A long time ago, Keibert Ruiz was one of the most promising players in baseball. He was so highly regarded that he was a key part of the Nationals’ comeback in the trade of Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers in 2021. After a solid first full season in Washington the following year, he signed an eight-year extension worth $50 million in March 2023. Unfortunately, that’s where the bottom fell. Over the past three years, Ruiz has been the worst position player in baseball, “accumulating” -1.9 WAR.
When the Nationals acquired Harry Ford in a trade with the Mariners this offseason, it was fair to wonder if Ruiz’s days as the team’s backstop were numbered. He was a disaster both at the plate and behind it. His wRC+ of 79 over the last three years was a hair higher than Patrick Bailey’s mark of 76, but instead of making up for that offensive lack with superior defense, Ruiz was the most defensive catcher in baseball. It is shocking to see that he has completely changed things this year; he has already accumulated 0.8 WAR and is the 11th most valuable hitter in baseball in just 34 games.
Let’s tackle the most surprising development first: All of a sudden, Ruiz is providing good value behind the plate. Among the 53 catchers with at least 1,000 innings over the past three years, Ruiz was the second-worst hitter, the second-worst in throwing out base stealers, and the sixth-worst hitter. This year, he added two runs per frame and was a slightly above-average blocker. His pitching didn’t improve all that much according to Statcast, but he also wasn’t challenged as often, so that defensive spot didn’t really affect his overall defensive value.
Last year, Ruiz suffered two concussions in a few weeks apart. The first came on June 23, when a foul ball hit him in the head while sitting in the dugout. The second one came just a week and a half later – and just two days after he was activated in a 7-day interview – when he was hit with a mask. He tried to return to play in September, but was sidelined from his rehab assignment after his concussion symptoms returned. In an effort to reduce his risk behind the plate, the Nationals had Ruiz adjust his stance so that he now crouches down:
In the photo above, you can see that when the pitcher is released, Ruiz’s back is not straight and his head is slightly down on the ground. The team thought that the low stance would allow some nasty tips to fly over his head instead of going into his mask. That may have been the intended goal of the new position, but the impact of Ruiz’s ability to find pitches has changed his defensive metrics. Judging by Statcast’s draft data, over the past three years, Ruiz has really struggled to get pitches and pitches to his right:
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Keibert Ruiz, Catcher Framing Runs
| A year | Forums | Frame runs, Top spot | Frame runs, Low Area | Frame running, Left Space | Frame running, Right field | Number of Frame Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 9444 | 3 | -12 | 1 | -2 | -12 |
| 2024 | 8091 | 1 | -5 | 2 | -2 | -3 |
| 2025 | 4942 | -1 | -5 | 1 | -3 | -9 |
| 2026 | 2427 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 2 |
Source: Baseball Savant
It’s reasonable to assume that sitting down in his position helped him plan those low ratings more effectively. Even more surprising is that the right side of the plate is now his strongest frame position. In addition to gaining his acceptance, the low crouch probably helped him avoid stray places he may not have been able to reach before.
Going from one of the best defensive catchers in baseball to above-average is a huge improvement in itself, but Ruiz has taken a step forward as a hitter. Ruiz has gotten off to a slow start at the plate this year; though as of May 6, he was sporting a .182/.203/.303 line, with a very disappointing 37 wRC+. As Spencer Nusbaum of Athletic reported Thursday, Ruiz met with the Nationals coaching staff on May 7 to develop a plan to improve. That same day, he hit two doubles and a home run. In his last 11 games, he collected 16 hits, seven doubles, and three home runs, raising his season line to .262/.277/.486 (109 wRC+). It looks like this plan worked.
Two things have caused this annoying outbreak. First, Ruiz is very selective when it comes to what pitches he will swing at, and second, he swings and does damage when he finds a good pitch to hit. Here’s how manager Blake Butera put it in an interview with MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato:
“That’s the one thing about Keibert is, he can cover a lot of pitches but he can also hit the ball a lot. And it’s really hard to hit hard pitches when you’re swinging at everything and just making contact. So one thing we put on him was, narrow down the space a little bit, trust your hand-eye coordination, even if that means the pitch hits a good boundary. He does the work from there.”
Throughout his career, Ruiz has shown excellent bat-to-ball skills and an incredible ability to cover the entire plate; hence his strike rate at work was 11.1%. But his aggressiveness and tendency to put the ball in play is why his walk rate is 4.7%. With the new option in mind, Ruiz lowered his swing rate to 47.5%, a five-point drop from where it had been in the past. He gave up almost all of those swings on pitches that were in the zone; his rushing rate is unchanged, but his zone swing rate is down nearly 10 points.
Despite that increased selection, you still get in touch more often, only now the contact has a little more oomph behind you. Ruiz has greatly improved his contact quality, and most of the improvement has come as a right-handed hitter. Throughout his career, he’s had a neutral team as a switch hitter, but his batted ball metrics have been worse from the right field despite the results showing otherwise:
Keibert Ruiz, Batted Ball Peripherals
| Like the Left Hand | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A year | BatSpd* | Ideal Atk Angle | Hard Hit% | bin % | Pull AIR% | xwOBacon | WOB |
| 2022-25 | 67.1 | 56.1% | 27.2% | 2.9% | 24.5% | 0.334 | 0.304 |
| 2026 | 68.3 | 56.6% | 38.0% | 4.0% | 39.6% | 0.265 | 0.299 |
| A year | BatSpd* | Ideal Atk Angle | Hard Hit% | bin % | Pull AIR% | xwOBacon | WOB |
| 2022-25 | 64.8 | 54.4% | 23.4% | 2.1% | 19.7% | 0.281 | 0.291 |
| 2026 | 67.0 | 67.7% | 47.2% | 13.9% | 35.9% | 0.332 | 0.458 |
Source: Baseball Savant
*Bat tracking data limited to 2024–26
This year, Ruiz is doing more damage against lefties. He has increased his batting velocity from the right side by more than two ticks and has seen significant improvement in all important batting metrics. He has also seen a jump in the quality of the ball being hit from the left side, albeit slightly. That growth seems to stem from his intent at the plate. He’s looking for good pitches to hit and looking to drive them into the air to the pull side. His strikeout rate has risen to 67.4%, the biggest increase of any hitter this year, and he’s throwing up more contact as well. The results over the past few weeks speak for themselves.
For now, Ruiz is still splitting time behind the plate with Drew Millas. He has started nearly half of the Nationals’ games this season and 11 of the 20 games since the bad meeting that put him in the position. Millas was considered a lone catch prospect not too long ago, but he didn’t impress over parts of four seasons in the big leagues. He is currently sporting a 41 wRC+ with adequate defense behind the plate. And Ford isn’t knocking on the big team’s door, either; The young catcher has compiled just a 74 wRC+ in Triple-A this year. If Ruiz continues to hit the ball and can continue to do a good job defensively, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him assume his role as the team’s everyday striker in the short term.
With their development plan in place, the Nationals should be very happy to see such positive results from Ruiz. I’m sure there will be ups and downs ahead – we’re talking just 43 plate appearances since making these changes to his approach – but with the support of the coaching staff, Ruiz appears to be on his way to success.
