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.