Can Esteury Ruiz finally unlock full potential with Marlins?

[Kevin Barral]

The final Miami Marlins trade of 2025 was a relatively small one on the surface. They acquired outfielder Esteury Ruiz—a classic "Quad-A player"—from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for pitching prospect Adriano Marrero.

The Marlins were very high on the 18-year old pitcher Marrero, who signed for $350,000 out of Cuba. But it should be noted that he failed physicals with two other MLB teams before turning pro with the Fish. Also, the organization has a handful of rookie-level pitchers who they value even more, so this was dealing from an area of strength.

Looking at Ruiz, he has a long history of great minor league production. We've seen that his elite speed translates to the majors, but so far, the rest of his skill set hasn't.

MIA acquires OF Esteury Ruiz from LAD. The OF has elite speed but just average defense and a weak bat. If he can ever turn into an average hitter, he will be an impact player
Career stats 2022-2025:
197 games
.241/.396/.343
8 HRs
77 SBs
21% K%/4% BB%
.282 wOBA
81 wRC+
0.7 fWAR pic.twitter.com/2ulYrtGqnM

— Jackson Scudder (@jscud23) December 30, 2025

 

Ruiz was originally signed by the Kansas City Royals, then traded to the San Diego Padres with whom he made his major league debut in 2022. Flipped to the Milwaukee Brewers later that season in the Josh Hader trade, he joined the Athletics in the 2022-23 offseason as part of the three-team deal that sent Sean Murphy to the Atlanta Braves. Although his MLB experience is spread out across four different seasons, most of his playing time came with the A's in 2023.

In 197 games at the highest level, Ruiz has slashed .241/.296/.343/.639 with eight home runs, 59 RBI, 79 stolen bases and a 81 wRC+. While the high number of steals jumps out, the rest of those stats are about the same as the man he's replacing, Dane Myers.

The Dodgers barely used Ruiz on their way to another World Series title, but he did catch fire with their Triple-A affiliate, slashing .303/.411/.514/.925 with 16 home runs, 60 RBI, 62 stolen bases and a 137 wRC+. These numbers should be taken with a grain of salt as he already dominated the upper minors back in 2022.

It's exciting that Ruiz has been able to cut down on his chase rate. In the majors, his career rate is 33.6%; in AAA this past season, he was at 35.6%, putting him in the 67th percentile among AAA hitters, per Prospect Savant.

The problem for Ruiz is he usually doesn't hit the ball hard enough. His MLB hard-hit rate since debuting in 2022 is 20.9%, barely half the league average. Only Tyler Wade, Tony Kemp, José Herrera and Steven Kwan rank lower than him during that span (min. 500 PA). This past season with Triple-A Oklahoma City, it was up to 27.6%. That still leaves him relying far too much on his speed to create production.

That being said, it's surprising to see Ruiz's barrel rate in the 66th percentile. On the rare occasions when he crushed balls, he made them count by hitting them in the air and pulling them to left field. Being able to identify mistake pitches and swinging at max effort allows him to be more of a power threat than his small 5'10" frame would make you believe.

Marlins player development has a motto: "hit strikes hard." They seem to have targeted a guy in Ruiz who began doing that in 2025.

Now, the important part is putting this adjustment to the test in the majors. The Marlins will use Ruiz primarily against left-handed pitching. Due to limitations with his throwing arm, he fits best as a platoon left fielder, seeing action on days that Kyle Stowers and/or Jakob Marsee are on the bench.

Expectations should remain low for a player like Ruiz. After all, the Dodgers are in "win-now mode" and if they felt he was close to a breakout, they would've found a way to keep him. Worst-case scenario, the Marlins are deep with AAA outfield options who could take over for Ruiz by the middle of the season.

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[Miami Italiano]

Probably not

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Plenty of upside. I hope Ruiz gets sufficient ABs. 

[Jose Herrera]

A fully unlocked Ruiz would look like Rickey Henderson. Many things need to go right but we have time.

[1993 fan from start]

So he be a low key pickup for any team. If he don't workout for Marlins.   Knowing his arm  sure the Marlins think about testing out at  anther postion .

[One Regend]

6 hours ago, Jose Herrera said:

A fully unlocked Ruiz would look like Rickey Henderson. Many things need to go right but we have time.

Well, first, Ruiz would have to do well at the other notable thing Rickey Henderson was really good at: Getting on base. .296 isn't going to cut it.

[Jose Herrera]

@One Regend I agree, Ruiz will need to master bunting, hitting strikes hard and working counts. 

[Robert Hanson]

I’m okay with the trade. 
   Not that Esteury is going to work out. In fact, the odds are low but very little risk involved with this trade, especially with Marrero being just 18 & having failed physicals with 2 other MLB teams before signing with the Marlins. 
   Only downside is that Esteury is not the defensive player Myers is, who Esteury would be essentially replacing IF he makes the Opening Day roster. 

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

On 1/2/2026 at 9:28 AM, Jose Herrera said:

A fully unlocked Ruiz would look like Rickey Henderson. Many things need to go right but we have time.

From your lips to reality!