Entering the 2026 season, the Nationals had four main options to fill two roster spots with catchers. Chief among those was Keibert Ruiz, who hadn't been so much as replacement level on the field since 2022 but had been extended through 2030 by a prior administration. There was Drew Millas, who had been promising as a prospect when he finally graduated in 2024 but had yet to record more than 70 plate appearances in any season at the big-league level.
Harry Ford was a consensus top 100 prospect acquired from Seattle in the offseason, where he was blocked by Cal Raleigh, in exchange for a high-leverage relief arm in Jose A. Ferrer. And the oft-maligned Riley Adams, whose prior presence on the big-league roster was, at least seemingly, fueled by injuries to the first two and a 44-game stint in 2023 where he posted a 116 wRC+.
Adams was outrighted off the roster in January, and Ford, between the World Baseball Classic and Spring Training, didn't look ready before being optioned at the end of camp. He managed just two hard-hit balls in 15 batted ball events across the WBC pool stage, then took pitch after pitch in spring training to record a 12th-percentile K rate. The team was left with Ruiz and Millas--for some, including myself, the ideal catching tandem.
That has gone disastrously so far. Barring the aberration that are Ruiz's strangely positive framing numbers (a number that could very easily settle back down as the season progresses--defensive metrics are volatile), the Nationals have gotten some of the least value out of their catchers across all of baseball.
There's Millas, first of all. I've been a personal defender of Drew Millas in the past, especially his defense. It's reflected rather poorly on me so far this year: even the eye test will tell you that he's allowed three passed balls in just 100 innings, and Statcast says he's in the 5th percentile of blocks above average. Even the worst qualified catcher in 2025 averaged just around one passed ball every 100 innings.
And just because Ruiz has been looked kindly upon by Statcast doesn't mean it's all sunshine and roses behind the dish for him, either--the Nationals are by far one of the worst teams in baseball at utilizing the new ABS challenge system. Only five teams have a success rate below 50% when challenging ball calls as fielders. Only two have succeeded below 45% of the time. Those two teams are the Boston Red Sox and the Washington Nationals. Ruiz's success rate is third-worst among all catchers in baseball when it comes to challenging ball calls.
At the plate, Ruiz and Millas are no better. They've combined for a 5th-worst in MLB 54 wRC+ at the position. Their .250 OBP is ahead of only Blue Jays and Guardians catchers. Millas in particular, who's running a .167/.250/.222 slash in 41 plate appearances, is a discouraging development given his production last year prior to injury. Ruiz has one of the worst Statcast expected batting averages in baseball at .182--and yes, he's still swinging at absolutely everything.
Are reinforcements coming? I'd love to tell you yes, but I'm afraid I'd be lying if I did. Harry Ford is continuing to not swing enough at Triple-A. He's running a 33rd percentile average exit velocity, and his overall swing rate is just 39.6%. It hasn't translated to particularly thrilling strikeout or walk rates; both remain rather pedestrian. I wouldn't place my bets on Riley Adams to come up and make any kind of impact, either, so it would appear this is what we've got for the foreseeable future.
The Nationals, since moving to DC in 2005, have gotten the third-lowest amount of fWAR from their catching position in all of the major leagues; only the Rockies and Marlins have produced less. They're fourth-worst in wRC+ since then, and since 2016, they're dead last in Statcast Fielding Run Value behind the plate with an MLB-worst -102 runs in framing value.
I wish I could take a more positive slant on this. I wish I could proclaim that things are going to turn around soon enough, but catchers are one spot it's unclear what the actual answer will be for this team going forward. For now, this is what we've got. Hopefully someone can put the pieces together.
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