The next prospect we are going to be taking a look at for the New York Yankees is a catching prospect that they signed out of the Dominican Republic. That prospect would be Agustin Ramirez. Ramirez stands six feet tall and weighs 210 pounds. When being scouted, a lot of scouts loved his compact swing. He finds the barrel a lot when he swings which is going to help him tremendously as he progresses. At just 18-years-old, Ramirez is still really green as a prospect, but there is enough there to work with to believe that one day he will become a major league ball player.
Debut with DSL Yankees
Last year, Ramirez made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League. Ramirez appeared in 41 games, and gave scouts quite a bit to unpack in his first taste of pro action. He hit .239 with four home runs, and 26 RBIs. One of the things that I noticed in his game tape was his swing. As mentioned above, he really can find the barrel with just about any fastball that is thrown in the zone. He needs to get a little stronger at this stage in his young career. There were several times I saw him square up a pitch that would have likely gone out had he been a little stronger. If he gains some strength without sacrificing his swing, you should see his average and power numbers go up. Ramirez did show some solid patience at the plate which is always encouraging when evaluating a young prospect.
Development Moving Forward
Obviously it’s way too early in his career to make any drastic predictions, but I worry about Ramirez long-term as a catcher. I think his receiving skills will get better with time, but he just doesn’t look great throwing the ball down to second. He struggled with this a lot last season. I love the way his bat projects, but I think down the road, he might need to switch positions to make a major league roster. Again, this is just judging based on the tape we’ve seen. He could come out in 2021 after adding a lot of muscle, and show drastic improvements with his throwing ability. His swing looks great, but he also needs to work on picking up breaking balls out of the pitchers hand. If he can read those better and add some strength, his solid bat will start to trend towards a plus-plus. I think with time and a lot of polishing, Ramirez could be a guy to keep your eye on in the New York Yankees organization.
