Power Over Precision: Hanley Ramirez's Bat and Glove

As the Red Sox rotation continues to get murdered like turkey’s in early November, many story lines continue to skip the minds of Red Sox fans. While the impending trade for Cole Hamels simply cannot be far away, we all know how poorly the rotation has performed. One of the stories that has continued to surface, for unknown reasons, is the defensive woes of Hanley Ramirez.

It’s no secret the transition to left field has been difficult on the 31-year-old Dominican, but lets just relax for a second. First of all, it’s no secret that the difficulty of left field pales in comparison to shortstop, but we aren’t exactly talking apples to apples here. Last week Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins hit a home run registering exit speed exceeding 118 miles per hour. You try catching that. I dare you. Major League Baseball is vastly different from the little league, high school, or college games that you as readers likely played in. While we’ve watched defensive guru’s across baseball make it look easy, Hanley Ramirez has been playing left field in the MLB for a grand total of 4 weeks. Lets give it a little time.

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The last time someone named Ramirez hit behind David Ortiz, the Red Sox had the scariest 3-4 combo in baseball hands down. After spending his offseason lifting everything in sight likely including buildings or the entire island of the Dominican Republic, Hanley Ramirez is now enormous. He is hitting at .300 this year, on par with his career average, and is now second only to his fellow countryman Nelson Cruz in home runs with 8. In fact, he’s swinging so hard his helmet hasn’t stayed on for one of his week-long home run trots. A couple of weeks ago Hanley hit a line drive in batting practice so hard he broke the Centerfield wall above the 379 marker. Finally, as of April 17th, Hanley Ramirez was leading the major leagues with 13 hits that exited his bat at 100+ miles per hour.

We all remember the fun-loving, home run smashing, ridiculous Manny Ramirez. His laziness was legendary and it played to his advantage once he learned it was easier to stand still and wait for the wall to do the work at Fenway. By the end of his tenure in Boston, he learned how to play the wall better than many before him. We didn’t care as Sox fans when Manny high-fived fans after a running catch or cut of Johnny Damon‘s throw because Manny hit everything in sight, and hard. Hanley has the same last name, same position, and same ability to hit the cover off the ball. Let everyone else worry about their defense. It’s just Hanley being Hanley.

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Power Over Precision: Hanley Ramirez’s Bat and Glove

By Ben Knott | Apr 28, 2015