Hanley Ramirez, the 2006 National League Rookie of the Year, is growing more and more as a baseball player and is poised to battle Jose Reyes of the New York Mets for the title of Best Shortstop in the NL. If you have never heard of Hanley Ramirez, then there is probably a good reason for it: he plays for the Florida Marlins. The Marlins are one of those teams that continuously falls through the cracks, never making enough noise for someone to take notice and say something about them.
Ramirez, only 23 years old (he turns 24 on December 23), could start changing that. With the way he is playing, it might end up being hard for anyone to miss him or the Marlins. Traded to Florida in 2005 from the Boston Red Sox, Hanley has certainly made the most of his opportunities. He was given a chance to play right away for the very, VERY young Florida Marlins and he hit .292 with 17 home runs, 59 runs batted in, and 51 stolen bases in 2006. These are all very good numbers, but even better ones for a rookie. He also scored 119 runs and hit 46 doubles in 2006.
The improvement he has made in 2007 has been staggering. He has hit well over .300 for the entire season and he is on pace to better just about every number he put up last year. One area of concern with Ramirez is his strikeouts. He struck out 158 times in 2006, which is far too high for any player. He has managed to cut down on that number this season and looks to improve upon last year's total. It may not end up being a huge improvement, but he is young and definitely learning on the go. For him to be able to make huge adjustments like that so soon certainly says something about his character and his ability to play the game of baseball.
Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes will continue to battle each other for shortstop supremacy for a number of years. Both are young players (Reyes just turned 24 on June 11) and can dominate in a number of offensive categories. However, it seems that Hanley might have more power at this point than Reyes. Yet, Reyes is stealing more bases than Ramirez.
It will be exciting for baseball fans to watch these two players compete for many years. Right now, it is an added bonus that these two play in the NL together and in the same division. Even if one player does move at some point in his career (if I had to choose who, it would be Ramirez), it won't matter. These two are too good not to be compared.
For now, fans should just be happy that two players of this caliber are playing at the same time, helping to create new standards for shortstops everywhere. Not to mention it is nice to see the Marlins getting some publicity for a change.
