Esteury Ruiz

Esteury Ruiz Reyes

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 169 lb.

• Debut July 12, 2022

• Born February 15, 1999 in Azua, Azua, D.R.

BR page

Biographical Information

Infielder Esteury Ruiz was signed by the Kansas City Royals as a 17-year-old before the 2016 season. He spent that year with the DSL Royals, where he hit .313/.378/.512 in 56 games while playing second base and shortstop. In 2017, he began the year with the AZL Royals until on July 24th, he was included in a six-player trade, with all the others involved being established major leaguers. The San Diego Padres sent Ps Ryan Buchter, Trevor Cahill and Brandon Maurer to Kansas City in return for Ps Matt Strahm and Travis Wood and him. Esteury stayed in the Arizona League, being assigned to the AZL Padres.

He started the 2022 season in AA with the San Antonio Missions, where he hit .344 in 49 games, earning a promotion to the AAA El Paso Chihuahuas. He continued to hit well, at .315 in 28 games. He made his debut with San Diego on July 12 and hit .222 in 14 games before being involved in a second high-profile trade on August 1st. The headliner in that deal was closer Josh Hader who went from the Milwaukee Brewers to the Padres in return for four players. In addition to Ruiz these were the Padres' own closer, Taylor Rogers, P Dinelson Lamet and OF Robert Gasser. Ruiz spent the bulk of the remainder of the season with the AAA Nashville Sounds, where he hit .329 in 37 games. He appeared in just 3 games for Milwaukee, going 0 for 8. After the season, on December 12th, he was involved in the third blockbuster trade of his young career, this one a three-team deal that saw him end up with the Oakland Athletics. The A's traded their starting catcher, Sean Murphy, to the Atlanta Braves, but in return they wanted a veteran catcher with strong defensive skills and a package of prospects. The Braves thus sent their own back-up catcher, William Contreras, to Milwaukee and obtained Ruiz, one of the four youngsters that the rebuilding A's wanted, in addition to sending them C Manny Pina and three young pitchers.

He won a starting job with Oakland in 2023 as the team's regular centerfielder. On an awful team, he was one of the few bright spots thanks to a decent batting average and OBP, but especially by dominating the major leagues in stolen bases in the early going, with 17 in his first 36 games, with only 2 caught stealing. This was of course earning him comparisons to the great Rickey Henderson, whose greatest base-stealing feats had been in an A's uniform. By stealing a base in the season's final game on October 1st, he set a new American League rookie record for steals with 67, beating the mark previously held by Kenny Lofton since 1992. That total also led the AL. He ended the season at .254 in 132 games, with 5 homers, 47 runs and 47 RBIs.

Notable Achievements

• AL Stolen Bases Leader (2023)
• 50 Stolen Bases Seasons: 1 (2023)

Further Reading

• Anthony Castrovince: "After setting rookie steals record, Ruiz gets advice from Rickey", mlb.com, March 4, 2024. [1]
• Martín Gallegos: "Do the A's have a new 'Man of Steal' aboard?", mlb.com, May 9, 2023. [2]
• Martín Gallegos: "Ruiz, Rooker finish strong, cap 2023 with milestones: Speedster sets AL rookie record with 67th SB while slugger reaches 30-homer plateau", mlb.com, October 1, 2023. [3]
• Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru: "Nobody told this stolen base savant that it's not 1980 anymore", mlb.com, May 28, 2023. [4]

Related Sites

• Esteury Ruiz on mlb.com
• BR Minors page