Nationals agree to extension with catcher Ruiz

*Photo from Federal Baseball*

   Much like the present, the future is very important. The Washington Nationals and C Keibert Ruiz have agreed to an 8 year, $50 million contract extension, according to Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post. The Nationals have confirmed the deal.

   The contract will cover the last two pre-arbitration years, all 3 of Ruiz's arbitration eligible years, and his first 3 years of free agency eligibility. There are also team options for the 2031 and 2032 seasons that can make the deal 10 years. Ruiz will enter his second full season with the Nationals in 2023.

   Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said that "I think the best deals you could do are that both sides are a little uneasy about it, where there's a long-term deal on the table, the team has a little bit of risk there and the player has a little bit of risk that he's locked in for that many years. So I think that those are the best deals, when there's a little uneasiness on both sides, I think you've come to a good, fair deal and I think that's what we discussed here. We discussed different terms of a deal, and Keibert wanted the longest-term deal we discussed."

   The 2022 season was Ruiz's first full year in a Nationals uniform. He ended the season with a .251 batting average, .360 slugging percentage, and .673 OPS, hitting 7 home runs with 36 RBI's in 112 games for the Nationals.

   Ruiz debuted for the Nationals down the stretch in 2021 after the Max Scherzer and Trea Turner trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It only took just over a year for Ruiz to make a strong impression on the organization. His contract is the largest deal handed out by the Nationals since they re-signed Stephen Strasburg for 7 years and $245 million after the 2019 season.

   Asked about the extension, Rizzo said that "With a deal of this length and this type of money, it's more about the person that we sign more than the player. And we feel very confident that we've got ourselves a great person and a great player in Keibert."

   The 2022 has been Ruiz's only full season in the bigs, playing in two games in 2020 and 29 in 2021. In that time, he has a .255 batting average, .315 on base percentage, and .373 slugging percentage, bashing 11 home runs with 52 RBI's in 143 games of action between the Nationals and Dodgers since his debut.

   With his extension, Ruiz is now locked in as the catcher of the future for the now rebuilding Nationals, who have traded Scherzer, Turner, Josh Bell, and Juan Soto in the past two trade deadlines.