1994 Rookie of the Year Countdown – Manny Ramirez

Continuing our Tuesday look at the countdown to the Rookies of the Year in 1994, today we examine

former Indians/Red Sox/Dodgers/White Sox(?) and Rays (?) outfielder Manny Ramirez.

Ramirez was drafted in the first round – 13^th overall – of the 1991 Major League draft by the Cleveland Indians out of George Washington High School in New York, NY.  The Trojans have produced a total of 10 major leaguers, including Hall of Famer Rod Carew, Ramirez, and eight others with little significance in baseball history.

Upon signing with the Indians, the 19-year old Ramirez was assigned to rookie ball Burlington.  There, in 59 games, he hit .326 with 11 doubles, four triples, 19 home runs and 63 RBIs, with 34 walks and 41 strikeouts.  He led the team in almost every offensive category, including 146 total bases, which was 79 more than second place Pat Maxwell, who’s claim to fame is he was teammates with Manny Ramirez at rookie ball Burlington in 1991.

Ramirez’ excellent debut earned him a promotion to A+ ball Kinston for 1992.  There, at two years younger than league average, in 81 games, he hit .278 with 18 doubles, four triples, 13 home runs and 63 RBIs, with 45 walks and 74 strikeouts.  Despite his numbers taking a slight dip, he moved up to the 13^th ranked prospect in all of baseball, up from 37^th the previous season.

In 1993, Ramirez kept moving up the chain, this time being promoted to AA Canton-Akron.  There, in 89 games, his numbers jumped back up, hitting .340 with 32 doubles, 17 home runs and 79 RBIs, with 45 walks and 68 strikeouts.  These numbers earned him another promotion to AAA Charlotte.  There, at five years younger than league average, in 40 games he hit .317 with 12 doubles, 14 home runs and 36 RBIs, with 27 walks and 35 strikeouts.

His minor league numbers in 1993 earned Ramirez a late season callup to the Indians.  He would make his major league debut on September 2^nd, in a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins.  As a DH, he went 0-4 in that game, as Wayne Kirby, Carlos Baerga and Jim Thome did the damage for the Indians, and Jerry Dipoto survived a ninth inning leadoff walk to Chuck Knoblauch and RBI double by Dave Winfield to pick up the save.

The world wouldn’t have to wait long to see Ramirez’ potential, as the next day, he went 3-4 with a double and two home runs in a 7-3 victory over the New York Yankees.  

Unfortunately, in 45 more at bats that month, he only had six hits and two RBIs.  He finished his first partial season hitting .170 with a double, two home runs and five RBIs.

Despite his struggles at the end of the ’93 season, Ramirez opened the 1994 campaign in Cleveland.  On Opening Day, he went 1-3 with a game tying two-run double off of Randy Johnson in the bottom of the eighth, a game that Cleveland would eventually win 4-3 in 11 innings over the Seattle Mariners.  In the fifth game of the season, he was 3-3 with two home runs and five RBIs.  The Indians defeated the California Angels that day 9-6, but the Angels scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth before Bo Jackson struck out with two on to end the game.  Ramirez came flying out of the gate, hitting .313 with five doubles, six home runs and 21 RBIs, with nine walks and 15 strikeouts.

In May, Ramirez came back to earth.  In 21 games, he only had a hit in seven of them, hitting .132 with three doubles, two home runs and seven RBIs, with six walks and 16 strikeouts.  He was still hitting .280 on May 14^th, but finished the rest of the month 3-39, which equaled a .077 batting average.

Ramirez righted the ship in June.  In 23 games, he only failed to get a hit in seven of them.  For the month, he hit .319 with seven doubles, five home runs and 15 RBIs, with 18 walks and 18 strikeouts.  For the week of June 12^th, he hit .579 with two home runs and six RBIs, earning him AL Player of the Week honors.

Ramirez’ average continued to climb steadily in July.  For the month, he hit an even .300 with three doubles, one home run and nine RBIs, with six walks and 15 strikeouts.  He had four straight multi-hit games between July 26^th – July 30^th, but despite the power outage (his slugging percentage dropped 20 points on the season that month), he continued to hit.

Ramirez continued to show that May was a fluke month as he entered the last days of the season.  In 10 games in August, he hit .306 with four doubles, three home runs and eight RBIs, with four walks and eight strikeouts.

On his way to the second place finish in the AL Rookie of the Year voting, overall, Ramirez hit .269 with 22 doubles, 17 home runs and 60 RBIs, with 42 walks and 72 strikeouts.  In 84 games in right field, he only made one error in 160 chances, good for a fielding percentage of .994, one tick behind AL leaders Paul O’Neill and Darrin Jackson.  He also added eight outfield assists, good for fourth in the AL behind Kirby Puckett, Jay Buhner and Tim Salmon.

How did this team NOT win
a World Series?!

In 1995, Ramirez would become a star.  He hit 11 home runs in the month of May alone, and he finished the month hitting .394, earning AL Player of the Month honors.  On August 4^th, he hit his first career grand slam off of Jason Bere in a 13-3 win over the Chicago White Sox.  Though he only hit .247 with one home run over the final month of the season, he still finished the year hitting .308 with 26 doubles, a triple, 31 home runs and 107 RBIs, with 75 walks and 112 strikeouts.  He made the All Star team, finished 12^th in the AL MVP race and won a Silver Slugger award.  The Indians made their first of five straight post season appearances, making it all the way to the World Series.  Ramirez only hit .189 for the post season, and the Indians fell to the Braves in six games.

Ramirez put up decent number the next two seasons in Cleveland, but he was not deemed worthy of an All Star selection.  For the ’96 and ’97 seasons, he combined to hit .319 with 85 doubles, three triples, 59 home runs and 200 RBIs, with 164 walks and 219 strikeouts.  The Indians made it all the way to the World Series in 1997, but lost in seven games to the Florida Marlins.

Double X.

Ramirez’ final three years in Cleveland were the first three seasons of 11 consecutive All Star appearances.  For the ’98 - ’00 seasons, he hit a combined .324 with 103 doubles, seven triples, 127 home runs and 432 RBIs, with 258 walks and 369 strikeouts.  In 1998, he finished sixth in the AL MVP voting.  In 1999, he led the league in RBIs (165), slugging percentage (.663) and OPS (1.105), finished third in the AL MVP voting, and won a Silver Slugger award, and the AL Hank Aaron Award.  He was the AL Player of the Month in May ’99, when he hit .337 with seven home runs and 30 RBIs.  His 165 RBIs in 1999 tied for the 14^th most in major league history, and were the most since Jimmie Foxx had 175 in 1938.  In 2000, he finished sixth in the AL MVP voting, and won another Silver Slugger award.  The Indians couldn’t advance any further than the ALDS in 1998 (losing to the Yankees in six games), and ALCS in 1999 (losing to the Boston Red Sox in five games).  They missed the playoffs altogether in 2000.

Nice.

In 2001, Ramirez took his talents east to Boston, signing an eight year, $160 million contract.  He quickly paid dividends to the Red Sox, earning AL Player of the Month honors for April ’01, when he hit .408 with nine home runs and 31 RBIs.  He would earn the honor again in September ’02, when he hit .396 with nine home runs and 30 RBIs.  Overall, in his first four years in Boston, he made the All Star team each year, and also won a Silver Slugger award.  Combined, he hit .321 with 144 doubles, three triples, 154 home runs and 466 RBIs, with 333 walks and 450 strikeouts.  He led the AL in batting average in 2002 at .349, and led the AL in home runs (43), slugging percent (.613) and OPS (1.009) in 2004.  He again won the AL Hank Aaron Award in 2004, along with the 2004 World Series MVP award, as the Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals.  He finished in the top 10 in AL MVP voting all four seasons.

In his final three full seasons in Boston, Ramirez hit .302 with 90 doubles, three triples, 100 home runs and 334 RBIs, with 251 walks and 313 strikeouts.  He was again a World Series champion in 2007, as the Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies.  He made the All Star team each year, and won Silver Slugger awards in 2005 and 2006, finishing fourth in the AL MVP voting in 2005, and 18^th in 2006.

In 2008, at age 36, Ramirez was in the midst of his final season in Boston.  Through the first 100 games of the season, he was hitting .299 with 22 doubles, a triple, 20 home runs and 68 RBIs, with 52 walks and 86 strikeouts.  At the trade deadline on July 31^st, he was sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who sent Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who in turn sent Jason Bay to the Red Sox, who in turn sent Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss to the Pirates.  Got it?  Ramirez feasted on NL pitching for the rest of the season, hitting .396 with 14 doubles, 17 home runs and 53 RBIs, with 35 walks and 38 strikeouts, earning NL Player of the Month honors for August.  The Dodgers would advance to the NLCS, where they would lose to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games, but in eight post season games, Ramirez hit .520 with four home runs and 10 RBIs, with 11 walks vs. four strikeouts.

Ramirez would turn those magical two months in Los Angeles to a new two year, $45 million contract with the Dodgers.  Suspended for 50 games in 2009 for testing positive for a banned substance, he still had decent numbers, although not to the levels he had previously posted.  He hit .290 with 24 doubles, two triples, 19 home runs and 63 RBIs, with 71 walks and 81 strikeouts.  In 27 games before the suspension, he hit .348 with six home runs and 20 RBIs.  In the 77 games after the suspension, he hit .269 with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs.

In 2010, Ramirez wouldn’t even last the entire final season in Los Angeles.  Through the end of August, he was hitting .311 with 15 doubles, eight home runs and 40 RBIs, with 32 walks and 38 strikeouts.  He only appeared in 66 games with the Dodgers due to three stints on the DL.  On August 30^th, he was claimed off of waivers by the Chicago White Sox.  Over the final month of the season in Chicago, he hit .261 with one double, one home run and two RBIs, with 14 walks and 23 strikeouts.  His lone home run on September 17^th came off of Max Scherzer, and proved to be the final of his career.

Damon and Ramirez, still
waiting for Damon's throw
to reach the infield.

In 2011, Ramirez signed a one year, $2 million contract with the Tampa Bay Rays.  Through five games, he was only 1-17 (.059) and abruptly retired after being informed that he again tested positive for a banned substance in spring training.  Rather than face a 100 game suspension, he called it quits.

The following season, he unretired, signing a contract with the Oakland A’s.  His 100 game suspension was reduced to 50 games, and after the first 50 games of the season, he reported to AAA Sacremento, where in 17 games, he hit .302 with three doubles and 14 RBIs.  Still, with no home runs in the minor leagues after 63 at bats, the A’s decided to move on, releasing him on June 15^th.

THAT’S WHEN THINGS GOT WEIRD.  Just kidding, they were already weird.  But in between the 2012 and 2013 seasons, Ramirez played in the Dominican League, then he signed with a team in Taiwan for 2013.  In 49 games with the EDA Rhinos (no I do not know what EDA stands for), he hit .352 with eight home runs and 43 RBIs.  The logical thing to do at that point was to quit and return to the US.  On July 3^rd, he signed with the Texas Rangers, who assigned him to AAA Round Rock.  In 30 games, he hit .259 with three doubles, three home runs and 13 RBIs, with 10 walks and 14 strikeouts.  He was released on August 13^th.

Not knowing when to quit, Ramirez found a perfect match for the 2014 season, reuniting with Theo Epstein to be a player-coach for the Chicago Cubs AAA team in Iowa.  So far this year, he is hitting .222 with a home run and four RBIs.

Hello?  Give me
the president!

Assuming Ramirez doesn’t get back to the majors, he finishes his career hitting .312 with 547 doubles, 20 triples, 555 home runs and 1831 RBIs, with 1329 walks and 1813 strikeouts.  He has a career .411 on base percentage, and his career slugging percentage of .585 and OPS of .996 both rank ninth all time.  He only made 75 errors in 1939 games in the outfield, good for a .978 fielding percentage.  His home run count ranks 14^th all time, and his RBI count ranks 18^th all time.  His 216 intentional walks and HR/AB rate of 14.9 both rank 11^th all time.

Will Ramirez make the Hall of Fame?  His numbers certainly support election. 

I might be in the minority here, but
I really liked Albert Belle.

That being said, he was caught cheating at least twice (rumor was he also tested positive in 2003).  He was/is also crazy as hell.  He was routinely benched for his bizarre behavior.  Who is he without the juice?  Reggie Sanders?  Maybe without the stolen bases.  1996 teammate Kevin Mitchell?  Probably a little better than him.  1997-1999 fellow teammate David Justice?  That’s probably the best comp that I could find.  Either that or fellow malcontent/teammate Albert Belle.  Pretty good, but not hall-worthy.

The countdown to the Rookie of the Year continues next week with the anti-Manny Ramirez…John Hudek.  Who-dek?