Ruiz sticks with process, glad to finally see results

SEATTLE – Throughout an often frustrating season at the plate, Nationals coaches have needed to remind Keibert Ruiz that his process has been good, even if the results didn’t suggest it. He was hitting the ball well, just not getting hits.

At some point, though, talk is cheap. Doesn’t a hitter need to actually see positive results to justify the process?

“Yes,” Ruiz said with a wide smile when asked that question Wednesday afternoon. “I need to see a lot of results. Everybody wants to get results.”

Then the Nationals catcher got serious again and finished his answer with the standard company line.

“But I’ve got to control what I can control: Having good at-bats, and that’s it,” he said.

This tug of war has been going on inside Ruiz’s mind for the better part of the season. Traditional stats suggest he’s not having a good year. He’s batting .236 with nine homers, 30 RBIs, a .293 on-base percentage, .382 slugging percentage and .675 OPS. Nothing to get excited about there.

Dig a little deeper, though, and the underlying peripheral numbers suggest he should be enjoying way more success than that.

Ruiz’s batting average on balls in play is a paltry .221, fourth-worst among all qualifying major league hitters. And the three guys behind him (Kyle Schwarber, Pete Alonso, Max Muncy) all strike out more than 20 percent of the time, compared to Ruiz’s miniscule 7.7 percent strikeout rate.

According to Statcast, Ruiz’s expected batting average this season is a healthy .286, his expected slugging percentage a strong .477. Both of those numbers rank in the top 20 percent of all major league hitters. His line drive rate is better than league average. So is his “barrel” percentage, which refers to the amount of time he makes ideal contact on a pitch.

So, what gives? Ruiz is hitting the ball hard on a somewhat regular basis, but those hard hits more often than not are still turning into outs. To wit: Fifteen times this month, he’s hit a ball with an exit velocity of at least 100 mph. Only seven of those balls have been hits, the other eight outs.

“He’s been swinging the bat really well,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s been lining out, hitting the ball hard. We have to keep him grounded, tell him those things are going to happen. Keep swinging the bat. And today, he knocked in some big runs for us.”

Indeed, Ruiz finally saw the fruits of his labor pay off the last few days against the Mariners.

He launched a clutch, game-tying homer in the eighth inning of Tuesday night’s eventual 11-inning win. (Though he only hit that ball 92 mph, far lower than 101 mph laser he hit four innings earlier that was of course caught by the right fielder.)

Then in Wednesday’s series finale, Ruiz put three balls in play. Each had an exit velocity of at least 101 mph. Two of them landed for singles, including a two-run knock in the top of the first. The other, naturally, was caught by the left fielder for yet another loud out.

“I feel like I’m seeing the ball better than a couple days before,” he said. “I hope I continue to do the job for the team.”

But is it tough to remind yourself of that? Tough to convince yourself to stick with the process, even when you’re batting .236 despite a whole lot of loud contact?

“It never gets easy,” Ruiz said with a smile. “I’ve just got to tell myself to breathe and don’t put my head down, keep working hard and get better every day.”