The base path of an MLB beat writer
Nathan Ruiz, who covers the Baltimore Orioles for The Baltimore Sun, always knew he wanted to be a baseball writer.
Nathan Ruiz always knew he wanted to be a baseball writer.
Growing up in Reno, Nevada, Ruiz doesn’t remember signing up for the class but ended up working for his high school’s student paper. It was his first introduction to the world of journalism, where the idea to pursue a career was sparked.
“I grew up loving baseball, I wanted to find a way to stick around it,” Ruiz said. “And then it kind of just kind of clicked for me one day of ‘Oh, hey, I'm working for the student paper.’ Like people, they're journalists who cover baseball, I could be a sports reporter.”
Flash forward to the present day and Ruiz has gone from the west coast to the east coast, working for The Baltimore Sun as a beat writer, covering the Baltimore Orioles.
He’s been with The Sun for three years, but there have been several steps he’s taken to reach the position he’s in today.
It starts at Oklahoma State, where Ruiz went to school. He holds degrees in sports media and sports management and worked at the school’s student paper, The O’Colly. In his freshman year, Ruiz was offered the position of the paper’s baseball beat writer.
“Once I was like, you know, a freshman covering a Big 12 baseball team, it’s like, ‘Oh, hey, there's a path for me in this,” Ruiz said. “And people, at least other people who were working for the student paper, liked my work and so yeah, it just kind of happened that way.”
Throughout college, Ruiz interned every summer for different papers. Following his graduation in 2017, he did a post-graduation internship with MLB.com, covering the San Diego Padres. While covering the Padres, Ruiz was applying and interviewing for several jobs, but never found the right fit.
By the time the regular season came to a close, the Padres had been eliminated from postseason contention. But there was postseason baseball on the east coast and Ruiz decided to reach out as a freelancer.
“The Nationals were in the NLDS against the Cubs,” Ruiz said. “And I kind of just offered like, ‘Hey, if you guys need help like I can be in [Washington] D.C.’ And they said yes. So I left San Diego, and lived in Virginia and covered three playoff games in D.C.”
Ruiz continued to freelance following the conclusion of the postseason, covering Big 12 conference sports for a website run by Cox Media Group called Big 12 Diehards. The following year, the right fit came along when an Oklahoma State beat writer left The Oklahoman, a paper Ruiz had previously interned for.
He was at The Oklahoman for over a year, covering Oklahoma State athletics for the paper. But throughout that time, Ruiz never stopped searching for his dream job.
“I had Tribunes' hiring website saved, I had McClatchy’s hiring websites saved, I had The Athletics hiring website,” Ruiz said. “I would just like, check these sites, like maybe once a week, or once every few days, and to see if there's anything new.”
The Sun was the third baseball job that Ruiz had applied to. The first two never responded. It was a completely different case with The Sun, where Ruiz was their top candidate. That was 2018.
Now, in 2021, Ruiz is in his third year covering the Orioles as an MLB beat writer.
“When I was 15, I wanted to do this,” Ruiz said. “And so a decade later, here I am doing it, and it's just really cool to think, like, ‘Oh, hey, I get paid to watch baseball for a living.”