Washington Nationals' catcher Wilson Ramos hit a sac fly to drive in the third run in the Tigres de Aragua's 3-1 win over the Tiburones de la Guaira on Sunday night. The victory gave the Tigres a 4-2 series win and what (this MLB.com article says) is their sixth Liga Venezuela Beisbol Profesional championship in the last nine years. The win sends the Tigres to the Caribbean Series where they'll take on the Yaquis de Obregon (MEX), Leones del Escogido (DOM) and Indios de Mayaguez in the six-day round robin tournament which starts this Thursday. Ramos was 1 for 2 with a walk and an RBI in the deciding game of the Liga Venezuela Beisbol Professional championship, leaving the 24-year-old Nats' backstop 18 for 64 (.281/.373/.328) with three doubles and three RBI's in 19 postseason games.
In the VWL regular season, the former Minnesota prospect acquired by Washington in a July 2010 trade that sent reliever Matt Capps to the Twins, was 19 for 87 posting a .217/.277/.276 slash with two doubles, one home run, seven walks and 21 K's in 25 games. Last year in Venezuela, Ramos had a .322/.390/.567 line with 17 doubles and nine home runs in 47 games and 180 at bats, but the start of his season this year was delayed by the kidnapping ordeal which captured headlines around the baseball world earlier this winter.
Nats' prospects Wilman Rodriguez (RHP) and outfielders Eury Perez and Jesus Valdez are on the Leones del Escogido. 22-year-old right-hander Kelvin Lopez is on the roster of the Liga de Beisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico's Indios de Mayaguez.
Nationals' catcher Jesus Flores had a strong showing in the Liga Venezuela Beisbol Profesional, putting up a .330/.368/.514 line with 16 doubles and eight HR's in 56 games and 218 at bats after a comeback season in 2011 in which the 27-year-old catcher had a .209/.253/.314 slash, six doubles and a home run in 30 games and 91 plate appearances with Washington.
Wilson Ramos played 113 games in his first full season in the majors, finishing the year with a .267/.334/.445 line, 22 doubles, 15 HR's, a .993 fld%, 32% CS% and a +3.1 fWAR, which was the Nats' third-highest fWAR behind only Michael Morse and Danny Espinosa and the second-best fWAR league-wide amongst rookies, again behind only Espinosa. With Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez leaving the Nats after two years in the nation's capital, the Nationals are counting on the two catchers' continued improvement this season.
1 recs | 9 comments
I still can't believe the Nats had Ramos play all this time
It seems to me that if any player needed a time to rest his bones, it would be an every-day catcher. Especially one that went through what he did. He’s been playing more or less straight on since last Spring Training — it’s no wonder his hitting has suffered.
RobBobS - January 31, 2012
I would assume its his decision to keep playing. One would think that the Nats plan to have him play 120+ games, so he SHOULD be resting but if he wants to play then more power to him.
RossingtonCollins - January 31, 2012
...or, LESS power to him
Wearing himself out before the REAL baseball begins is not a good career choice.
RobBobS - January 31, 2012
Personally I don’t agree with him continuing to play, but maybe once he realizes that he’s dead tired in Mid-July then he’ll rethink playing extensively in Winter.
RossingtonCollins - January 31, 2012
he did play only 25 regular season games and 87 ABs, some as DH (less than half of Jesus Flores' totals)
oops…….19 games and 64 more ABs for the round robins and championship series, with three more to go…
I’m sure glad we have Flores…
cat daddy3000 - January 31, 2012
Whether or not winter ball is generally a good idea I'm neutral on; there are teams that have tried to keep their players from playing
In Ramos’s case, though, I’m quite open to the possibility that after everything that happened to him playing baseball was the best therapy available.
d_c_guy - January 31, 2012
probably why they didn't intervene...
(like the Yakult Swallows did when they pulled Lastings Milledge off the Tigres de Aragua…when they trailed the Magallanes and stuck in 4th place………..then they end up winning…)
Still, he’s a young player and they have a more than capable backup…
cat daddy3000 - January 31, 2012
Once again,
Lastings improves a team by leaving …
jbg2772 - February 1, 2012
it was a miracle...
cat daddy3000 - February 1, 2012
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