How speedster Esteury Ruiz has found his perfect role in Miami

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Good role players are hard to find. They're the ones who provide defensive versatility, speed or clutch hits even when there isn't room for them in the starting lineup. Outfielder Esteury Ruiz so far is taking advantage of his limited opportunities with the Miami Marlins.

"We'll try each day looking at how to best utilize the 13-man position player group in one way, and those guys that aren't starting to be ready for whether they come off the bench to play defense in a game, pinch-hit, pinch-run, whatever it may be," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "Do something that day. Be ready for your moment that may come."

The Marlins acquired Ruiz over the offseason from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a trade where Miami sent international pitching prospect Adriano Marrero the other way. He has been limited to 17 games since then because of a left oblique strain that he suffered late in spring training. Since coming off the injured list on April 23, Ruiz is slashing .222/.222/.519/.741 with two home runs, four RBI, seven stolen bases and a 99 wRC+.

On Saturday against the Rays, Ruiz entered a tie game as a pinch-runner in the top of the 10th inning. He scored the go-ahead run, and later in the same inning, he helped seal a Marlins win by knocking in an RBI single.

"He has swung the bat well," McCullough said. "He put together some good at-bats and handled himself well versus left thus far. It's a nice dynamic to have him on our team, and he's a great guy."

Ruiz was already an accomplished base-stealer before joining the Marlins, most notably getting 67 steals as a rookie with the 2023 Oakland Athletics. The 27-year-old still has blazing speed, ranking in the 100th percentile of MLB players this season with a 30.1 feet per second Sprint Speed, according to Baseball Savant. He ranks second on the Marlins with seven stolen bases despite making only seven starts. He has yet to get caught on any of his attempts.

Catching instructor and first base coach Craig Driver previously coached Ruiz with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2025. Driver described him as "easy to work with" and compared him to Billy Hamilton. Hamilton, who had a brief stint with the Marlins, stole 326 bases in 951 career games.

"I think that they're both elite runners, where you kind of just like let them go," Driver said. "I feel like probably (Ruiz) is a little bit more refined in terms of how he studies and prepares than Billy was. Billy was just really fast, and so is Ruiz, but I think it helps. It helps make his life a little bit easier, because of the amount of homework that he's done. He knows exactly what he's looking for when he gets out there."

Following Sunday's series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Marlins lead Major League Baseball with 57 stolen bases. They're on pace to set a franchise record in that department, though they have also been caught stealing 17 times (second only to the Rays).

As much as the Marlins aim to find fast players, they need to get on base to fully utilize their speed. Ruiz still has work to do there with a .222 OBP and no walks drawn yet this season.