OAKLAND -- It was tempting for manager Mark Kotsay to anoint Esteury Ruiz as the everyday No. 1 hitter in the A’s lineup from day one of the regular season. From strong bat-to-ball skills to elite 80-grade speed, the makings of a prototypical leadoff man were all there.

Kotsay held off early in the season, instead opting to bat Ruiz at the bottom of the order instead. But with each day that goes by, Ruiz is seizing hold of that leadoff spot with strong performances, including Monday's 10-1 loss to the Cubs at the Coliseum.

Batting leadoff for the third time in five games, Ruiz continued to be one of the few bright spots in a difficult start to the season. The center fielder pushed his average to .321 with two hits and notched the lone run scored for the A’s.

“He’s kind of forced our hand to put him [in the leadoff spot] and let him go to see what he can do,” Kotsay said of Ruiz. “I’ve been really impressed with his at-bats. He’s gotten on base, as well as hit the ball to drive in some runs. He’s kind of hit his way there.”

Right-handed reliever Andrew Bailey was the last A’s player to win the American League Rookie of the Year Award, which he did in 2009. In the way-too-early conversation for 2023, Ruiz has to be mentioned as a candidate to become Oakland’s next ROY. In addition to solid defense in center field, the 24-year-old has now reached base safely in 16 of his first 17 games and leads qualified AL rookies in batting average, hits (18) and on-base percentage (.406). He’s also tied for the lead in doubles with four.

To put it simply, Ruiz is performing up to par with the high expectations he carried as one of the top prospects received in the three-team trade that sent elite catcher Sean Murphy to Atlanta in the offseason.

“He came as advertised,” Kotsay said. “We had a lot of people talk about Ruiz in the manner that he’s going to be an impact player at the big league level. I think he’s going out and performing.”

Ruiz’s continued flourishing at the big league level was about the only positive on a night in which A’s pitchers surrendered a season-high 20 hits and allowed a double-digit run total for the seventh time in 17 games.

For a pitching staff that began the day with a Major League-worst 7.60 ERA, the struggle lies in trying to find a fine line between being mindful of walks but also not getting overly aggressive around the strike zone.

After setting an Oakland record with 17 walks issued in Friday’s loss to the Mets, Kotsay stressed the importance for pitchers to challenge hitters with more strikes. Allowing only two walks on Monday, it seemed as if the problem was reversed.

“Overall, we threw too many strikes,” Kotsay said. “Tonight, we threw the ball over the plate and got hit. We’ve got to make better pitches now. We’ll continue to work. These guys are young. They’re going to go through these ups and downs. We’ll continue to teach and build them in the way we feel leads to success.”

Starting pitcher Kyle Muller is among those young arms going through a learning curve. With 13 hits allowed against Chicago, he’s now allowed 28 hits through 18 2/3 innings.

“Every mistake I made, they capitalized on,” Muller said. “I’d rather get beat by giving up hits than walking guys. But it was a tough one today.”

These days, it’s hard for these A’s to avoid seeing the daily reminders about their rough start to the year. Now having dropped 11 of its last 12 contests, Oakland’s 3-14 record matches the worst start to a season in franchise history through 17 games.

“We don’t talk a lot about that,” Muller said. “Everyone in here believes in each other. Everyone understands how good of a team we have. It might not show right now, but you look back and there’s a lot of games we should have won. A lot of games we were in. Over the course of the season, a lot of those will even out and we’ll end up on the right side of some.”