When the Washington Nationals discuss their exciting young core, names like CJ Abrams, James Wood, and Dylan Crews are almost always the first mentioned. After them, you might hear youngsters Luis Garcia Jr., MacKenzie Gore, and Jacob Young.
One notable omission from this list is catcher Keibert Ruiz. Despite being only 26 years old and the only player on the Nationals’ roster signed to a long-term contract, Ruiz is hardly thought of amongst the Nats’ building blocks. So where have things gone wrong for baseball’s former top catching prospect?
Keibert Ruiz will have his breakout season for Washington Nationals in 2025
Prior to joining the Nats, Ruiz was a top prospect for the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers. He signed with the Dodgers as a 16-year-old out of Venezuela and developed into an all-around elite catching prospect.
Los Angeles was reluctant to trade Ruiz, but their logjam of backstops, with Will Smith in the majors and fellow top prospect Diego Cartaya quickly ascending through the minor leagues, made Ruiz expendable in the right deal.
As we know, the right deal came along. Ruiz earned two cups of coffee with the Dodgers, highlighted by a home run in his first major league at bat.
In July of 2021, leading up to the Trade Deadline, Ruiz found himself back with L.A.’s Triple-A affiliate. That July saw him slash .360/.415/.686 with seven home runs, creating buzz that the Dodgers may use Ruiz as a headliner in a blockbuster trade to aid their title defense efforts. That is exactly what happened, as the Dodgers dealt Ruiz to the Nationals in a package for perennial All-Stars Max Scherzer and Trea Turner.
Being traded for superstars brings lofty expectations, and Ruiz lived up to them in a short stint with the Nationals to finish the 2021 season. In 2022, his first full season as a major leaguer, Ruiz held his own, finishing with the fifth-highest wRC+ among National League catchers. This performance earned him an eight-year contract extension worth $50 million prior to the 2023 season, cementing Ruiz as a key piece of the next generation of Nationals.
So, two years after signing that long-term deal, why is Ruiz not mentioned amongst the building blocks? In 2023, Ruiz produced a similar output to his 2022 campaign. He held his own, but did not take the step forward many expected from him in his second full season. Not only did his bat not progress, his defense took a significant step in the wrong direction.
In 2024, there was reason to believe Ruiz would prove he was worthy of the long-term contract he signed. He made some offseason adjustments to his plate approach and trained closely with Nationals’ catching coach Henry Blanco on his work behind the plate.
Ruiz impressed in Spring Training and got off to a hot start in the regular season before landing on the Injured List with a case of the flu. Almost three weeks later, Ruiz returned to the active roster 20 pounds lighter. The major league season is a grueling task for any player, especially for catchers. Losing 20 pounds in less than three weeks at the very beginning of the year, then being asked to catch five games a week, turns that grueling task into a near impossible one.
Despite the hope for a breakout year, Ruiz took a significant step backwards offensively. He did, however, improve behind the dish.
While Ruiz struggled at the plate, it was not a completely lost season. The switch-hitter showed a knack for putting the ball in play, finishing with the sixth-lowest strikeout rate in all of baseball, sandwiched between MVP candidates Mookie Betts and Jose Ramirez.
In an era where strikeouts are extremely prominent, Ruiz’s proclivity for contact is valuable. It is also worth noting that Ruiz’s offensive output improved throughout the year as he regained his strength, with September being his most productive month.
As a prospect, Ruiz was projected to put the ball in play at an impressive rate, while also hitting for significant power. With 18 home runs in 2023, Ruiz began to tap into his power potential. Unfortunately, it seems that the early season weight loss zapped most of Ruiz’s pop in 2024, which naturally dragged down his overall numbers.
Now, in 2025, Ruiz is finally primed for his breakout year. The Nationals have been understandably disappointed in Ruiz’s production to this point. His overall play has not resembled that of a blockbuster headliner or the recipient of a lucrative long-term contract. It is not fair to hold his 2024 campaign against him, but this is his make or break season.
One of the keys to finally breaking out will be improving his pitch selection. While Ruiz is capable of making contact on nearly any pitch, that leads him to swing at nearly every pitch. The results have been consistent weak contact, which is to be expected when swinging at pitches out of the zone. When at his best, Ruiz waits for a mistake pitch and drives it for extra bases.
If Ruiz’s power can return in 2025 while maintaining his elite contact skills and improving his plate discipline, the Nationals will have one of the better catchers in baseball signed through 2033. If 2025 brings more of the same that last year did, Ruiz may be yet another disappointment for the organization that has lost the most games in baseball since 2020.
Assuming he is able to remain healthy, this will finally be Ruiz’s breakout season. As the Nationals attempt to return to contention, there is reason to believe Ruiz will finally tap into his potential.