The Mets announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of outfield prospect Alex Ramirez, thus protecting him from next month’s Rule 5 Draft. Their 40-man roster now has 33 players.
Ramirez, 20, followed up an impressive 2022 season with a tough year at High-A in 2023. He appeared in 120 games and tallied 521 plate appearances with just a .221/.310/.317 batting line to show for it. Ramirez hit seven homers, adding 21 doubles, a triple and a 21-for-27 showing in stolen base attempts.
Earlier in the year, Ramirez ranked on the back end of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospect rankings, though his rough season at the plate caused his stock to dip enough that he’s now off the list. Despite the rocky showing, Ramirez’s tools still draw plenty of praise. He’s regarded as an above-average runner and more than capable center fielder with a plus arm and above-average power. He was still more than two years younger than his average opponent in High-A, so there’s still plenty of time for him to iron out the kinks and restore much of his prospect status.
I’m scratching my head on this one.
High upside prospect who had a down year. Very small chance someone like the A’s or KC picks him up but even with such a small chance you can’t afford to risk it
exactly
I understand that concept. I’ve made that exact same argument with those same teams as the example in regards to guys like Ritter and Jeremiah Jackson. I just don’t think Ramirez meets the bar. He is far enough away that he is now at risk of running out of options before he sticks in the majors. This is basically a gamble that he will make a double-level jump along the way (which, I admit, happens often enough), and that he will also stick quickly once he gets to the majors and not need to be sent back down a time or two – which does not happen very often.
Genuine question: why is Ramirez eligible for the Rule 5 draft? According to the MLBTR post about it:
“For those unfamiliar, in order to be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, a player must not be on his team’s 40-man roster and must have played in either parts of five professional seasons (if they signed at 18 or younger) or four professional seasons (if they signed at 19 or older).”
mlbtraderumors.com/2023/04/rule-5-draft-update-apr…
Ramirez signed as a 16 year old in July 2019. He didn’t play in 2019, 2020 was wiped out by COVID (though MLB.com says he was assigned to DSL Mets2 in February of 2020), and he played 2021, 2022, and 2023. In other words, he’s only played in parts of three professional seasons, not five. Unless they’re stricter in that you only need to be a part of an organization for five years and not necessarily have played?
The word “played” is not meant to be taken literally. So ’19 & ’20 counted.
That said, this has puzzled me for years now: for some reason, in some cases, the year the player signs counts, even if they do not play. And for some players it does not. I don’t know why that is.
Ah, thanks for clarifying, geofft. I was curious because Ramirez is so young (won’t be 21 until January).
Apparently they are going shopping on Rule 5 draft day as they only have 33 players protected. Interesting
My thoughts exactly. Shopping at the bargain bin? Claiming players everyone else cut? I suppose its better than picking up another Mendick, Arauz, Yolmer Sanchez, Devin Merrero, etc….
(Its actually 32 now that they waived Penn Murfee and the Braves claimed him – even more puzzling).
Any speculation? Here’s the list (being updated as news trickles out):
mlb.com/news/rule-5-draft-prospects-protected-on-4…
Probably also for non-tenders.
Kid has all the tools in the world and has showed them hopefully he gets back on track
This doesn’t make any sense. What about Jarvis, Suarez and Jackson? I can see them being chosen. Ramirez couldn’t hit his way out of Single A this year. I can’t see anyone taking him.
I’m not sure if this is a complete list of who they’re selecting or not. It would be somewhat head-scratching for them to leave off Jarvis when they just acquired him knowing they’d need to select him in the offseason or risk losing him.
They’re gambling. Jarvis was terrible in AAA so he may not profile as major league ready. That said, there are cellar dwellers who don’t care and could take him anyway. And they have a bumper crop of starting pitching in AA that will be moving up before the season is over. So they may feel Jarvis is expendable.
Suarez was stellar in AA. But he was also there for a very few starts. Probably slated to head back there for at least the start of next season. Same thing applies to him: not MLB ready, but still a risk of being lost.
They also need three starting pitchers, an outfielder, and multiple depth pieces. Not to mention 2-4 bullpen arms. Lots of signings will take up a lot of the spots so you have to gamble on a few players.