Ruf, Cloyd win April honors as Phils Minor League Players of the Month

A pair of Reading Phillies has swept honors for the month of April.  First baseman Darin Ruf is the Phillies Minor League Player of the Month, while the Pitcher of the Month is right-hander Tyler Cloyd.

Ruf, 25, batted .378 during April with 31 hits in 23 games.  Selected in the 20th round of the 2009 draft, his month was highlighted by a 5-for-5 performance on April 17 at Richmond where he homered, scored four runs and drove in two.  The Reading first baseman currently ranks in the top five in hits (31) and batting average (.360) in the Eastern League, helping the R-Phils to their best start (16-7) since 1995.

Cloyd, selected by the Phillies in the 18th round of the June 2008 draft, went 4-0 with a 1.45 ERA in five games between Lehigh Valley and Reading in April.  A native of Papillion, Nebraska, Cloyd struck out 28 batters in 31.0 innings of work, while holding opponents to a .200 average.

The 6-foot-3 righty was called up from Reading to make an emergency start for the IronPigs on April 5 vs the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.  Cloyd did not allow a base runner while striking out eight in six innings of work.

Dating back to last year, the 24-year-old has secured the win in seven of his last nine starts.