Phillies

Things Not Looking So Good for Carlos Ruiz

By Kyle Scott

Published: Oct 18th, 2013 · 4:06 PM EDT

---

Fangraphs with this splash of cold water on your Chooch:

As seen in the graph above, the Panama native saw his power decrease dramatically. His .100 ISO in 2013 was his lowest power output since the 2008 season, and it was actually the third-worst of any catcher who accumulated at least 300 plate appearances this year. Only Chris Stewart and Jose Molina hit for less power than Ruiz, and this is a year after he was a top-five catcher in ISO.

It’s impossible to know how much of that massive decline was due to age, random variance, or the use (and subsequent non-use) of banned stimulants. All we know is Ruiz’s offensive production dropped off the map after his breakout season. His wOBA dropped to .303, and his drop in BABIP from .339 to .291 helped account for his drop in batting average to .268 this season.

In fact, his skills seemingly degraded across the board. His walk rate dropped to a career-low 5.3%, his power and batting average dropped (as discussed), he’s becoming more of a free-swinging contact hitter as he’s aging as well. Those are all bad signs for his potential 2014 production.

After reading that, Ruben just locked him up for three years, $44 million.