D-backs award Ruiz and Bauer with monthly honors

The Arizona Diamondbacks announced today Triple-A Reno infielder Randy Ruiz and Double-A Mobile right-handed pitcher Trevor Bauer have been named the organization's Minor League Player and Pitcher-of-the-Month for April.

Ruiz, 34, hit .372 (29-for-78) with 3 doubles, 6 home runs and 23 RBI in 21 games for the Aces. He finished the month tied for the Pacific Coast League-lead in RBI and tied for second in home runs. At the end of April, Ruiz led all D-backs farmhands (min. 50 at-bats) in average, slugging percentage (.667) and OPS (1.097). Ruiz previously saw Major League time in parts of three seasons with the Minnesota Twins (2008) and Toronto Blue Jays (2009-10). The D-backs signed the New York native as a Minor League free agent on March 1, 2012.

Bauer, 21, went 5-0 with a 1.26 ERA (4 ER in 28.2 IP) while limiting opponents to a .184 average (18-for-98) during the month of April. In 5 starts, he led the Southern League in wins, ERA and strikeouts (37) while striking out an average of 11.62 batters per 9 innings (37 K in 28.2 IP), good for third-best in the league. Bauer was named the Southern League Player of the Week (April 15-22) after throwing 7.0 scoreless innings and striking out 8 on April 21 vs. Jacksonville. Bauer entered 2012 ranked by Baseball America and MLB.com as the No. 1 Prospect in the D-backs' organization. The D-backs' first-round selection (third overall) in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft was the U.S. Baseball Federation's Golden Spikes Award winner, Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Year and Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year.

Every month during the season, the D-backs Player Development staff chooses the player and pitcher most deserving of the honors based on nominations from coaches at each affiliate along with input from the Minor League coordinators. Below is a list of the overall winners as well as players nominated by each affiliate: