Miami Hurricanes baseball gets big-bucks pledge from recent UM standout and family
The University of Miami got a major donation for one of its historically most celebrated sports.
And it’s not football.
On Wednesday, the Hurricanes announced that the Ruiz family — yes, the one with the same billionaire John Ruiz who is heading the effort to bring a UM football stadium close to campus — pledged $2 million toward the four-time national champion baseball program to expand the current weight room into a “state of the art” strength and conditioning complex. The complex will be filled with the newest technology to help players get the most from their workouts, according to Johnny Ruiz, one of two Ruiz sons who played baseball for the Canes.
“The sport science is almost as important as the physical building itself,’’ Johnny Ruiz, 27, a lawyer and standout UM infielder from 2014 through 2017, told the Miami Herald on Thursday. “We want to be on the cutting edge of everything we do — sensors, cameras, anything that helps players improve on the field.
“It’s not just a physical structure. We’re investing in technology. Obviously having a nice locker room is more about luxury and making players feel comfortable. But a weight room really affects performance.’’
Baseball season
The UM baseball season begins Feb. 18 at home against Towson for the preseason top-20 Canes, who fell in the NCAA regionals last June to finish 33-21 in 2021. Winners of national championships in 1982, 1985, 1999 and 2001, Miami has neither advanced out of a regional nor been to the College World Series since 2016. Coach Gino DiMare is optimistic about 2022, and knows that some hefty facility upgrades in the past year can only help.
UM is not only expanding by about 1,600 square feet the weight and conditioning complex, situated at the entrance (near the famous Mark Light milkshake concession) of Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field, it opened its 6,800-square-foot Jimmy and Kim Klotz Player Development Center (where right-field bleachers formerly sat) in the fall of 2020. The Klotz Center, which can turn into practice space when the lightning alarms sound and the netting is removed, has several batting cages and three bullpens for pitchers — and myriad technology.
Additionally, a new scoreboard, funded by a $1.6 million donation by DiMare’s father, longtime UM trustee and philanthropist Paul DiMare, has been erected and is now getting its finishing touches.
Next upgrade
The next baseball project will be to upgrade the locker room, players’ lounge and nutrition center — all part of a formerly announced $7 million campaign, also helped through a $1 million donation in 2020 by UM alum Tommy Adams, who played baseball in the 1950s.
Currently, the weight room is undersized and necessitates players, especially because of the escalating COVID situation, to break into tiny groups to lift. The new complex is set to begin construction at the end of the 2022 season.
“We have 33 players,’’ DiMare, who said he is thrilled with the Ruiz pledge, told the Herald this week, “and there’s a very limited window to lift. This will allow us to get more guys in that window so they’re not rushing all the time to get something to eat or get to practice or lift afterward. We don’t want our guys to have to get up at 6 a.m. if we’ve got a game at 7 at night.’’
DiMare said the players, who begin school Jan. 18, are now throwing and hitting on their own. He’s not sure how and if COVID restrictions will affect the program.
“Everything is day-to-day,’’ DiMare said. “Let’s hope this thing dies down by then.
Expectations high
“Our expectations are always high. We want to be one of the top eight teams at the end of the season to get to Omaha and give ourselves a chance to win another national championship.’’
As for Johnny Ruiz, whose brother Alex (former UM pitcher), sister Cristina (former UM Sunsation dancer) and mom Mayra are also involved with the project, he wants his family’s donations — there are more coming for other sports, he said — to include opportunities for Name, Image and Likeness deals for student-athletes. Johnny is the chief operating officer for his family’s power-boat manufacturing company Cigarette Racing Team.
“Anything we can do to give back and help the UM athletics program be successful is the goal.’’
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 2:14 PM.
