North Penn Product Eric Ruth A Key Arm For Trenton

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Eric Ruth is a Harleysville, Montgomery County native and a North Penn High School graduate. The right-handed pitcher played his college baseball at Winthrop and after a successful career with the Eagles, he signed as an undrafted free agent with the New York Yankees back in 2013.

These days he's come back close to home, pitching for the Double-A affiliate of the Yankees, the Trenton Thunder.

"It's definitely exciting," Ruth tells KYW Newsradio. "To be able to play close to home and have friends and family come out and just be around all the people that support you and be able to play in front of them is something special."

Listen to the entire interview with the Trenton Thunder's Eric Ruth:

Ruth is really taking advantage of being close to home as he is staying at his family's house in Harleysville and commuting the 40 minutes to Trenton for home games.

"It's convenient to be able to sleep in your own bed," Ruth says.

Trenton is one of three teams Ruth has pitched for this season. He's also taken the mound for High-A Tampa and Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Overall in 2016, Ruth is 5-1 in 11 appearances (five starts) with a 3.60 ERA. In five appearances (three starts) for Trenton, Ruth is 2-1 with a 2.89 ERA. In 45 total innings this season, he has 43 strikeouts and just 11 walks. He says he features four pitches right now (fastball, curveball, slider and change-up) and talks about what's allowed him to have success.

"I think just attacking hitters, going after them," Ruth says. "Not trying to be too picky, just be aggressive. That's my game plan going in. Doesn't matter what inning it is, I'm just going to be aggressive, go after the hitters and just throw every pitch for a strike."

Ruth talks about adjusting as you pitch in the different levels in the minors.

"From Low-A to Double-A, Triple-A, you definitely see the game change," Ruth says. "Game speeds up a little bit more, hitters become a little bit more advanced, obviously, and have a better approach. So you've got to be able to read the hitters and remember them as you face them numerous times throughout the season. You'll see them along your career whether it's in Double-A or Triple-A, you'll see them over and over again. So you've got to be able to remember what you did to be successful against those guys and just save it."

Ruth and the Thunder wrap up a series in Binghamton tonight.