Miami Marlins Best To Wear Jersey Number Series No. 20: Justin Ruggiano

Sometimes the answer to the riddle of who was the best to wear a Miami Marlins jersey number is an obvious one.

And sometimes the Marlins jersey number in question has No. 20 on the back of it.

No standouts on the franchise leaderboards here, at least not by the metric we've been holding ourselves to during Marlin Maniac's Best To Wear The Miami Marlins Jersey Number Series of the success needing to have come in the jersey. Had that kind of technical answer been allowed, we would have had our first repeat answer of the series. Had it been all about being part of big moments in club history, two Marlins championship winners do grace the list. Yet once you crunch the WAR in the jersey numbers, as always, one name comes out on top.

Justin Ruggiano.

If you're not at least old enough to vote, and more likely old enough to buy your own drink if not run for Congress, you probably have no memory of that particular slice of Marlins history. In fact, even if you do clear that age bar, this is one that could have slipped through the cracks. After all, his Marlins career tally of 2.7 WAR over two seasons from 2012 to 2013 is hardly the stuff of legends.

Before diving into any Ruggiano particulars, I think it'd be appropriate to stress just how close this race was between a who's who of forgotten Fish and one year cameos in the jersey number. That situation of having a repeat player on the list? So close. J.T. Realmuto's 2015 season was worth 2.4 WAR points, just 0.3 behind Ruggiano's Marlins career. Miguel Cabrera's 2003 campaign of 0.6 WAR was much farther back comparatively, but in the grand scheme of things, it's a pretty minor distance. The only other Marlins player that ever cracked or equalled 2.0 WAR in the No. 20 jersey? That'd be catcher Matt Treanor, more famous for his Gold medal winning wife Misty May-Treanor than anything he ever did on the baseball diamond.

As mentioned, two Marlins World champions are here, with 1997's Darren "Dutch" Daulton joining Cabrera in the No. 20 club. Both late season additions to their respective rosters, it is likely only that fact that keeps them from claiming the top spot. Given how close the 1.0 WAR tally of Vic Darensbourg's 1998 season was to being the best on the list, the temptation was strong here to go with the emotional vote.

One last notable mention would be Wei-Yin Chen, who sported the jersey during his final Marlins season in 2019. A strong case could be made for his being the most impactful player on this list, apart from Cabrera, just due to the sheer damage the existence of his contract caused to multiple Marlins teams. Yet I was surprised to discover that as bad as he was, his only negative WAR season was that 2019 turn sporting No. 20.

Back to Ruggiano though, just a really fun to watch, absolute gamer for those two seasons. On the supremely disappointing 2012 team, he was actually the Marlins sixth most valuable player WAR wise, beating out more familiar faces like Omar Infante, Hanley Ramirez, and Anibal Sanchez. Both years he was on a 20/20 pace, coming closest in 2013 with an 18 HR and 15 SB finish. Ruggiano didn't join Miami until coming over in a late May trade in 2012, and injuries slowed him in 2013. Otherwise, he might well have joined that surprisingly small club.

That's all for this go around of Best In The Marlins Jersey Number. We'll be back next time with the great Marlins novel that is the No. 19 jersey.