Washington Nationals news & notes: Keibert Ruiz still building; GM Mike Rizzo on 1-0 every day; + more…

Notes and quotes after an off-day yesterday … so it’s sort of a hodgepodge of leftovers…

KEIBERT RUIZ STILL BUILDING:

Going into the second of two with the Baltimore Orioles in D.C. on Wednesday, Keibert Ruiz was 3 for 40 (.075/.119/.150) with one home run, a walk, and six Ks in 10 games and 42 plate appearances since he returned from a prolonged IL stint.

Ruiz, 25, dealt with a rough bout of influenza, and, as he told reporters, eventually lost 18-20 lbs. over the course of the illness, but after two rehab games he returned to the majors.

“He played two games and it’s good to have him back,” Davey Martinez said on the day Ruiz returned.

“He’s back around the boys. I saw him earlier today, he’s excited to be back.”

Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images

“We’ll keep an eye on him,” the manager added. “He was pretty sick, and like I said, he lost a lot of weight, so we’ll keep an eye on him.”

Ten games later, Wednesday afternoon, Martinez talked about Ruiz’s struggles at the plate since coming off the IL, and why he decided continuing to send the catcher out there was the best plan to get him back where they want him.

“When you get sick like that and miss 15 days, your timing is going to be off,” the manager explained. “And like I said, he lost a lot of weight. He’s really working his way back. The only way he’s going to get his timing is by going out there and playing. He’s got to play. So, the one thing that’s good about it — he wants to contribute, but he’s taking it about as best as you could take it. He wants to really do well, but he knows where we’re at. And we’ve had conversations with him, ‘Hey, it’s going to come. Don’t force it. Just get yourself ready. Get your timing ready.’ But he’s doing a better job catching, which is great, but we just have to take some time to get him going.”

The good news, Ruiz is healthy and still working his way back to full strength.

Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images

“He’s doing fine in that respect,” Martinez said.

“I ask him every day, and he says his body feels good. He’s going to get there. Yesterday he hit a ball hard. It’s just going to take him a little time to get his timing right.”

Meanwhile, as Martinez said, Ruiz is doing well defensively.

“He’s doing well. He’s still blocking balls, calling a good game, as we can see. So he’s definitely doing well.

“Like I said, I know for him it’s a little frustrating, because he wanted to get off to a good start.

“But when you’re that sick, and you miss that much time, it’s going to take him a minute.”

Ruiz singled in each of his first two PAs on Wednesday, going 2 for 5 overall in the extra-innings loss to the Orioles in Nationals Park.

1-0 EVERY DAY = WAY OF LIFE:

With Tuesday’s win, Washington briefly went over .500 (18-17; now 18-18 after the loss on Wednesday night), but for one brief, shining moment, for the first time since July of 2021, the Nationals went over .500.

Did Davey Martinez have any thoughts about the club finally going even a game over?

“We did?” he asked. “I didn’t even know. I go one game at a time, buddy. I don’t look at the record. I just worry about going 1-0, I really do. It’s nice though. It’s nice.

“Look, we’re playing well. We got a long way to go, so we’ve got to keep playing the way we’re playing. We’re pitching really well. We’re playing good defense. The baserunning’s good. And we’re starting to hit the ball.”

But seriously: Did he really not know the club went over .500? The “first time since ‘21 part” might have been more of a fun sort of media-driven narrative, but surely he was aware of the team’s record … right?

GM and President of Baseball ops in D.C. Mike Rizzo was asked that question in his weekly visit with Audacy’s Sports Junkies on 106.7 the FAN on Wednesday morning.

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

“I think that he probably knows the vicinity of where we’re at,” Rizzo said.

“I don’t know standings and stuff like that at this time of the year, it’s kind of meaningless, but I think the focus is on preparing to play a good game tonight and to go 1-0.

“I believe that. When I look back I knew we were at .500 and then above .500 because it feels good to be there.”

“It’s always good to play productive, clean baseball like last night,” he added. “The record is the record, but it’s always good to beat a good team, to compete against the best, and it was a fun game last night, and I think it will be another good one tonight.”

He was right about that, though the Nats lost the game and fell back to .500.

MORE FROM RIZZO ON THE SPORTS JUNKIES:

ALSO THIS:

QUICK MITCHELL PARKER BIT:

With the late-game theatrics on a long night on Wednesday in the nation’s capital, Mitchell Parker’s start against the O’s got a bit lost in the shuffle, with the left-hander giving up two runs, on two solo home runs, in a 73-pitch, 55-strike start in what ended up a 7-6 loss.

The homers were the first two Parker allowed in the majors, after he kept the ball in the yard in his first four starts, but he said he wasn’t too surprised to see a couple clear the fence.

“These guys are known to hit the ball out of the ballpark, you know, but I thought he pitched really well, I really did,” Martinez told reporters.

“Again, what was it, 5 ²⁄₃, 77 pitches, that’s a pretty good outing.”

Parker threw fewer curveballs than he did in previous starts (12%; vs. an average of 26.8% so far in his big league outings), and he leaned on his slider a bit more (16%; up from 5.8%). He didn’t have a feel for his slider his manger said, so he went with what he had working.

“Yeah, he didn’t really have the command of the curveball, so he went to his slider a little bit more. He got a couple strikeouts with it, he left a couple out over the plate, those two home runs were not meant to be there, but he felt more comfortable throwing his slider today.”

Through five starts, the 2020 5th Round pick now has a 2.67 ERA, a 3.05 FIP, 1.67 BB/9, 7.33 K/9, and a .240/.271/.340 line against in 27 IP.

Before he made his fifth start on Wednesday night, GM Mike Rizzo talked with 106.7 the FAN in D.C.’s Sports Junkies on Wednesday morning about what Parker has done since he got to the majors.

“Parker has been — he’s been an interesting test case for us,” Rizzo explained. “We’ve done a lot of development work with him. When we drafted him this guy was just a hard-throwing guy from junior college, striking out 16 per nine in junior college and walking eight per nine or something like that*, and he really refined his delivery, calmed it down, and he’s throwing way more strikes now.

“He’s got a really good breaking pitch along with a 92-94 MPH fastball, and what [Minor League Pitching Coordinator] Sammy Naron, and [Pitching Coach Jim] Hickey, and our pitching people have done with him is they really refined and developed his third pitch which is a changeup or a split, whatever grip he uses, but it’s a really useable nasty pitch. And again, with our pitchers, when they pound the strike zone and they’re aggressive with the hitters and they mix and match their pitches within the strike zone, he’s got a good chance to win.”

[ed. note – “To be fair to Parker, and acknowledging Rizzo was speaking extemporaneously about stats from Parker’s JUCO days, the southpaw did strike out 15.52 per 9 in 2019 at San Jacinto, and 18.98 K/9 in 2020), but he only walked 6.30 per 9 in ‘19, and 5.34 BB/9 in ‘20, for an average of 5.99 BB/9, slightly less than “eight per nine” … and so far in the majors, it has been 1.67 BB/9).”]