One of the biggest storylines of this month for the Nats has been the play of their catcher Keibert Ruiz. The Nats catcher is playing some of the best baseball in his career, combining great offense with a new found defensive game. It is no secret that Ruiz has struggled since signing his 8 year extension, so seeing this from the 27 year old is very encouraging.
In April, it was clear that Ruiz was laser focused on his defense, to the point where it was harming his hitting. He was grading out well defensively early in the season, but his hitting was putrid. Ruiz posted a dismal .480 OPS in April. However, he has totally flipped the switch in May, hitting .340 with a 1.049 OPS. Ruiz has done all this while maintaining his strong defense.
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It feels like the Twins series early in May was a big turning point for him. Ruiz had a monster three for four day with 8 total bases. Ever since then, Ruiz has been absolutely smoking baseballs. Ruiz has been looking to do damage rather than just put the bat on the ball this month.
Of Keibert Ruiz’s 16 hits this month, 11 of them have gone for extra bases. Ruiz has a crazy 8 doubles this month, and it is not like he is turning singles into doubles with his speed. The Nats catcher is just smoking balls, especially to the pull side. That pull side thunder has been a staple of his game this season.
Among hitters with at least 100 plate appearances, nobody is pulling the ball in the air more than Keibert Ruiz. His air pull percentage is an insane 38.2%. Statistically, pulled flyballs are some of the most productive batted ball events for hitters. Some guys are not built to sell out for air pull, but if you can do that, it is a positive. That is exactly what Ruiz is doing right now.
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He is not just pulling balls in the air in an attempt to hit a bunch of home runs though. Ruiz is yanking a ton of balls down the line for doubles as well. He is able to outslug his pedestrian exit velocity numbers because of this. A great example of this is his double the other night. If he hit this ball to center field, it would be a routine fly out. Instead, it was almost a home run that bounced off the wall and became a double.
Some of Ruiz’s underlying numbers are still in rough shape because of how bad that April was. His xWOBA is still only .261, but it has been going up steadily this month. His overall numbers for the season look very good though. Ruiz is hitting .252 with a .754 OPS, which is very good for a catcher playing quality defense. Sure, his on base percentage is only .269 because he has only walked twice all season, but he is making up for that with a very good .485 slugging percentage.
Pulling the ball more is a big reason for the jump in slug, but it is not everything. Ruiz is also hitting the ball a lot harder. His average exit velocity has gone from 86.2 MPH last year to 90.1 MPH this year. That is a massive jump, and it is allowing him to do a lot more damage.
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The bat has been very impressive this month, but we have seen Ruiz get hot with the bat before. His defense has probably been the most impressive thing about his season. For most of his career, Ruiz has been one of the worst defensive catchers in baseball, with -22, -7 and -10 fielding run value the last three seasons. Under the tutelage of new catching coach Bobby Wilson, Ruiz has +3 FRV for the season, a truly stunning turnaround.
Ruiz’s blocking and framing have gotten so much better this season. He has 2 blocks above average and is in the 84th percentile as a framer. Last season he had -6 blocks above average and was a 4th percentile framer. Ruiz has also done a nice job controlling the running game, especially lately.
Among catchers with at least 60 plate appearances, Ruiz is tied for 10th in fWAR with 0.8 wins above replacement. That is a crazy turnaround for a guy who has posted negative fWAR in the last three seasons, mainly due to his defense. You have to give credit to Bobby Wilson, but also wonder what they were teaching Ruiz before.
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If Keibert Ruiz can even post a .700ish OPS for the season while playing solid defense, that would be a massive win. With that kind of production, Ruiz would be playing up to, or even exceeding his contract. Coming into the season, that contract looked like an anchor, but who knows now.
We still need to see Ruiz keep this up. It has only been a month, so there’s still a decent chance that his bat falls off a cliff again. I actually think the defense is fairly likely to be at least average going forward. We are two months into the season, and I think the defensive improvements are real.
One other thing that is important to point out is how they are using Ruiz. The Nats are managing his playing time very well. He has been in a near even split with Drew Millas this year. In this hot run, Ruiz is getting a bit more playing time, but Millas still gets at least a couple starts a week. Under Davey Martinez, it felt like Ruiz was getting run into the ground. Ruiz is a competitive guy, and it seemed like Davey just asked Keibert if he was ready to play, and naturally he always said yes.
Now, Ruiz is not putting too much strain on his body, and is being put in advantageous matchups. Blake Butera has really liked Ruiz against left handed pitchers this year, and it is easy to see why. The switch hitting Ruiz is hitting .333 with a .911 OPS as a right handed hitter. Ruiz starts just about every game against lefties, and some of them against righties.
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There is still plenty of time for things to go haywire, and I am knocking on wood, but I love this version of Keibert Ruiz. He is a reliable defender, who is looking to do damage at the plate. Ruiz still has his warts, like never walking, but he has been an ultra-productive player for the Nats this month. Long may that continue for the Nats catcher.
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