Maximiliano Ramirez

Know this:  The young man that Jon Daniels scooped up in yesterday's Kenny Lofton trade can definitely hit.   And I am extremely confident that he will continue to do so.

Signed by the Braves out of Venezuela in 2002, Maximiliano Ramirez  tore up the Dominican Summer League at age 18 in 2003.   He cruised comfortably through the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 2004 and was the co-MVP in the advanced Rookie-level Appalachian League in 2005 when he hit .347 / .424 / .527 while making the switch to catcher from third base.

Last year, Ramirez split the summer playing for two clubs in the low-A Sally League after the Braves traded him to Cleveland to acquire closer Bob Wickman.  He hit a combined .292 / .417 / .454  (at the same age in the same league back in 2001, Jason Botts hit .309 / .416 / .449 with extremely similar peripheral numbers).

Scouting reports from Ramirez's first two years behind the plate rated his defense as abysmal if not utterly hopeless, but this year, as he has raked over pitchers in the high-A Carolina League (more on that below), there are definite signs of progress according to one American League scout who told Baseball America's Chris Kline that:

“Ramirez is a guy you have to follow for a series or two to get a real feel for how much better he’s gotten back there, though he’s not a frontline catcher. He stands up when he throws, so there’s a delay in his transfer and his feet aren’t what I would call an asset.

“His arm strength and accuracy are both average, but his game-calling, his receiving have improved. He sets up pretty good and you can tell he’s working to study hitters. This league has been extremely beneficial for him; seeing the same guys in an eight-team league. It’s been huge for him."

Meanwhile, while his skills behind the plate seem to be improving this summer, his bat is more impressive than ever.  Ramirez, who goes about 5'11",  185 lbs., is third in the Carolina League with a .926 OPS while demonstrating an advanced hitting approach.   

According to the American League scout that BA's Chris Kline talked with about Ramirez:

“[Ramirez] smokes balls to right-center (as a righthanded hitter). I mean, he just wears out that gap. But there’s also big power to that side of the field, which is impressive. He hits to all fields, he’s not afraid to shorten up his stroke when he has to . . . he’s just the complete package as a hitter. He turns on inside fastballs like nobody’s business and handles offspeed pitches well. Great pitch recognition."

Here's the evidence that backs up that scout's assertion that Ramirez has "great pitch recognition."    He has posted an outstanding BB/K (walks-to-strikeouts) ratio of 0.84 this year which, coincidentally, matches the BB / K ratio posted by Cleveland's Victor Martinez this year (tops among all MLB catchers).    His BB / PA  (walks-per-plate appearance) ratio is a dazzling 1.68.  Only six major leaguers can top that figure this season:   Barry Bonds, Jim Thome, Pat Burrell, Todd Helton, Nick Swisher and Ryan Howard.   

Ramirez is tough to fool and makes pitchers throw the ball over the plate.   Hitters  with high BB/K and BB/PA ratios tend to have enormous pitches-per-plate appearance figures as well, so Ramirez fits neatly into the emerging organizational philosophy to work pitchers and drive up pitch counts.

As Jon Daniels told the media yesterday, one of the organization's developmental strengths is developing catching skills:   farm director Scott Servais, catching coordinator Damon Berryhill and big league third-base coach Don Wakamatsu are all former catchers with excellent teaching skills.    Texas, it would seem, is as good a place as any for Ramirez to develop the necessary skills to become a servicable backstop.

Scouts have compared Ramirez to the Indians' Victor Martinez and having studied the numbers, I have to say that the comp is certainly reasonable.    Like Martinez, Ramirez  is unlikely to become a gold glover behind the dish, but he's gotten better in his short tenure as a catcher and just a little more improvement over the next couple of years could certainly result in the Rangers wielding one of the better hitting catchers in the American League.