Agustín Ramírez flashes potential with game-tying blast, solid defense

[Nate Karzmer]

Miami's young catcher showed why he's one of the best prospects in baseball on Thursday night.

NORTH PORT, FL—It took eight and a third innings and nearly two and a half hours for the Marlins to get a run on the board on Thursday night against their division-rival Braves, but it was worth the wait.

Down 0-1 in the count with just two outs to work with, Fish On First #3 prospect Agustín Ramírez got a 94 mph fastball from Angel Perdomo...and he didn't miss it.

Ramírez belted a 113 mph rope onto the berm at CoolToday Park for his first homer of the spring, an eventual tie-clincher, as the contest ended at 1-1, Miami's third 1-1 tie of the spring and second of the week.

"We're really high on Agustín and what that potential looks like" said manager Clayton McCullough postgame. "Really good presence in the box. He sees the ball very well, the ability to make the type of quality, hard contact that he does, that's signs of a really special offensive player."

With the homer, Ramírez continues what has been an impressive couple of weeks in his first spring training as a member of the organization on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, while his .182 average doesn't show it, Ramírez has consistently worked long counts and made hard contact plenty. So far this spring, Ramírez is OPS'ing .812. He's drawn three walks while only striking out once. Last week against Houston, Ramírez ripped a staggering 115.1 mph single that caught eyes all across baseball.

Most know, though, that the concern with Ramírez is behind the plate, something that the 23-year-old has clearly worked to improve at, as evidenced by his work this spring. In his five games at catcher, Ramírez has converted 22 of his 24 putout opportunities while allowing zero passed balls. On Thursday, Ramírez caught the final three innings following Liam Hicks' departure.

If Ramírez continues to swing the stick the way that he has and make strides on defense, fans and the Marlins alike shouldn't have to wait long reap the rewards of the Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade last July.

 

Of Note

- Ryan Weathers made his second start of the spring for Miami. While the southpaw did walk the first three batters of the night, he was able to settle in during the second and third innings, retiring all six Braves in order, three of them via strikeout. Weathers joked after his start, “I watch Ted Lasso, and he says have a memory like a goldfish, so I just flushed (the first inning).” Weathers' slider was his best pitch of the night, accounting for two of his punchouts.

- Adam Mazur followed Weathers, pitching scoreless two innings of his own. "I felt sharp as I wanted today, was living more on the offspeed. I was happy with the way we were able to execute first inning. Just want to eliminate the two-out walk. Just had to get out of that inning and then just kind of carry that over to the next one and keep getting outs."

- Miami carried a no-hitter into the seventh, before Eli White ripped a solo blast to right-center. It was one of only two hits from a usually powerful Braves offense.

- Nigel Belgrave put out the fire in the first inning before Weathers re-entered the game. The young reliever inherited the bases loaded with one out and rolled a double play to escape unscathed.

 

Up Next

The Fish conclude their two-day trip to the west coast of Florida on Friday, taking on the Red Sox in Fort Myers at 1:05 pm. Edward Cabrera is lined up to make his third start of the spring for Miami, while the newly acquired Walker Buehler toes the slab for Boston.

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[MarlinzDude86]

There's some hope yet for power in our offense.