The Washington Nationals offense has been slumping to begin the season. They’ve been putting out far an excessive amount of and have struggles with runners in scoring place. Guys like Dylan Crews, Josh Bell, Jacob Younger, and Luis Garcia Jr. have stumbled out of the gates, combining for simply 5 hits. Nonetheless, one man who isn’t slumping is Keibert Ruiz, who’s seeking to bounce again from a brutal 2024.
Show it Yr:
2025 is a crossroads within the yr in Keibert Ruiz’s profession. Within the offseason, I wrote about how the group has put a number of belief in Ruiz, and that it’s time for him to dwell as much as his finish of the cut price. To this point he has carried out simply that.
Earlier than the 2023 season, the Nats made the daring transfer of extending Keibert on an 8-year extension that assured the catcher $50 million {dollars}. Ruiz was coming off a stable, however not spectacular first full season within the large leagues after coming over within the Max Scherzer/Trea Turner commerce. It was an enormous transfer that confirmed the Nats hierarchy was all in on Ruiz.
The final couple of years have been up and all the way down to say the least. In 2023, Keibert was stable with the bat, placing up a .717 OPS with 18 homers. Nonetheless, he was a prepare wreck defensively, grading out because the worst defensive catcher in baseball.
In 2024, his bat fell off a cliff, placing up a paltry .619 OPS. Nonetheless, he was satisfactory behind the plate defensively, even when he was not nice. An enormous storyline in 2024 was Ruiz’s early season sickness that noticed him lose 20 kilos.
Dashing him again from the sickness might clarify a number of the drop in offensive manufacturing. Nonetheless, there’s extra to it than simply that. If the sickness hampered him a lot, how did he make strides defensively? I feel the larger drawback was Ruiz’s method and plate self-discipline. He was chasing an excessive amount of and making far an excessive amount of weak contact.
Optimistic Indicators in 2025:
Ruiz has gotten off to an awesome begin in 2025. He’s hitting .381 with a 1.149 OPS. The Nationals catcher has gotten successful in each recreation this season, and has a ten recreation hitting streak courting again to final season. He’s simply 46 video games away from tying Joe DiMaggio!
Keibert has additionally proven off the ability stroke, hitting two residence runs thus far this season. The standard of his at bats are additionally simply significantly better. He’s taking extra pitches and discovering his pitch to hit, moderately than simply swinging for the sake of it. Ruiz has the bat to ball expertise to hit with two strikes and be affected person, so it’s cool to see him lay off the junk.
He additionally seems extra athletic, each on the plate and within the area. One metric that quantifies that is his pop time on stolen base makes an attempt. Final yr his pop time was 2.06 seconds on common, which is considerably slower than the common catcher. This yr it has been a significantly better 1.91 seconds. You might be seeing the outcomes of this, with Keibert catching two of 4 base stealers thus far.
It’s a small pattern measurement, however it’s one thing I’ve seen whereas watching the video games. I’ve by no means been impressed with Keibert’s potential to manage the operating recreation earlier than this season. Nonetheless, he seems a lot faster out of the crouch thus far. On the printed, MASN talked about that Ruiz employed a private chef, so possibly a greater eating regimen helps him trim off the fats.
Shifting Ahead:
In fact, that is nonetheless a tiny pattern measurement, so this might simply be a mirage. Nonetheless, it might be an enormous plus for the Nats if Keibert can really set up himself as a mean to above common beginning catcher. He has at all times had the bat to ball expertise, he simply hasn’t put all of it collectively on both aspect of the ball but.
I’m nonetheless not completely all in but as a result of now we have seen good stretches from Keibert earlier than, particularly on the plate. These are usually interrupted by prolonged intervals the place Ruiz is consistently rolling over floor balls to the second baseman early within the rely. We have to see sustained success, however Keibert Ruiz has come into the yr with the appropriate mindset and it’s displaying on the sphere thus far.
