The Official Site of Hanley Ramirez

Sun, Sep 13th 2009, 10:32

Hanley has sights set on offensive milestone

On Sunday, his very first bobblehead day, Hanley Ramirez could notch yet another milestone in his young career — his first 100-RBI season.

Ramirez has long been considered one of the game’s best hitters, but batting leadoff the past three years minimized his RBI totals. Finally, though, he’s in a true run-producing spot in the lineup — the No. 3 hole — and he’s showing the baseball world how dangerous he can be with men on base.

Going into the finale of the three-game series against the Nationals, the shortstop has 99 RBIs through 133 games and sports a .377 batting average with runners in scoring position — a vast improvement from last year’s .239 mark in that situation.

Ramirez knew after the 2008 season that he’d be transitioning from the leadoff to the No. 3 spot in the order, so he did two things: He put on about 25 pounds in the offseason, and he set out to improve on his run production.

In addition to hitting coach Jim Presley, Ramirez sought advice from Hall of Famer and Marlins special assistant Tony Perez.

And since there’s not much you can physically teach a hitter of Ramirez’s caliber, Perez spoke to him about patience.

“You have to make adjustments with men in scoring position, not always trying to hit the ball [out of the park],” Perez, who averaged 96 RBIs a season during his 23-year career, said recently. “He can still hit the home runs, but he’s going to be more productive for the team driving in runs in the third spot.”

Over his first three full seasons in the big leagues, Ramirez averaged 26 homers, but his RBI totals were 59, 81 and 67, respectively.

Going into Sunday’s game, Ramirez was tied for ninth in the big leagues in RBIs with the Brewers’ Ryan Braun and the Nationals’ Adam Dunn, and he ranked first among all shortstops.

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