Sunday, September 13, 2009

Is Wilson Ramos ready for the major leagues

I think I would do something that is on a lot of Twins fans minds and what i get asked a lot is super prospect Wilson Ramos ready for the major leagues. In this I will give the positive and the negative for Wilson Ramos being ready for the majors and finally give my opinion. So the hypothetical question is if the Twins couldn't sign Joe Mauer and decided the best course of action was to trade him do you think Wilson Ramos is ready to take over the full time starting catcher duties for the Twins.

  • Reason for Wilson Ramos being ready for the big leagues: Wilson Ramos is a stud by anyone's definition. Ramos has transformed the Eastern League playoffs into the Wilson Ramos show as he is hitting .538 in the 3 games so far going 7-13 with a homerun and 4 rbi's. Ramos' defensive game is unbelievable as he threw out an incredible 42 percent of runners attempting to steal off of him. The only negative about him is his injury history as he was limited to 54 games because of a broken finger and a pulled hamstring. However, those are freak injuries and I believe he will be fine. When he is on the field though he is a stud as he hit .317 with 4 homeruns and 29 rbi's along with 16 doubles in the 54 games he has played in. Listening to the games on the radio you year the respect has for him and when the game is on the line the other team wants nothing to do with him. He has good size and he is getting better every day. He would be the perfect replacement for Mauer as there is an aura about him that players want to be around him because they feel he is going to make them better. Given the fact that he is only 22 years old it just shows you that he is gifted way beyond his years. His offensive game is getting better and better and with the Twins he can rely on his defense until his offense comes around. I really view him as a star in the making.

  • Argument for Wilson Ramos not being ready for the majors: The bottom line is Wilson Ramos has gotten injured 2 years in a row and 3 of the last 4 so there is no reason to think he is going to stay injury free at the major league level. Even though he is very advanced he is still only barely 22 years old and could use another year in the minors to develop his offense and defense. He will be much more ready after a year in AAA next year to help the Twins in 2011. With this much talent whats the rush as we all know he will be good so why rush him to the major and all that you would be doing by rushing him to the majors is hurt his confidence when he struggles and he will struggle because not very many people go from AA to the majors. So let him develop at AAA next year and in 2011 bring him up and let him be the player we know he can.

  • My Feelings: I am really really high on Wilson Ramos as I think he has it all good defense, can hit for average, hit for power, has a cannon for an arm, is a doubles machine, and puts fear in the pitchers head. If the Twins lose Mauer the Twins fans need hope and that is exactly what Ramos can bring to the Twins. Is he as good as Mauer of course not and probably won't ever be, but that doesn't mean he can't be a All-Star catcher because all Twins fans know there is only 1 Joe Mauer. However, I do think another year in the minors for Ramos would do him good as he can get that injury prone label off of him and put up a huge year at AAA before coming up in September. You could start Jose Morales and sign a veteran backup or even Drew Butera and let Ramos dominate at AAA. That being said I think Wilson Ramos is going to be a superstar and someone in 10 years we are going to say yeah i thought he would be good.
  • I want to say though that I would not trade Joe Mauer because he is too valuable to the future of the Twins, but if he wants crazy amounts of money I would not pay him 25 million a year or something like that. I am just throwing out there a hypothetical because my hope in 2011 the Twins have the best combo in the league in Joe Mauer and Wilson Ramos.