

When Ruiz found out that he had made the varsity team, he was overjoyed that everything he had done to that point had paid off. This happiness, however, could not take away the fact that Jose was now being counted on by the rest of his teammates. Ruiz understands that being a freshman on this team, while it is an incredible accomplishment, also means that he has to work even harder to be able to play competitively with the rest of his teammates.

“I know the team is counting on me and so being on varsity as a freshman makes me feel like I need to work even harder,” freshman Jose Ruiz said.

The Cavaliers have already battled through two games in which Ruiz felt naturally nervous, but was able to stay focused and work hard to achieve a successful outcome. Their first home game was a tremendous victory for the Cavaliers, winning 8-3 against Hialeah Gardens High School. Ruiz, who played in both games, believed that he played pretty well against Hialeah and was proud of his performance, given that he is just a freshman and is so new to the team as a whole.

However, the team’s second game against Barbara Goleman High School was not what they expected. All team members, including Jose, acknowledged that they could have done a lot better and that the game was just a lot of mistakes that they plan to correct.

Jose Ruiz, like the rest of the Gables’ Varsity Baseball Team, is excited for what the 2021 season has in store. Ruiz believes that the team is not quite there yet, in terms of having that chemistry that would put the team over the top of their competition. However, he is confident in the team’s potential, and is convinced through more practice time together, the young team has a bright future ahead of them.