Despite struggles, fan-favorite Ibarra’s love for the game stronger than ever
Ruben Ibarra’s fan-favorite status never wanes.
He hears cheers when he comes to bat. He gets the loudest cheers when he gets a hit. Kids come to the side of the dugout after games and ask him for autographs, balls and broken bats. All this while he has struggled until recently to be the hitter for the Dayton Dragons that he was last year when he batted cleanup and led the team in home runs and RBIs.
Despite so many empty at-bats through most of the season, Ibarra’s desire to play baseball well never wanes.
Not when he’s hitting under .200. Not when he’s searching for his first home run after leading the Dragons with 18 last summer. And not when he’s batting ninth.
“My demeanor has been the same, my intentions have been the same,” he said after Wednesday night’s 8-5 loss to Great Lakes. “It’s just small little critiques here and there with the physical aspect of the swing. The want and the desire’s there.”
A four-hit game April 18 followed by a two-hit game raised his batting average to .216. The average peaked at .239 on April 23. But he finished a homestand on May 4 at .191.
“It’s just how the game goes,” he said. “You get rewarded, you get it taken back. You got to ride the roller coaster for what it is. But the more we balance the wavelengths that will be good.”
Since the start of last week’s six-game series at Lake County the roller coaster is climbing a big hill. Ibarra was 5 for 14 for a .357 average with a double, four RBIs and only three strikeouts against the Captains.
On Tuesday he went 2 for 3. On Wednesday he was 2 for 2 with two walks to raise his average to a season-high .253 and slugging percentage to .310.
He is 9 for 19 (.474) during his six-game hitting streak. Those are exciting results, but the solo home run he hit the opposite way to lead off the ninth inning Wednesday night was his first of the season. He couldn’t think of a longer homer-less drought in his life. The stadium lights flashed and the crowd roared as he circled the bases.
“I was sprinting around the bases,” he said. “I forgot how to trot.”
Dragons manager Vince Harrison Jr. said he didn’t expect Ibarra’s bat to remain silent for long because of his experience.
“A lot of times early in the year he’s just not been on time for heaters,” Harrison said. “That home run was a fastball that he takes backside. It seems like he’s in a better spot right now and just giving himself a chance and not missing pitches.”
The Reds drafted Ibarra in the fourth round in 2021 out of San Jose State. He is a 6-foot-5, 25-year-old first baseman who got his weight under 300 pounds this season for the first time in a while. He played in 25 games for the Dragons at the end of the 2022 season. He was in Dayton all last season.
Ibarra has hit 23 home runs as a Dragon and is seven away from tying the club record of 30 set by Chris Williamson in 2000-02. Ibarra’s patience isn’t wearing thin, but he wants what all minorleaguers want, which is to advance to the next level.
“I’m not gonna lie to you — it’s really difficult,” he said. “But what I heard is walk by faith, not by sight. And that’s really kept me going and pushing me harder than ever. Whether it be with baseball, with my faith in God, whether it be prioritizing my relationships, whatever aspect, it’s to continue to walk by faith and not by sight and trust everything’s going to be OK. I just have to continue the demeanor and continue to go out and compete.”
Dragons top Loons
Dayton hit three home runs in the second inning Thursday on its way to a wild 11-10 win over Great Lakes at Day Air Ballpark.
Carlos Jorge, Logan Tanner and Jay Allen II drilled home runs in the frame. Jorge and Allen II each collected two hits. Dayton’s Sal Stewart reached base five times (one hit, three walks, one hit by pitch).