DUNEDIN, Fla. — Charlie Manuel remembers the first time he saw Ryan Howard work out in left field. How could he forget?

With Jim Thome blocking his ascent to the big leagues at first base and the Phillies looking to get Howard’s bat in the lineup, the team briefly experimented with the slugger as a left fielder.

Hey, if Pat Burrell and Greg Luzinski could do it, certainly Howard could, too.

Right?

“I remember we wanted to see him play and I went over to the minor league field to see him in left field,” Manuel recalled. “I said to myself, ‘I don’t think it’s going to work.’

“When I saw him run out there I thought first base all the way.”

So far, that hasn’t been the case for slugger Darin Ruf. While it was evident that Howard wasn't going to fit in left field, Ruf is adapting, albeit very slowly. He’s not there yet, but there are no plans to move Ruf out of the outfield.

“I figured Darin would have some problems in the outfield because he’s absolutely never played there,” Manuel said. “He played 20-some games there last year and he’s definitely in the learning process. Also, at the major-league level the ball moves quicker. They’ll hit it over your head harder and things like that. He should get better.”

Manuel undersold Ruf’s outfield experience a little bit. After four years in college at Creighton and four years in the Phillies’ minor league system, there was a better chance of seeing Ruf pitch than it was to see him play left field. However, in the final month of the 2012 season for Double A Reading, Ruf shifted to left field. When he got his first big league start during a September call up, it was as a left fielder.

Talk about trial by fire.

It’s one thing to be shoved out to left field in Double A, but to do so in the big leagues where the margin for error is miniscule takes a lot of fortitude. By spending so much time worrying about his fielding, Ruf may not be as focused on his hitting through the first handful of games this spring.

In six games Ruf is 3-for-16 with a double, two RBIs and four strikeouts. He went 1-for-4 with a walk on Friday against the Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field where he served as the designated hitter. For Saturday’s game against the Blue Jays, Ruf wasn’t in the lineup.

“It’s really early for him and I think he will get better. I think it’s about his confidence,” Manuel said. “I think playing left field might have something to do with the way he’s thinking at the plate. And if he starts hitting, then his outfield play might start getting better.”

Ruf’s minor league manager at Reading, Dusty Wathan, doesn’t expect the slugger to reinvent the art of playing the outfield. But if Ruf can hit, Wathan says, the fielding will look a lot better.

“He may end up being a guy who won’t hurt you out there,” Wathan said. “He’s going to be a guy who throws to the right base, who takes the right angles on balls, but his foot speed is never going to be what you want a typical left fielder to be.

“Then again, depending on how well you hit, you look like a much better fielder when you drive in 100 runs.”