Stop me if you've heard this one before: the Washington Nationals (still) have the worst catching situation in baseball. A new article in Fangraphs by Davy Andrews details just how historically awful the Nationals' catching duo of Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams have been this season.
Before we dive into the details, it's important to understand how the Nationals' catching has gotten into such an awful state to begin with. At the 2021 trade deadline, the Nationals traded away Yan Gomes to the Athletics, acquired Keibert Ruiz from the Dodgers in the Scherzer trade, and got Riley Adams from the Blue Jays in return for Brad Hand.
At the time of the trade, Ruiz was seen as a future franchise catcher and building block for what was becoming a rebuilding team. Fast forward to the end of 2022 and Ruiz looked as if he could truly become a franchise catcher, or at the very least a solid everyday backstop. In 2022, he had a 92 wRC+ (12th among catchers with min. 300 PAs in 2022) and recorded 1.5 fWAR (also 12th among catchers) while also playing decent defense. All of this pointed to a breakout year in 2023 and clearly the Nationals thought the same thing, as they signed Ruiz to an 8yr/$50m extension prior to the 2023 season. Instead, Ruiz didn't improve at the plate and became the worst defensive catcher in baseball, leading to a -0.5 fWAR in 2023. 2024 was much worse offensively, but his defense was only somewhat bad, so he "improved" to a -0.3 fWAR. Now here we are in 2025, where somehow, some way, Keibert Ruiz found a way to get even worse.
Ruiz has undoubtedly become the worst catcher in baseball by a decent margin. In 66 games this season, he has a 66 wRC+ with just two home runs on the season (he has not hit one since the second game of the year), and a -0.9 fWAR. He can't hit for any power, his plate discipline is pathetic, and his defense is laughable. As if the Nationals catching situation couldn't get any worse, Riley Adams has been nearly as bad (-0.7 fWAR and a 2 wRC+ in 24 games).
Insane https://t.co/PpisARFPyt pic.twitter.com/Jixw5LRtpl
— SUMMER SHACK (@WeAreAllShack) June 20, 2025
It's pretty clear that the Nationals are in a disastrous situation at catcher, but the severity of the situation needs to be emphasized. The 2025 Nationals are on pace to be the WORST catching team of all time based on combined fWAR of catchers. They are currently at -1.7 catching fWAR, which would rank 14th worst all time (keep in mind, they have played just 81 games).
"Nationals backstops have put up -1.7 WAR this season, a full 1.5 worse than the Angels in 29th place... . Washington’s catchers rank 29th in wRC+ and 30th in baserunning and overall offense. They rank 28th in catcher ERA. According to Statcast, they rank 30th in blocking, 30th in framing, and – hey, look at that! – 13th in caught stealing above average. So it’s not all bad."Davy Andrews
They are at or near the bottom in nearly every statistic among catchers and there is no improvement in sight. So if the situation is so bad, why won't the Nationals do anything to address it? Any normal or competent franchise would have cut ties with Ruiz and Adams by this point, but the Nationals are neither normal nor competent. At this point, the likeliest reasoning behind sticking with Ruiz and Adams is Mike Rizzo's massive ego. There is no way that he is going to cut ties with Ruiz, as that would be admitting that the Scherzer trade was horrendous (it was). Similarly, getting rid of Adams would be admitting that Adams sucks and that Rizzo wasn't some genius for the Brad Hand trade.
There is no easy solution to the catching disaster. Even if the Nationals moved on from Ruiz and Adams, the organization has little-to-no catching depth. After Drew Millas, who was just brought back up to the big leagues, there is absolutely nothing. There are some intriguing free agent possibilities this offseason, most notably Victor Caratini and Austin Hedges, but even then, they aren't long-term solutions and there's no guarantee that Mark Lerner will want to spend any money. The Nationals need to find a solution to their catching problem and soon. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen.