With strong finish, Ruiz showed he's ready to be No. 1 catcher

PLAYER REVIEW: KEIBERT RUIZ

Age on opening day 2022: 23

How acquired: Traded with Josiah Gray, Gerardo Carrillo and Donovan Casey from Dodgers for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, July 2021

MLB service time: 64 days

2021 salary: $570,500

Contract status: Under team control, arbitration-eligible in 2025, free agent in 2028

2021 stats (LA/WSH): 29 G, 96 PA, 88 AB, 10 R, 24 H, 3 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 0 SB, 0 CS, 6 BB, 9 SO, .273 AVG, .333 OBP, .409 SLG, .742 OPS, 104 OPS+, 1 DRS, 0.3 fWAR, 0.5 bWAR

Quotable: "Ruiz has shown me things that I didn't see when we scouted him. His attention to detail in the clubhouse. The pitchers' meetings that he has. The way he really cares about calling a game has been refreshing. ... That's really impressed me about him." - general manager Mike Rizzo

2021 analysis: Nobody disputes the identity of the best prospect the Nationals got at the trade deadline. Keibert Ruiz was the Dodgers' top-rated prospect, a two-way catcher with a little bit of big league experience already under his belt. The Nats believe they would not have been able to acquire him (or Gray, for that matter) for Scherzer alone, that Turner's inclusion in the deal was necessary. So there was understandably a lot of pressure on Ruiz to prove he was worth the extraordinary price.

It helped when he posted big numbers at Triple-A in the immediate aftermath of the trade. In 20 games with Rochester, he hit .308/.365/.577 and enjoyed back-to-back two-homer nights. So it made all the sense in the world for the Nationals to call him up at the end of August and see how he performed at the big league level over the season's final month.

The initial returns admittedly were underwhelming: Ruiz had just three hits in his first 28 at-bats, none of them for extra bases. But his contact skills were immediately on display, and it felt like only a matter of time before the hits started falling in. Sure enough, they did. Over his final 15 games, Ruiz hit .377/.441/.547 with five extra-base hits, 13 RBIs and only one strikeout.

Behind the plate, Ruiz at times looked like a rookie. He threw out only two of 11 basestealers and allowed nine wild pitches in only 177 innings. And he called more than a few pitches that wound up in the bleachers at the most inopportune moments. Of course, he was learning an entire pitching staff on the fly, many of them just as inexperienced as him. Any criticism must take that into consideration.

2022 outlook: If the last month of this season was about deciding if Ruiz is ready to be the starting catcher heading into next season, the Nationals got a clear answer. He absolutely is ready. Barring a health situation, he'll be behind the plate on opening day and a majority of the days that follow.

For Ruiz to prove he deserves the job the entire season and can live up to the hype, he'll need to duplicate what he did well in September. That means a continuation of his elite contact skills. A display of some power. And the continued improvement of his work behind the plate as he gains more experience.

How does Ruiz take the next step and become not just a big league catcher but a top one? He probably needs to start drawing a few more walks. The ability to put the bat on the ball is a rare one, but he has to be careful not to expand the zone just because he can make contact with bad pitches. He needs to show he can drive the ball to the opposite field, not just to the pull side. And he needs to develop into a top-notch game-caller, a catcher who takes charge of a game and isn't afraid to tell a pitcher what needs to be done (instead of the other way around).

By all accounts, Ruiz has those abilities in him. He just needs some time to let it all come out. The Nationals shouldn't have any trouble providing him the opportunity in 2022.