Hanley Ramírez

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Hanley Ramírez

Bats Right (Switch-hitter until 2005), Throws Right
Height 6' 3", Weight 195 lb.

High School Adbentista High School

Debut September 20, 2005
Born December 23, 1983 in Samana, D.R.

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[edit] Biographical Information

Hanley Ramírez won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 2006.

At age 16, he was signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent. He debuted with the DSL Red Sox in 2001, hitting .345/?/.533. The next year, he moved up to the GCL Red Sox and batted .341/.402/.555; he also put up a .371/.400/.536 line with the Lowell Spinners. He stole only 12 in 21 tries between the two levels. He led the Gulf Coast League in slugging and was second in average behind Rajai Davis. He made the GCL All-Star team at short. Woody Huyke said he was the best prospect in the GCL in 10 years while Edgar Caceres said that Ramírez had no holes in his swing. He was rated the #3 shortstop prospect in baseball by Baseball America, behind Brandon Phillips and Jose Reyes. He was picked as the top prospect that year in both the GCL and the New York-Penn League.

Hanley, at age 20, batted .275/.327/.403 for the Augusta GreenJackets and began to show speed, swiping 36 in 49 tries. Baseball America rated him 6th among South Atlantic League prospects and 5th among shortstops, behind B.J. Upton in both categories; Upton got the All-Star nod in the SAL that year. In 2004, Ramírez bounced back with a .310/.364/.389 line with the Sarasota Red Sox despite a left wrist injury and .310/.360/.512 after joining the Portland Sea Dogs. He stole 24 in 34 tries that year. Only Joel Guzman was rated higher among shortstop prospects by Baseball America while Hanley was picked as the #3 prospect in the Florida State League, behind Guzman and Chad Billingsley.

Ramírez stopped switch-hitting in 2005 and put up a .271/.335/.385 line with Portland and stole only 26 in 39 tries with 6 homers and 66 runs, hardly foreshadowing what would happen the next year. A backup shortstop in the 2005 Futures Game, he singled in his only at-bat for the World team. Baseball America rated him the #3 prospect in the Eastern League after Francisco Liriano and Lastings Milledge and just ahead of Jon Lester, Ryan Zimmerman, Nick Markakis and Jonathan Papelbon. He was also picked as the top defensive shortstop in the EL and made the league All-Star team. He struck out in both of his at-bats for the 2005 Red Sox.

That winter, he was dealt with Harvey Garcia, Jesus Delgado and Anibal Sanchez to the Florida Marlins for Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell and Guillermo Mota in what the popular media dismissed as a salary dump by Florida. He hit .292/.353/.480 for the 2006 Marlins as part of the impressive young team and stole 51 bases in 66 tries, scored 119 runs, smacked 46 doubles, 11 triples and 17 homers. He tied Jeff Conine's franchise record for average by a rookie. His 7 leadoff homers were a team career record. Only Cliff Floyd had ever scored more runs by a Marlin and no other Marlins player had ever reached double digits in homers, steals and triples. He was only six doubles behind Johnny Frederick's rookie record and was second in Florida franchise history. He became the first National League rookie to steal 50 bases and score 110 runs. He was the fifth major-leaguer since 1900 to hit over 45 doubles and steal at least 50 bases in a year, following Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Lou Brock and Craig Biggio. He tied for fifth in the 2006 NL in runs, was tenth in hits, tied for 7th in doubles, sixth in triples (right behind two much older guys, Kenny Lofton and Steve Finley) and third in steals (behind Reyes and Juan Pierre). He edged Zimmerman for the NL Rookie of the Year Award in one of the closest races ever.

For the 2007 Marlins, Ramírez batted .332/.386/.562 with 48 doubles, 29 homers, 125 runs, 81 RBI and 51 steals (in 65 attempts). He tied Chase Utley and Edgar Renteria for third in the 2007 NL in average (behind Matt Holliday and Chipper Jones), was 9th in slugging, second in runs (behind Jimmy Rollins), tied Rollins for 2nd in hits (212, 4 behind Holliday), was third in total bases (359, behind Rollins and Holliday), tied Utley for third in doubles (2 behind Holliday and one behind Dan Uggla), was third in steals (behind Jose Reyes and Juan Pierre) and tied Utley for 7th in OPS+ (145). He finished 10th in voting for the 2007 National League MVP. Due to Rollins' stardom, he didn't even take home a Silver Slugger that year.

Hanley was part of the first quarter of infielders on the same club to hit 25 or more homers on the season. With the 2008 Marlins, he teamed with Dan Uggla, 1B Mike Jacobs and 3B Jorge Cantú for the power feat. He hit .301/.400/.540 for the year with 125 runs, 31 home runs, 35 steals (in 47 tries) and 92 walks. He was 5th in the 2008 NL in OBP, led the league in runs (9 ahead of Carlos Beltran), tied Utley for 10th in hits (177), tied Ryan Ludwick for 7th in total bases (318), tied 3 others for 10th in homers, tied Beltran for 6th in walks, tied Matt Kemp for 7th in steals and was 5th in OPS+. He won the Silver Slugger. He also made his first All-Star team. In the 2008 All-Star Game, he started at shortstop for the National League and led off. He opened the game with a strikeout against Cliff Lee. He singled off Joe Saunders in the third. In the 6th, he singled against Justin Duchscherer in the 6th and scored on a fly from Lance Barksdale to put the NL in front 2-0. He also made an error before giving way to Miguel Tejada.

Ramirez (right, wearing number 2) speaks with Jose Reyes during the 2009 WBC during a game against Holland.

Ramírez played for the Dominican national team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, going 2 for 9 with 2 walks. He cost his team a run in their 3-2 loss to the Dutch national team, with a throwing error that brought Yurendell de Caster home. He later hit a sacrifice fly off Alexander Smit to score Miguel Olivo with the game's last run. He was the final out in their second loss to the Netherlands, which eliminated the Dominicans from the tourney much earlier than anticipated.

Sources: 2002-2006 Baseball Almanacs, Mlb.com, World Baseball Classic