When was the last time Keibert Ruiz got a Gatorade bath? Photo by Marideth Sandler/TalkNats
Every player dreams of getting a Gatorade shower in a postgame celebration. The tradition is credited to the 1984 New York Giants and nose tackle Jim Burt who drenched his head coach after a key victory. Those moments rarely happen in sports. The unwritten rule is that you must single-handedly carry your team to a victory to earn the dousing. Yesterday, Keibert Ruiz did just that in a 7-5 win by the Washington Nationals.
In the offseason, catcher Harry Ford was acquired by the Nationals in a trade. It looked like Ruiz’s days were numbered with the team. But Ford struggled in Spring Training. Riley Adams was DFA’d and went to Triple-A Rochester. By default, Ruiz and catcher Drew Millas would become the two catchers to make the Nationals roster for Opening Day this year. Some say it wasn’t earned. Ruiz is still owed a lot of money by the team. This year he earns $5.375 million. In two years, he is guaranteed $9.375 million. His contract could expire after the 2030 season.
Since 2023 and through the 2025 season, Ruiz’s FanGraphs WAR has him cumulatively at a -1.8 WAR. On Wednesday, he was a -0.1 WAR for this season. After his 3-for-4 game with a home run and two doubles, three runs scored and four RBIs, Ruiz’s 2026 season moved to a +0.2 WAR. A big jump in the right direction. Can Thursday be a building block to a positive direction?
“I’ve been working really hard with the hitting coaches here, and they’ve been helping me a lot every single day. I’m grateful for them. To have those results — and help the team win, it feels good. I’ve got to keep getting better, keep working hard.”
— Ruiz said after the game
Just several days ago, a source told us that the Nats wanted to acquire catcher Jonah Heim who was DFA’d by the Braves. But Atlanta had a chance to move him out of the division and traded Heim to the Athletics. Maybe that lit a fire under Millas and Ruiz because Millas was the star of the game on Wednesday hitting a 2-run homer that proved to be the game-winning RBIs in that game.
In 2020 with the Dodgers, Ruiz swung outside the zone only 26.7 percent of the time. In 2024, that number increased to 38.2 percent. His bat speed is rated as poor by Statcast at only 66.8 mph which translates into his average exit velo at only 89.2 mph. Thursday was about making solid contact. His fantastic K rate of 15.9 percent would make you think his .214 batting average was unlucky, but the quality of his contact was rated as poor by Baseball Savant. Too many lazy flyouts, and too many routine groundballs. Thursday was about hard contact of 104.1 mph (double), 96.7 mph (double), and 97.8 mph (home run). Yesterday was progress for Ruiz. Was it a one-game outlier?
“[Ruiz] was just way more selective. He does a really good job of making contact. He doesn’t swing and miss a ton. His bat-to-ball skills are really good. So what we challenged him [to do] was, be very picky at the plate.”
— said manager Blake Butera
“He probably feels like he can cover everything, but we don’t want him to just put the ball in play. We want him to drive the ball like he did today. And sometimes that means maybe give it up a little bit on the edges to get a pitch in the middle of the zone that you can attack. I think he did a really good job of that tonight, just with the loud contact.”
The good news for Ruiz is that he has a guaranteed contract and a lot of cash headed his way in the future. Millas is a day-to-day guy. He would go back to Rochester Triple-A. Ruiz entered Thursday’s game batting .182, and didn’t have an RBI since April 19. Millas was batting .145 entering Wednesday’s game. In the first back-to-back home victories of the 2026 season, Millas and Ruiz combined to go 5-for-8 with three doubles, two homers, six RBIs and five runs.
“I told both of them, being able to hit, it’s just such an added bonus, but if we can get some offense from both [catchers], it just goes such a long way with the defense they’re providing behind the plate right now. Obviously, you see the help it gives us back-to-back days when they swing the bats like they did.”
— said manager Blake Butera
Now Millas didn’t earn a Gatorade bath because the Nats won that game 15-2, but again, he had the game-winning RBI with that homer that made the score 3-2 at the time. Both catchers have been improving defensively too. Maybe part of it is the ABS system, but credit to new catching coach Bobby Wilson. Early in Thursday’s game, Jacob Young caught a ball in center field as the runner from third tagged up to score, and on a perfect one-hop throw, Ruiz gloved the ball and applied the tag. That ended the inning and another Twins threat. The defense is improving.
Photo by Marideth Sandler/TalkNats
The question on everyone’s mind is whether or not the catching tandem has turned a corner? Can they be positive contributors? The season has 124 games remaining, and maybe more if some miracle happens and the Nationals make the postseason. The team is in sole possession of second place as of this morning.
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