Ruiz kicks off critical season with stellar Opening Day

If the Nationals had to pick only one player off the roster who most needs to get his season off to a positive start, Keibert Ruiz would reside at the top of almost every list.

After a miserable 2024 season, the young catcher knows he must be better in 2025. And the road to better starts with a good opening month, giving him a chance to set the bar from the outset and not feel like he’s facing an uphill climb right away like he did a year ago.

So consider what Ruiz did Thursday during the Nats’ Opening Day loss to the Phillies a critical first step in the right direction.

“It’s awesome,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He works so hard, over the winter, during spring. He really wants to get off to a good start. My big thing with him is not to put that much pressure on him. Just go out there and play. He did the work. Now just go out there and have fun and play the game. He did that today.”

Ruiz opened his Opening Day by throwing out his first baserunner of the season. Maybe Kyle Schwarber isn’t the biggest threat to steal a base, but when the big Philadelphia designated hitter decided to try to swipe second in the top of the second, Ruiz was ready and fired a strike to nab him.

“Everything was good,” Martinez said of his 26-year-old catcher, who threw out only 19.8 percent of basestealers last season. “His footwork was good. He went toward his target. The ball came out really good. His pop time was awesome. We’ve got to keep him right there.”

Ruiz also worked in harmony with MacKenzie Gore, helping guide the first-time Opening Day starter to a dominant performance that included 13 strikeouts, zero walks and zero runs allowed in six innings.

“It’s really nice to see good things happen,” Gore said. “You can be as confident as you want, but when things do happen well, it builds a lot. So him throwing out a guy, I’m sure he heard about it a lot in his career. It’s a great way to start the season. Obviously, hitting the homer was great. And he was dialed in behind the plate.”

Oh yeah, the homer. The highlight of Ruiz’s day, and maybe the highlight of the entire day.

Batting against Zack Wheeler in the bottom of the fifth, the game still scoreless at the time, Ruiz battled and battled and battled. He fouled off seven consecutive pitches at one point, six of them in the strike zone. And then on the 12th pitch of the epic at-bat, he launched an inside fastball into the right field bullpen, giving the Nationals a 1-0 lead and giving the sellout crowd on South Capitol Street reason to rejoice.

“As we all know, he typically can put those balls in play,” Martinez said of the free-swinging catcher. “But facing Wheeler, to do that, is amazing as it is. But to do it like that? What an incredible at-bat.”

Ruiz showed emotion himself after making contact, looking toward the home dugout and letting out a roar as he began his home run trot.

“It was a long at-bat,” he said. “I was competing. And then I won, and I was happy about that.”

Why wouldn’t Ruiz be happy in that moment? It represented the culmination of a winter spent diligently working on all facets of his game and getting his body into better shape.

He’s an admitted worrier, and nothing worries him more than a sluggish start to his season. Well, when he arrives back at the ballpark Saturday for Game 2 of 162, he’ll find himself the proud owner of a .500 batting average, a 1.750 OPS and a perfect 100 percent caught stealing rate.

Imagine what that could do for Ruiz’s confidence.

“Keibert, another kid as we talked about that matured a lot,” Martinez said. “Handled himself well. Threw that guy out. Big home run. I thought he handled himself really well behind the plate. That’s awesome to see.”