Heading into the offseason, Nats fans knew that one of the biggest needs on the team was behind the plate. Paul Toboni knew too, with the Jose A Ferrer for Harry Ford trade being his first major move. However, Ford did not make the team and is struggling in AAA. Meanwhile, neither Keibert Ruiz nor Drew Millas are hitting their weight in the big leagues.
The only positive development we have seen behind the plate is the fact that Keibert Ruiz has become competent defensively. That is actually a big win for the organization, and something I thought was impossible. With the help of Bobby Wilson, Ruiz now has a +2 fielding run value.
The big problem for Ruiz this year has been the bat. Outside of a monster game against the Twins, the bat has shown no signs of life. He is hitting .205 with a .224 on base percentage. The crazy part is that Ruiz is pretty easily the best option behind the plate right now.
Ruiz has been in a 50/50 timeshare with Drew Millas this year. While Ruiz has been far from great, he has been better than Millas and deserves more playing time. It just feels like Millas makes at least one massive mistake in every game he plays. Yesterday it was his awful challenge. Millas challenged a pitch 3 inches off the zone, wasting the Nats last challenge. Later in that at bat, there was a pitch in the zone that was called a ball, but Millas could not challenge.
Millas has been a complete liability on both sides of the ball this season. In his brief call ups in the past, Millas showed promise on both sides, but has been exposed as a regular big leaguer. His plate discipline and blocking have completely cratered this season. As we saw yesterday, his baseball IQ is also shaky.
This would be a perfect time for the Nats to call up Harry Ford if he were performing. However, Ford has had a disastrous start to the season. After having a good season in AAA last year, the 23 year old catcher looks to have regressed a lot. He is hitting just .192 with a .572 OPS, and that number has risen a lot lately.
His strikeout rate is up nearly 10% and he is not hitting the ball as hard. It has been a real disaster for a guy who was supposed to come in and be the catcher of the present and future. The only thing that has remained a constant is his ability to draw walks and not chase. He needs his hit and power tools to get closer to big league average though.
If you want to be optimistic about Ford, he has been better in May. He has gotten on base in his last six games, and hit his first home run of the season the other day. Ford has a .778 OPS in the month of May, but that number has mainly been driven by walks.
It has been a brutal start, but with the way Millas is playing, Ford should only be a couple more good series away from a call up. Eventually we need to see what Ford has to offer. The Nats traded a good reliever for him, so we want to see a return on investment.
However, with the way Ford has started the season, it would be irresponsible to call him the nailed on catcher of the future. Scouts already had some questions about him before the season, and those concerns have only grown now. Besides his plate discipline, Ford does not have a standout trait. Hopefully his numbers last year were not just a product of the hitter friendly PCL.
If the Nats wanted to spend some money on a catcher, this offseason could be a good time to do it. I was really impressed with what I saw from Ryan Jeffers of the Twins when they were in town. Jeffers has been a solid starting catcher for a number of years, but is having a career year this season. He is also just 28 years old. Carson Kelly and Tyler Stephenson are also going to be on the market.
While the Nats are already paying Keibert Ruiz, we all know he is not the catcher of the future. With his improved defense, he could stick around the roster as a backup, but his bat has not been there for three seasons now.
Another catcher on the Nats books with big league experience is Riley Adams. He had been the backup the past few seasons, but the new regime picked Drew Millas over him. I think Adams is better, but he has not played since April 26th, so he must be dealing with an injury.
When the Nats picked up Harry Ford, I hoped that would be the answer to their catching woes. The early returns on that have not been positive. It is also clear that neither Keibert Ruiz or Drew Millas are the guy going forward. Beyond that, there is not a whole lot to love. Caleb Lomavita is tracking like a backup catcher, and Sir Jamison Jones has had moments, but remains a massive project.
Paul Toboni and the Nats are going to have to keep taking dart throws at catchers until they find an answer. Hopefully we can find one soon because I miss having a good catcher on this roster.
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