Carlos Ramirez: Best Angels Prospect Performance #2

by rghan on Nov 11, 2009 11:14 AM PST in Minor Leagues

2) Carlos Ramirez, 21 - C, Advanced Rookie Pioneer League

.389/.514/.695 with 10 HR and 0 SB's. +36 bat, +8 glove

Sammy Swenson. Matt Pali. Josh Gray. Sergio Contreras. Grodon Gronkowski. Those are some other guys who pounded the ball in the Pioneer League over the past decade, but never encored against advanced competition. I mention them only to provide the perspective one has to have when looking at ridiculous Pioneer League stats.

That said, Ramirez' offensive production was better than all of them, and better than the production of more well known Pioneer League mashers Chris Pettit, Roberto Lopez, Dallas McPherson, Howie Kendrick and Sean Rodriguez. He didn't make his debut until July 19th, so only managed 214 PA's, but they were the best PA's Orem has seen in at least a decade. Throw in the fact that he's an above average receiver with excellent intangibles, and we may have a major leaguer on our hands. Behind Conger and Wilson there is little standout catching depth, so Ramirez, who is just a hair younger than Conger, could move very quickly next year.

And if you still need convincing, let me insert a quote from Sean Smith, creator of TotalZone, who was interested in putting Ramirez' college numbers from ASU into context:

Comparing [Ramirez' college] numbers to a pair of Sun Devils, Andre Ethier and Dustin Pedroia, I get:

avg slg

C-Ram 361 635

Ped 384 544

AE 371 559

I only have Carlo's walk numbers for 2009 so I didn't compare OBP, but his walk rate is similar to theirs, though he strikes out more often than they did.

The Halos tried and failed to sign Ramirez after selecting him in the 34th round of the 2007 draft. Makes you wonder why he was still around in the 8th round this year, doesn't it?

Again, remember that this list is based entirely on statistical performance in 2009, and is not a traditional "best prospects" ranking.

0 recs | 13 comments

Comments

Looks like we've got some

Figgi4life - November 11, 2009 via mobile reply

...more catching talent....

Figgi4life - November 11, 2009 via mobile reply

Once again

We need a damn Edit button!

ryanfea - November 11, 2009 reply

Conger v Ramirez

How would you grade Conger versus Ramirez?

And on a tangential note, would you be satisfied with Ramirez making it to the show in time to replace naps/mathis in the instance that Conger was traded, perhaps as a part of a deal for Halladay?

HaloFanInDC - November 11, 2009 reply

I'd say Conger has more current value and projection

He’s a switch-hitter with great bat speed, contact skills, and (suddenly) strong plate discipline, all of which he’s proven against competition averaging 3 years older than he is. We can project more power and average to come due both to age – he’s only 21 – and a change in environments, since the Trav’s home park is one of the worst hitting environments in AA and in the bottom tenth or so minor leagues wide. His defensive skills are a touch below average, but should get better with more experience. He has the ceiling of an all-star.

Who knows about Ramirez. He has skill with the bat, certainly, but we won’t get a read on how much skill until he faces better competition and more challenging hitting environments. His defense looks good so far. Perhaps most telling of all, Tom Kotchman credited his addition to the Owlz as the difference maker, turning a slightly-above-average team into the dominant force that put up a second half record of 31 and 7 and took the Pioneer League championship. All of that looks great, but I still wouldn’t be comfortable moving from “maybe he’s a major leaguer” to “he’s Mathis’ and Napoli’s in-house replacement” until he we get some data on him facing at least AA-level competition.

That said, I can dream on a platoon of those two in Halos’ red.

rghan - November 11, 2009 reply