Of all their young players over the last half decade or so, the Washington Nationals have only extended one of them. That would be catcher Keibert Ruiz, who the Nationals gave an 8-year $50 million deal
to before the 2023 season. However, just three years in, that deal looks like an anchor rather than an asset.
Heading into 2026, there are so many questions about Keibert Ruiz. 2025 was a brutal year for him performance wise and health wise. Despite having $37 million on his deal, Ruiz does not look like a starting caliber catcher and there are now questions about whether he will even be able to catch moving forward due to concussions.
Last season was close to a make or break season for Keibert Ruiz, and things broke. However, things looked so promising at the beginning of the year. For the first few weeks of the season things looked so promising. On May 1st his average was actually above .300 and his defense was showing signs of life.
The peak of Ruiz’s season came in March, which is never a good sign. Both of his home runs this season came before April 1st. After that, the Nats catcher was shutout for the season. That is surprising for a guy who had hit double-digit homers in each of the last two seasons.
After April, things just got ugly on both sides of the ball. Most fans thought 2024 would be rock bottom for Ruiz’s bat. That .619 OPS seemed like an aberration that was partially due to an illness Ruiz rushed back from.
In 2024 Ruiz actually improved a bit on the defensive side of the ball, even if still wasn’t great. The hope going into 2025 was that we would get the 2023 bat, which was good for a catcher with the serviceable defense of 2024.
However, we ended up getting even worse hitting than 2024. Ruiz posted a dismal .595 OPS on the season and had -1 fWAR. His defense was also closer to the awful levels of 2023 than the passable play he showed in 2024.
As if things could not get any worse, the injury bug hit Ruiz hard this summer. It all started when Josh Bell hit a foul ball into the dugout. The ball hit Ruiz in the head in a freak accident, which caused a concussion. That concussion was on June 23rd. Ruiz came back into the lineup on July 4th.
That was clearly too quick because Ruiz only played two more games before suffering another concussion after taking a foul tip to the mask. These concussions lingered for a while. Ruiz suffered post-concussion syndrome, which left him on the shelf for months. When he was finally ready for a rehab assignment, he had to be shut down again after a few games due to the symptoms coming back.
Ruiz is clearly a guy who wants to play every day. He takes days off as an insult and will never say he is not good to go. Based on how Davey Martinez talked, it seemed like he would always take Ruiz at his word. This led to him being overplayed and wearing down. It also may have led to him returning from injury too quickly.
These concussions can threaten catchers’ careers. Guys like Joe Mauer had to leave catching behind due to those injuries. However, Mauer still hit enough to have value elsewhere on the field. That has not been the case for Ruiz.
Between the injuries and the on field struggles, the Nats are in a tricky spot this offseason. At this point, Ruiz should not be your starting catcher, but you are financially committed to him. There are no elite catchers in free agency, but the Nats should pick up a veteran to start behind the plate. Guys like Danny Jansen, Victor Caratini and JT Realmuto would all be upgrades.
You also need to consider the option of DFA’ing Ruiz and letting him try to find his game in AAA. Ruiz is out of options, so you would need to DFA him if you were to send him down. However, this would not be an unprecedented situation. We have seen guys whose extensions did not work out finish those contracts in the minors. Players like Scott Kingery, Evan White and Rusney Castillo are examples of this.
It may not be time to do that with Ruiz yet, but we are getting there. In each of his three years during the extension, Ruiz has put up negative fWAR. I hate that it has gotten to this point, but it is time for some uncomfortable conversations.
Paul Toboni does not have the kind of attachment to Ruiz that Mike Rizzo did, so it is easier to move on. Before, it was tough to move on from a guy who was the centerpiece of a blockbuster trade that you also gave $50 million to. Now the people that made those decisions are gone and new leadership has a fresh slate.
Ruiz’s contract runs until 2030, and at this rate it does not look like he will be in the MLB for that whole contract. Keibert Ruiz seems like a great guy. The moment where his parents got to see him play was very heartwarming. All the coaches and his teammates seem to really respect him.
At the end of the day though, this is a results based business, and he has not been getting results. Frankly, if he did not have that contract he would probably be a non-tender candidate. However, that contract might give him one more chance to prove himself. After 2025, the Nats are in a rough spot with Keibert Ruiz, a guy they placed so much faith in.
