When the A's traded Sean Murphy last off-season, Esteury Ruiz was the centerpiece of the deal. Heading into last season, A's fans knew that he was a speedy runner with potential.
Ruiz put up a pretty good rookie campaign, setting the AL rookie record for stolen bases with 67, and even finding his power stroke a little bit in the final month, hitting three homers in an 18 game stretch in September. He finished the year with five bombs total, but he was focusing more on driving the ball in that final month. He finished September with a 130 wRC+, making it his best month at the dish. Ruiz also held a 97 wRC+ in the second half of the season, which is just below league average (100).
The 24-year-old finished the season with an 86 wRC+, hit .254 with a .309 OBP, and had a pretty solid 19.9% strikeout rate. He also hit .365 with runners in scoring position, and there was a point early on in the season where he was just absolutely automatic with a runner on second and/or third.
While Ruiz just missed the cut of being a "qualified" batter, but his average with RISP would have been top-5 in baseball last season, and third in 2021 and 2022. If he can keep that up heading into 2024, then that can be how he makes a huge impact on the field. Well, that and stealing bases.
So what do the projections say about Ruiz heading into next season?
Well, it depends on how you want to look at things. They have him pegged for 49 stolen bases next year, which is a bit of a downgrade, and his average slips from .254 to .248, but his walk rate goes up by 2.5% which leads to a bump in his OBP, landing him at a .314.
They also have him finishing with a higher wRC+ that he had last season at 95, which is roughly in line with what he put up in the second half of last season.
Finally, they also have him swatting a few more big flies, finishing up with nine on the season. This will be his age 25 season, and if he makes the climb to nine homers in '24, and then 13 or so the following year, he could be a 15 homer threat in a few years, which would make him a very dangerous man to face.
If you let him on base, he could steal second and maybe even third. If you throw him a cookie, he can swat it out. If he keeps on progressing, he's going to become a big part of how opposing teams game plan for the A's moving forward.
Next season will be about continuing to develop both offensively and defensively for Ruiz, but this is a nice trajectory that he's on.
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