I just noticed this link as a comment on an old post, placed there by Dylan Sharek, who writes Blogging about Baseball. He apparently is a frequent attendee of Charleston River Dogs games, and did a fantastic write-up of Yankees phenom Jose Ramirez, complete with pictures and video. Here is what Dylan had to say about Jose:
In six very, very strong innings, the 6’1″ righthander gave up just two hits. One of those hits, a first inning double by Hickory’s Cody Podraza, was all the Crawdad’s needed to secure the 1-0 victory. Still, we all know wins and losses don’t mean everything.
Sitting at 80-83 miles per hour, Ramirez’s changeup is as advanced as any pitcher’s I’ve ever seen, at any minor league level. With his motion, you can’t tell the difference between his fastball, which ranges from from 89-93 and routinely touches 94, and his changeup. At this level, the batters are completely overpowered, overmatched, and overwhelmed.
He shows the ability to adeptly work both halves of the plate, popping fastballs in on hitter’s hands and stretching them out with changes on the lower half of the zone.
Ramirez’s curveball, which ranges from 79-84 and is an 1-to-7 offering, leaves a lot to be desired, but it has shown flashes of development. He threw it much more tonight than during Monday’s game against the Rome Braves, but he routinely left it up in the zone or down in the dirt. Still, it’s clear that it’s the pitch he’s working on. He never seemed to get a good feel for it tonight, but if he ever does, well…
What makes Ramirez so intriguing isn’t his great natural stuff, but the projection left in that stuff. He’s so tall (6’1″) and so thin (just 155 pounds), that it’s not improbable to believe he can add another 2-3 miles per hour to his heater as he ages.
Did I mention he’s not even 21 yet?
Ramirez’s free and easy motion makes me like him even more. There aren’t too many moving parts and it appears as though he’s made an unnatural movement as natural as possible.
He goes on to compare Ramirez favorably to Arodys Vazcaino, who the Yankees traded for Javy Vazquez and who Ramirez outdueled in their matchup last month. Jose is a player who will likely move quickly up the prospect lists as scouts begin to determine that his stuff will play at higher levels. I think it is fairly likely that he will be in the top 5 among Yankee prospects according to most publications when this offseason rolls around. He should be fun to follow.
I highly recommend that you visit Dylan’s site to read the rest of the report and see the fantastic photos and video he has of Ramirez.
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5 Responses to Great Look At Jose Ramirez
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TIQ IQ
“What makes Ramirez so intriguing isn’t his great natural stuff, but the projection left in that stuff. He’s so tall (6’1″) and so thin (just 155 pounds), that it’s not improbable to believe he can add another 2-3 miles per hour to his heater as he ages.”
Honest question: We often hear about guys who are projectible and have room to add bulk to their frame and we’re told it’s possible/probable that they’ll add some velocity as they mature, but does this really happen to often or is it more the outlier? I ask because in the years I’ve been following the minors/draft, as a total non-expert, it seems that we’ve seen many MANY more guys LOSE velocity as they age rather than gain velocity as they age. If anyone is reading this and knows a little something about this subject, can you maybe point out some guys who have bulked up as they aged and added significant velocity (significant is probably a bad word but I mean more than like 1 MPH here, since that could very easily just be due to different scouts/radar guns, etc.).
I cant point to a specific guy, but simply thinking about it, I would assume that guys who have been part of high school and college programs that have been focused on using every ounce of talent they have are more likely to have tapped into their velocity than guys who may have been in a more inforal system. Now, I’m not sure of Jose’s background, but if he hasnt done a ton of weight training to this point, it might make sense that that sort of guy adds velocity. There is no way he reaches the majors at 155, they are going to bulk him up a bit at some point.
And now that I think about it, Im pretty sure Pedro was one such guy. Velocity kept rising as he aged.
I just think there are so many other variables in play that it’s a bit optimistic to say, about just about every young prospect with a projectable frame, that he might/should add some velo as he matures. In a perfect world, taking all other variables out of the conversation, yeah, it seems reasonable that a kid with a projectable frame would be expected to add a tick or two to his fastball as he bulks up – but it’s so rare that a kid actually does that due to the other factors in play. The kid is, in all likelihood, going to deal with mechanical issues, injuries, and other growing pains along his development road, and those things work against him adding velo even if he’s bulking up.
I’m definitely not saying it’s impossible for a kid to add velo as he matures, my point is really just that that line is significantly overused in prospect evaluations. We see that line in just about every evaluation of a kid with a projectable frame, and I think the portion of those kids who actually do wind up adding velo is probably really low.
Also – related point – it bothers me much less when said about, like, a 16 year-old IFA signing or 18 year-old prospect than it does when said about a 20 year-old kid.
Apparently (per NoMaas http://nomaas.org/2010/05/minor-league-players-of-the-week-month/ ) Ramirez himself has already seen a big velo increase as he has matured, so maybe this line of thinking isn’t as overused as I thought. I still feel like I see it a ton and that it doesn’t bear itself out in reality often enough to be mentioned that often, but maybe I’m just not well-enough informed.
6’1″ is also not that tall for a power pitcher, imho. I’d say the prototype is usually in the 6’3-6’5 range. I wouldn’t necessarily say that he’s all that projectable unless he’s expected to grow.