Los Angeles Dodgers Acquire Speedster From A's
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are set to acquire Esteury Ruiz from the Athletics, according to Alden González of ESPN. The A's will receive right-hander Carlos Duran from the Dodgers.
The nomadic Athletics designated Ruiz for assignment on Sunday, clearing his roster spot for left-handed reliever Angel Perdomo, whom they had claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels.
Ruiz was the key piece returning to the A's in the three-team Sean Murphy trade with the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers, and was the last piece of that deal that was still with the organization just over two years later. Freddy Tarnok, Royber Salinas, Manny Piña, and Kyle Muller have all departed at various points in that span.
The speedy Ruiz set the AL rookie record for stolen bases with 67 in 2023, but the A's wanted him to work on getting on base at a higher clip and tapping into his power a bit more, so he spent some time in the minors in 2024, along with 29 games in Oakland before a wrist injury ended his season in late May.
Duran is a 23-year-old with a solid fastball and slider combo, but iffy command. In other words, a very familiar return for the A's, who have been targeting pitchers with great stuff and less of an idea of where the ball is going in recent years.
He is also 6-foot-7, which ticks another box the A's have had in recent seasons: tall pitchers. In his first start in Triple-A this season, he went 4.1 innings, giving up three hits and one earned run while walking four and striking out eight.
Here’s newly-acquired Carlos Duran in his 2025 debut at Triple-A over the weekend. Mid-90’s sinker and a slider that pairs nicely.
— Uprooted (@uprootedoakland) April 2, 2025
His final line on Friday: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 8 K, 4 BB #Athletics pic.twitter.com/9cI1n6Lz5b
Since Duran is taking Ruiz's place in the A's organization, there is no need to bring him up to the big leagues immediately since he's not on the 40-man roster. With the A's rotation looking a little more shaky at home these past two games, targeting guys with high strikeout rates, like Duran, could be how the A's are assessing how their new home will play.
The idea being that they'll just limit contact altogether just to be safe. Last season he struck out 29.4% of the batters he faced, primarily in Double-A, while getting a brief stint with Oklahoma City. It also doesn't hurt that he held a 42.5% ground ball rate last year across 19 starts. Ground balls and strikeouts don't figure to go over many walls, regardless of how the park plays.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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