Largest Bright Spot for Nationals Might Come as a Surprise

Will the Washington Nationals continue to receive excellent production from their catcher?

Apr 1, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Washington Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz (20) hits a single against the Toronto Blue Jays during the sixth inning at Rogers Centre. | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

It hasn’t been an ideal start to the year for the Washington Nationals, but there have been some positives for the franchise. 

Coming into the season, the Nationals had expectations of being better than in years past. For the last two campaigns, Washington has won 71 games each season, as the rebuild has felt like a long one. 

This winter didn’t provide a massive splash for the franchise, but multiple veterans were added to help improve the team. Being mindful of not spending long-term appeared to be the goal this offseason, but at the same time the team wanted to put more talent on the field.

However, while adding some veterans was important, the young core of the Nationals is what this franchise is built on. 

Unfortunately, a good chunk of that young core is off to a very slow start, which has contributed to the poor results in the win column. 

Despite the slow start, there is plenty of time to turn things around for Washington. While the beginning of the year hasn’t been ideal, some bright spots should provide encouragement for what’s to come. 

Jessica Camerato of MLB.com recently spoke about the biggest takeaway from the first week of the season for the Nationals being the bounce back from catcher Keibert Ruiz. 

“Ruiz concluded last season with a .229 batting average, .619 OPS and 13 home runs in 127 games. Ruiz, who signed an eight-year contract in 2023, reported to Spring Training determined to have a bounce back performance.”

Even though the offense as a whole has disappointed for Washington, especially some of their young talent, the early production for Ruiz has been great. 

The talented young catcher was signed to a long-term extension back in 2023, with the Nationals clearly believing that he was going to be a building block for the franchise. However, his performance in 2024 raised a lot of concerns. 

Last year, he slashed .229/.260/.359 with 13 home runs and 57 RBI. This was a significant drop-off compared to 2023, when he slashed .260/.308/.409 with 18 home runs and 67 RBI. 

There is certainly a lot of potential, and the slugger has the ability to be the long-term answer at catcher. 

Ruiz is just 26 years old, and while he is coming off a down campaign, early results are promising that it may have been an outlier of a year. 

Having a catcher that could be an All-Star caliber player is a luxury in the league, and Ruiz is playing one of the hardest positions on the field. 

Hopefully, the hot start for the slugger can continue and once the rest of the young core gets going, the lineup might be able to live up to its potential.