Player review: Heliot Ramos

In a year of change for the Giants organization, the transformation of Heliot Ramos might be the most notable.

2024 stats: 121 G, 518 PA, .269/ .322/ .469, 120 wRC+, .200 ISO, 26.1 K%, 7.1 BB%, 2.3 fWAR

Heliot Ramos didn’t break camp in 2022 on the Major League roster, but the wait for the 22-year-old’s first taste of the big leagues didn’t come too long after.

On April 10th, Ramos got to call to fill a roster spot vacated by reliever John Brebbia going on the bereavement list. Optimism overflowed with Ramos’s long-expected arrival. He was signed by the San Francisco Giants as a 17-year old out of Puerto Rico in 2017. But a pandemic lost season, followed by the inexplicable one, a miraculous one that grows stranger the further we get from it, lengthened the timeline. Ramos was only in his early twenties, but his name had been on fans’ lips for some time. Early buzz fed and coupled and rose like sourdough starter. Since it’s the holidays, Ramos’s arrival did feel a little like long-awaited result of prophesy. So much so that when he arrived in San Francisco, he was gifted a pair of Brandon Crawford’s cleats (by way of Joc Pederson), the clubhouse equivalent of gold. Decked out in those studs, Ramos floated out to left field. He dug into the box in the 2nd inning for his first Major League plate appearance and was greeted with a standing ovation.

Moments later he singled on a ball up the middle that Marlins second baseman Jazz Chisholm couldn’t handle. Moments after that he charged around the bases, scoring on a double off the bat of Mauricio Dubon that didn’t even get past left fielder Jorge Soler. Ramos slid across home with his orange leopard-print cleats up, sending the crowd, the bench, the organization, and the media into a tizzy.

Ramos had finally arrived … and now was Ramos here to stay? Could he become a needed right-handed platoon for Mike Yastrzemski, or keep Joc Pederson from spending too many compromised innings in left field? A bearer of pop, better defense in the outfield, another card up the sleeve in the pursuit of match-up advantages — Ramos brought answers.

But in the early goings of the post-2021 haze of optimism, the organization felt like there were no real issues to tackle. The formula worked. Every time Farhan Zaidi and Gabe Kapler pressed the button, good things happened. Trust the process — so after his successful debut, Ramos didn’t receive another start due to the series of right-handers the Giants faced. A couple days later, they sent Ramos back to Triple-A to get regular playing time with the expectation they’d be seeing him again soon.

Ramos didn’t find his way back with the Giants until May 31st. Batting 7th and playing right field, he went 0-for-3 against the Phillies and was sent back down to Sacramento again where lackluster production was perhaps cooling front office attitudes. Upon further reflection, after the initial excitement of the debut, perhaps more time was needed. He’d make two more appearances with the Giants in 2022, each for a pair of games months apart.

In 2023, the Ramos name got buried under more established ones like Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto, and of course, the weighty pile of the Aaron Judge disappointment, draping the entire corner outfield situation in mournful black. His chances in San Francisco were still sporadic, still dependent on scheduled starters, platoon advantages, injuries and a crowded field of outfield prospects. He hit successfully in his first three appearances over a two-week stint in April while also collecting two doubles, his first Major League extra base hits of his career. A strained oblique in May kept him off a baseball field until mid-July, and it wasn’t until mid-August that he got another sustained chance with the Giants.

By this time, the tune around Ramos, roughly a year and a half after his debut, had gone flat. Ramos had been skipped over for the services of A.J. Pollack — his August opportunity made possible by the veteran outfielder’s season-ending, career-ending oblique injury. Here’s Andrew Baggarly’s description of the mood at the time:

“Enter Heliot Ramos for what feels like the 700th time. Technically, he’s been added to the active roster just five times in his career, and it’s been only 16 months since his major-league debut. He shouldn’t have a reputation as an organizational player yet, but that’s the vibe he’s giving off. Twitter isn’t abuzz about Ramos getting called up. KNBR isn’t humming with callers who are fired up about Ramos Time, excited that he’s the cavalry charging over the hill. Which is mostly understandable, considering his limited success in the majors so far.”

August looked a lot like April in terms of playing time. Another two-weeks as a right-handed platoon bench option. Starts were rarely consecutive, sometimes appearances came days apart, dependent on injury, interrupted by an option and recall, uncomfortable bus rides on I-80 — these are impossible conditions for any man to hit a 95+ MPH fastball. But in his first three games back, Ramos lined an extra base hit in each, including his first home run against the Rangers on August 12th. That uptick in power went unappreciated. A flailing team with winnowing postseason chances and the worst offensive outfield in the Majors, the men in charge opted for Wade Meckler — the hotter hand, but also a flash in the pan. Ramos, again, lost in the white water, pulled under the chaotic churn of the roster no-flow. We know now with hindsight that this was the last throes of a brief and complicated era. Gabe Kapler, Farhan Zaidi, 107-wins in 2021 and the harsh fall back to the mean, free agent malaise, dehumanized plug-and-play baseball “boredom” (though I will never subscribe to this descriptor).

The ground Ramos was trying to find firm footing on a surface that wasn’t earthen at all, but constantly changing water.

The infinitely wise Baggarly, in the above article, still had hopes for Ramos. Youth was on his side. Tweaks, not an overhaul, to his swing were needed. The quick cut and consistent hard contact appeared more substantive than the clanging of cymbals. But there was little doubt that the relationship had cooled, that a future with the club looked dim. He had certainly slipped off my radar a bit, especially after the signing of Jung Hoo Lee last December. In terms of news or hype over the offseason, it was radio-silent on the Ramos front. The outfield sandwich assembled, and he wasn’t even a condiment. This cold winter (non)narrative continued into spring, in which Ramos, among a handful of others, was optioned early on March 11th. Another year not breaking camp on the Major League roster. But perhaps all of these things happened for a reason. Perhaps the overwhelming weight, and wait, of preceding disappointments helped focus the aged-beyond-his-years outfielder.

Ramos posted a .953 OPS over the first month in Sacramento — continuing a trend of PCL dominance he had started the previous fall. When Jorge Soler went down with a bad shoulder in early May, Ramos got the call.

The move made few waves. Despite his recent success at Triple-A, his interstate batting average and sub -.500 OPS at the Major League level — even though he had less than 100 PA — but those past misdeeds hung from him as chains, bogged down like the ghosts Marley in Dickens’s I mean, Henson’s A Muppet Christmas Carol. Gone was the buzz and fanfare that had accompanied Ramos’s arrival two years prior. An age had passed. Ramos would grow old in a River Cats uniform, his hair matching the gray of the typical visiting duds. Forever a visitor, never home.

Batting 7th as the designated hitter in a game at Coors Field, his name announced over the loudspeaker received a smattering of claps from the visiting fan contingent, cheery but firmly seated. We had been here before. There was little expectation that this time would be any different…

Hopefully you’ve heard by now that this time was different.

A tight outfield situation became dire when Jung Hoo Lee’s season ended on May 12th necessitating some productive depth. Ramos went 2-for-5 in that game with an RBI and a run scored. He hit for average, bat-flipped walks, and modestly tallied RBIs during the weeklong offensive feeding frenzy that was the Matos meteor. In the game that his counterpart flamed out, Ramos launched his first homer of 2024.

May rolled into June, and Ramos got comfortable. When he realized he wasn’t going anywhere, the power started to show. With just two homers in May, Ramos launched shots in back-to-back games against the Yankees and D-Backs — he’d launch six more in June. His three RBIs in the series finale against New York was his first of five games in the month in which he’d match that mark. A slash line of .304/ .375/ .571 with 24 RBI in June earned him a trip to the All-Star Game, San Francisco’s lone position player, and at the age of 24, the Giants youngest since Joe Panik in 2015.

An at-bat in the Midsummer Classic (though he struck out) was an emotional high, a tip of the cap to a player who probably deserved a fairer shake over the past couple seasons. There were other peaks though: manning center field and homering at Rickwood Field honoring the recently passed Willie Mays and other Negro League alumni, reeling in an over-the-shoulder catch with the center fielder’s 24 on his back, launching the first right-handed splash hit on Roberto Clemente Day while wearing his countryman’s number 21. And the greatest achievement of them all? Job security. The joy of coming to the ballpark each day with a decent bet that you’ll get more than an at-bat or two, that it won’t be your last game before an indeterminate length of time that’s contingent on whether a teammate of yours gets hurt or not.

But just as there were the faithful out there who never gave up on Ramos, I’m sure there are plenty of skeptics. There were certainly moments of glory, but like Matos faults appeared. He’s not a center fielder and according to defensive metrics, barely serviceable in a corner. Then doom scroll on to his undisciplined chase and unbecoming strikeout rates. Or his pre- and post- All Star splits, or his splits against righties. The bar has now been raised after this season, and there’s doubt that he’ll ever reach it again.

Fair enough negative nancies, but there are plenty of qualities that Ramos exhibits that vouch for his staying power.

First off, the post All Star downturn is the inevitable backlash of the league. Pitchers don’t like hitters hitting and take a perverse pleasure in bringing them down a few pegs. Ramos slapped, and they slapped back, and soon the relationship will devolve into an eyes-closed, arms fully extended slap-a-palooza. This is the way of the world. A more individualized explanation would also be the thumb injury that aggravated Ramos from late July to the end of the season. Thumbs are a defining physiological trait of our species. Thumbs are important.

Then there’s this tweet.

Even the nerds are starting to catch on to Ramos. The numbers back up what we’ve all seen. He slimmed down in the preseason which he credits with a quicker path to the ball without losing his pop. Wipe off those coke-bottle specs, and believe: These mechanics carry clout.

Every pitch has a maximum exit velocity that can be achieved, and that exit velocity can only be achieved by hitting the baseball with “the sweet spot” of the bat. Baseball Savant’s Squared-Up metric measures this. High average slappers and bloopers like Luis Arráez and Steven Kwan lead the field when it comes to “squaring up” the baseball. Ramos’s numbers are fine here, but where he excels is pairing this sweet spot with the elite speed of his swing. A fast swing generates more power, and squared up contact from a fast swing qualifies as a “Blast” — another Savant metric that is described as “the most valuable swing there is.” The top tier Blasters are the usual suspects, and Ramos (along with Matt Chapman) populate an impressive 1a subset.

Ramos’s aggressiveness can produce some unfortunate results, but we want him swinging because when he makes contact, it’s an ideal form of contact. According to Baseball Savant, his average exit-velocity, hard hit rate, and barrel percentage were all in the league’s 85th percentile or above. An improved launch angle (measured by Savant’s LA-Sweet Spot%) helped him get batted balls in the air at a more effective rate. His ground-ball percentage was pretty high (43%) but so was his line-drive rate (20%). A 17.3% HR/FB was the highest on the club, while a .329 BABIP ranked behind Tyler Fitzgerald and LaMonte Wade Jr. (min. 300 PA).

Not surprisingly his success against specific pitch types also jumped. He flipped a -4 Run Value (-4.0 RV/100) against a four-seam fastball in 2023 into a +4 Run Value (0.6 RV/100) in 2024. Against the curveball, he transformed 2023’s -5.6 RV/100 into a 3.7 RV/100 with a dang impressive 58.8% Hard Hit percentage.

Bat speed can help explain these improvements, as well as a more disciplined approach in the box. Ramos started to see pitches “deeper”, trusting the quickness of his bat to not only make up for lost time, but generate power. Some of Ramos’s shots were not only impressive, but just looked easy. That splash hit. The one to the Coliseum’s dead center off JP Sears (on a change-up!). And of course, this shot off Jesse Chavez in Atlanta.

Power to the opposite field was always an asset, but it was fully unlocked with the quick cut and a willingness to look to right field. It’s this trait that makes me feel the most confident about Heliot Ramos’s ability to remain a threat in the league. The spray chart of his hits from 2024 is a peppery display of equanimity.

There is no power vacuum between those lines. That approach also speaks to overall mindset, discipline, strength of character. I’d buy a used car from Heliot Ramos — there’s just something trustworthy about a guy not afraid to use the opposite field. Dead pull hitters commit early and rashly. Their strength is impressive, but one dimensional, often fleeting. The high strikeouts will dog Ramos, but this all-field approach will continue to produce slug along with a decent average as well.

2024 could prove to be a pivotal year in the Giants organization. The change from Farhan Zaidi to Buster Posey, and the signing and extension of Matt Chapman gave the club a viable new direction, and the emergence of Ramos has provided the legs to follow this course. There’s an energy and spirit in his story that’s well, hopeful. A nice reminder that sometimes you just got to wait on a pitch. Good things take time, and the narrative could be a philosophical touchstone (especially if Ramos continues to perform) on how talent, and the humans that possess it, are nurtured.