The 32-year-old right-hander, trained in the Cuban National Series and with Major League experience, joins the pitching staff for the upcoming campaign.
CULIACÁN, SINALOA. – Norge Ruiz will wear the guinda uniform for the 2026-2027 Liga Mexicana del Pacífico season. The organization adds a 32-year-old right-handed starter with a career built across four distinct stages: Cuban baseball, the minor league system, Major League Baseball, and Caribbean winter leagues.
Ruiz made a name for himself early on. At 18 years old, he capped off the 2012-2013 Cuban National Series season with a 1.97 ERA, sixth among pitchers in the circuit, and led the league in strikeouts the following campaign with 94. That was the arm that left Cuba.
In December 2016, he signed with the Oakland Athletics and began his journey through the farm system. It was a six-year climb from rookie ball to Triple-A, with stops in Stockton, Midland, Nashville, and Las Vegas.
His Major League debut came on August 19, 2022. Ruiz entered in relief against Seattle, working one and two-thirds innings, and finished that campaign with 14 appearances on the Athletics' roster. That same year in Las Vegas, he had posted a 5-1 record with a 3.73 ERA.
Winter baseball is not new territory for him either. He has pitched for Águilas Cibaeñas and Estrellas Orientales in the Dominican Republic, made a stop in the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico during the 2024-2025 campaign, and spent last season with Leones del Escogido, where he posted a 3.38 ERA across eight starts. He arrives in Culiacán knowing how to pitch in this league.
What he brings is pitchcraft. Ruiz boasts solid command and knows how to mix his arsenal—the profile of a starter who gets results through pitch sequence management rather than relying on a single pitch. Thirteen seasons of professional baseball, 852 innings, and 583 strikeouts back up that approach.
The Cuban righty will report to manager Lorenzo Bundy as the start of the 2026-2027 season approaches on the horizon.