TAMPA, Fla. — Keibert Ruiz pulled his new catcher’s mask out of his bag, showing the springs built into the frame. Those coils, Ruiz hopes, will offer more protection in case a foul ball meets his head again. His new catching stance, which is lower to the ground compared to how the Nationals backstop has set up his whole life, could help him avoid those hits.

He’s healthy again, Ruiz said from the small visiting clubhouse of George M. Steinbrenner Field. It was “really, really scary,” but he is back behind the plate.

That was step one for Ruiz, the 27-year-old who suffered a concussion last June when he was hit in the head by a foul ball in the dugout. He suffered another in July, when a foul ball ricocheted off his mask. He dealt with the residual effects for months, and his rehab assignment in the minors in September was abandoned because his concussion symptoms returned.

“I went back home at night and feeling bad symptoms, headaches, kind of dizzy, throw up,” said Ruiz, a Venezuela native who lives in Miami. “I didn’t sleep good. That was kind of scary because I have a family, I have two kids, and I want to enjoy them.”

With that saga behind Ruiz, the next step will be to turn around the performances that have led to concerns about his long-term future as Washington’s backstop. The concussions were scary. But, with those issues in the rearview, can Ruiz recapture the form that made him the recipient of a long-term contract extension with the Nationals?

“We need to make sure we get him everyday reps, make sure he feels good health-wise, which he does, and now it’s just about going out and playing every day and going to be the guy we all know he can be,” manager Blake Butera said. “But that just comes with reps and opportunity, and we’re trying to give him a lot of that here in spring training.”

The climb back toward Ruiz’s best appears steep. The concussions held him to just 68 games last year, and in that time he produced the worst numbers of his career. He finished with a .595 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, and his OPS+ was 69. (That’s a measure in which 100 is league average, meaning Ruiz was 31 percentage points below the average major league batter.)

Ruiz’s bat has not risen to the level many hoped it would when Washington acquired him as a major piece of the trade that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In four full seasons for the Nationals, Ruiz’s highest OPS was .717 in 2023.

His defense, too, has left much to be desired. In 2025, Statcast measured Ruiz among the worst defensive catchers in baseball — his blocking, framing and pop time were in the 10th percentile or worse.

Ruiz said he was wary of being hit in the mask by a foul ball last season after his two concussions, but now with a modified mask and a new setup, he hopes to limit those issues.

He remains on one knee, but his body is crouched lower. In that stance, Ruiz said, more foul balls will pass over his head.

“Looking at how many foul tips he’s taken in the past, part of the reason why is how high his stance was,” Butera said. “We’re kind of fixing that a little bit. But also understanding that that’s the catcher position. Like, there is a chance at all times, you’re one foul tip away from something happening, right?”

That is the nature of the position. And, in general, catchers aren’t relied upon to be offensive forces. Few teams have two-way catchers — those who bring a positive impact to the game with a bat and a glove. Ruiz, at least, appeared to be well on his way to becoming an offensive force when he signed an eight-year extension in 2023.

The deal, which guaranteed $50 million, runs through 2030 and includes club options for 2031 and 2032. In an ideal world, that means Ruiz is a centerpiece of this club through the dog days of a rebuild and into the contention window.

At the time, the then-24-year-old said: “This is, for me, just the start and I’ve got to … take responsibility and help this team win."

Reality has been less kind. Ruiz appears to be the front-runner to become Washington’s starting catcher once more, but there is competition in camp, particularly with the addition of Harry Ford this winter in a trade with the Seattle Mariners. Ford, a former first-round pick, dominated in Triple-A last year.

With Ford here, it’s not a foregone conclusion that Ruiz will be the main backstop, even with several years left on his contract. Still, Ruiz is healthy. After last season, that’s a step in the right direction.

“Really positive and confident in myself,” Ruiz said. “I feel really good and healthy, and I know the ability I have to be a good player, and I just have to trust and keep coming every day to the ballpark to get better.”