Esteury Ruiz began his 2025 season with the Athletics organization before being acquired by the Dodgers on April 2. He spent most of the season with the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets but managed to find some time with the big league squad.
A former top prospect with the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers, Ruiz was two years removed from leading the American League in stolen bases back in 2023, where he swiped 67 bags. Ruiz appeared in the first handful of games for the Oakland Athletics in 2024, but was demoted to Triple-A Las Vegas for two weeks before being recalled in the middle of April. Ruiz struggled at the big league level before being placed on the IL due to a left wrist strain, and he spent the rest of the 2024 season in the minor leagues.
Ruiz opened the 2025 season still with Las Vegas before being traded to the Dodgers on April 2 for right-handed reliever Carlos Duran. Ruiz spent the next three months with the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets, where he posted a combined slash line between Las Vegas and Oklahoma City .295/.395/.456 with eight home runs and 37 RBI. With Max Muncy suffering a bone bruise in his left knee on July 2, Ruiz was called up a day later.
Ruiz mostly served as a defensive replacement late in games through his 19 games as a Dodger, getting just six starts in left field. He was sent down back to Triple-A on Aug. 8 as the Dodgers called up Justin Dean to serve as another late game defensive replacement. He finished his 2025 season in the minor leagues with a combined .304/.412/.511 slash line with 16 home runs, 61 RBI, and a whopping 63 stolen bases which led the entire Pacific Coast League.
Stats: 4-21, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, 4 SB, 67 wRC+, -0.2 rWAR, 0.0 fWAR
Ruiz’s sole highlight of the 2025 season came on July 20 against the Milwaukee Brewers, as he crushed a go-ahead home run against José Quintana to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Dodgers eventually went on to lose that game by a final of 6-5, getting swept by them in the six games between the two teams, but it was the last time the Dodgers would lose to the Brewers in 2025.
Esteury Ruiz is on the Dodgers 40-man roster and has 2.064 years and one option remaining, having used options in 2022 and 2025. He will become eligible for arbitration after the 2026 season.