Alexei Ramirez remains man of mystery for ChiSox
Other clubs backed off Ramirez, who defected from Cuba last November and established residence in the Dominican Republic to pursue a major-league career. The White Sox, never afraid to be contrarians, signed him to a four-year, $4.5 million contract.
"You know how obvious it is when you see a guy that can play?" White Sox general manager Ken Williams asks. "It's that obvious with him."
Ramirez, 26, is listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, the same as the Cubs' Alfonso Soriano. Like Soriano, he possesses wiry strength and enough versatility to play infield or outfield. As the center fielder for Cuba in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, he had six hits in 16 at-bats.
"If you're a scout and you're sitting in the stands, this guy is going to open your eyes," says one scout who is following the White Sox this spring. "All the things you can't teach, this guy's got."
Ramirez's physical assets include bat speed, foot speed and arm strength. Yet, some clubs that scouted his individual and collective workouts in the Dominican over the winter viewed him as a project. Two general managers, speaking on condition of anonymity, say their teams envisioned starting Ramirez at Class AA.
GM No. 1 says his evaluators like Ramirez's athleticism, but thought his long actions in the infield made him better suited for the outfield. Even then, the evaluators said, Ramirez's upside would be limited, and that he probably would be no more than an extra outfielder.
GM No. 2 says his team viewed Ramirez as a "mixed bag" defensively — he displayed good hands, but his footwork needed an overhaul. Offensively, the organization concluded that Ramirez would be, at best, a line-drive hitter with limited power.
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| Alexei Ramirez is versatile enough to play center, second or short. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images) |
Those judgments, GM No. 2 stresses, were formed only from workouts, not game situations. It might be years before anyone knows whether the dissenting teams were right on Ramirez and the White Sox were wrong. But Ramirez, at the very least, is making a strong initial impression.
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and bench coach Joey Cora say that Ramirez could play major-league defense at shortstop immediately. He is less experienced and polished at second, but the White Sox are playing him regularly at the position and he seems to be adapting quickly.
"You can see that he has played a lot," Cora says. "He knows how to play the game. You can communicate very easily in baseball terms with him. He understands what he's talking about. He understands the game. He's not a baby in baseball experience."
Ramirez possesses a quick bat — he is 12-for-32 (.375) with four doubles and a triple in Cactus League play — but at times is overly aggressive. Guillen is particularly impressed by his ability to hit a good fastball. Breaking balls, though, give Ramirez trouble — so much trouble that he might be overmatched by quality major-league pitching initially.
"If I was an advance guy, I'd say, 'Yeah, I could pitch this guy,'" says the scout who is tracking the White Sox. "He's not a finished product. Yet he is 26. You have to keep that in mind. He looks like a young kid. But when you think about upside and tools, at some point it doesn't get any better."
The scout, though, says he likes Ramirez's actions in the field, his fundamentally sound approach, even his fluid reactions at second base. For now, the White Sox are keeping their options open. Ramirez hardly seems overwhelmed by the immense differences between life in Cuba and the U.S. — he already owns an iPhone and two laptops, according to Cora. Still, allowing him to play shortstop at Class AAA might allow him the most comfortable transition.
The problem with keeping Ramirez at short is that the White Sox want to sign their new shortstop, Orlando Cabrera, to a contract extension before he becomes a free agent at the end of the season. Second base is more likely to be open in 2009, so moving Ramirez to that spot permanently at Class AAA might be in the White Sox's best long-term interests.
Then again, the Sox also could open the season with Ramirez as their super-utility man, using him at second, short and center. The White Sox are uniquely equipped to help Ramirez develop at the major-league level — Williams and Cora speak Spanish, and Sox right-hander Jose Contreras was a teammate of Ramirez's for two seasons in Cuba.
Williams says he asked the White Sox's coaches to draw up plans detailing how many at-bats Ramirez would get in different scenarios. In the end, giving Ramirez part-time work this season might be the best way to prepare him for full-time duty next season. Cora thinks Ramirez might rise to such a challenge.
"One thing about Cubans — they don't like to be embarrassed," says Cora, a native of Puerto Rico. "Alexei is going to work his butt off at second base. He doesn't want to embarrass himself. It's the same thing with Contreras (who struggled last season).
"They might have defected from Cuba, but they still have Cuba inside of them. They want Cuba to be proud of them. It's something that drives them."
The last word, as usual, belongs to Guillen.
"To tell you the truth, he's better than I thought," the manager says. "He will be an everyday player in the big leagues."
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