Ruiz growing behind the plate in guiding young pitching staff

NEW YORK – The Nationals have always built their roster around strong starting pitching.

They’ve shown that in the past with rotations headlined by Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. And they’re showing it now by acquiring two young starting pitchers in the blockbuster trades they’ve made in each of the last two summers: Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore.

This week’s series in New York showed the potential in what Gray and Gore can bring as frontline starters: the right-hander pitched six shutout innings with nine strikeouts on Tuesday and the left-hander pitched six innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts on Wednesday.

But behind every great pitching performance is also an often overlooked great catching performance. And the Nationals have committed to that position for the long-term as well.

Keibert Ruiz, included with Gray in the 2021 trade with the Dodgers for Scherzer and Trea Turner, signed an eight-year, $50 million extension during spring training, an agreement that can reach 10 years and $76 million if both club options are selected.

By signing Ruiz for the long-term, not only did the Nats convince their first young player to sign an extension in more than a decade, they also committed to the catcher position for the next decade. And the early returns have been good for all parties.

Ruiz’s offensive capabilities were never in question. The Nationals always figured his production at the plate was going to come. (He’s slashing ​​.364/.404/.477 with a .881 OPS over his last 11 games.) It’s his progress behind the plate that has really stood out, especially this week while guiding both Gray and Gore’s gems.

“Loved it, loved it. I loved it, I watched and I loved his business,” manager Davey Martinez said of how Ruiz called Tuesday’s game. “I mean, he's really starting to become that guy back there. And I think the pitchers are really getting started trusting him a little bit with the fingers. But man, I love what he's doing right now. He's taking charge back there. And that's something that myself and (catching and strategy coach Henry Blanco) talked to him about: You gotta feel like you're the captain back there. You gotta take control sometimes. And he's done a good job with that.”

“It's really good,” Ruiz said of his chemistry with the pitchers. “I think all of these five starters are great. They got really good stuff and they prepare to compete every time they go to pitch on the mound.”

Ruiz’s work behind the dish has been improving since last year, when he threw out 22 baserunners, second-most among all major league catchers.

Now his game calling is improving and he’s taking more of a leadership role as the catcher, despite his seemingly quiet personality.

“He's not loud. He's very, very soft spoken,” Martinez said. “But he has intention when he talks. And when he feels like he needs to speak, he will. And like I said, he's made some visits and I'm trying to kind of stay out of that whole thing. I want him to learn when to do it, when not to. Sometimes we have to tell him to go out. But he's made some visits on his own that I thought was absolutely perfect. That's a great sign.”

The pitchers are recognizing their evolving relationships with their backstop, too, which has led to early season success for Gray and Gore.

“Anytime we connect, it's a lot of fun for us to go out there and have success,” Gray said after Tuesday’s start. “And for us to be forever linked together is cool. It's a good feeling, I guess you can say. So for us to both have success today is a lot of fun. And I'm looking forward to the next one.”

“It just makes it easier when we're on the same page,” Ruiz said of Gray. “It makes it faster, too. We just got to be like that all the time. Make the adjustment when we don't feel like we're on the same page. I learned from him, he learned from me.

“I've been with him three or four years. We're feeling better this year like we're on the same page.”

Even Gore, who hasn’t worked with Ruiz for that long, is quickly getting in sync with him.

“He's been great all year,” the southpaw said. “I shook him off once and we gave up a run, so yeah, he's been awesome.

“We communicate in between innings. That's really all it comes down to. If you communicate with each other, you're gonna be on the same page.”

Pitchers shaking off Ruiz has become less and less frequent. The hurlers trust the pitches he calls so much that the few times they have disagreed, they sometimes just go back to the original call.

“Honestly, we were on the same page,” Gray said. “I don't think I shook him off much today. I think even in the first to (Brandon) Nimmo there to start off the game, I think he wanted a cutter and I shut him off. And I was like, you know what, let me go to the cutter and then we got the strikeout. So then pretty much from there, I think we were on the same page in terms of early-count fastballs, late-count fastballs, late-count breaking balls. It was just we were in sync today, and to do it against a lineup like that is a lot of fun and it kind of gives you that support and that confidence for next time.”

Being on the same page doesn’t just happen on game day. It’s a process that takes place during game planning throughout the five days leading up to each start, making what Ruiz is doing with his workload even more impressive.

“This all starts in between the starts, right?” said Martinez. “They work together, they communicate with each other in between starts. Before the game, they have a game plan going in. So (Wednesday) was an unbelievable game plan, and that's a testament to, like I said, the communication that (Ruiz and Gore) have before they even step out there. And catching him a few times and knowing what they want to do, Keibert understood that, hey, he had to throw his fastball and throw it for strikes. I didn't see much movement from Keibert. He pretty much sat on the white of plate, which was awesome. Like I said, he did a great job.”

It’s also great that the 24-year-old is showing this much progress already. Progress that he and the Nationals hope results in an All-Star-caliber catcher for at least the next eight-plus years.

“It's really fun,” Ruiz said of the success he and his pitchers had this week. “Especially with that team, the Mets, they are a really good team. We got good hits and got the win. Just grateful that we got this opportunity.”