Updates
Wed, Feb 17th 2010, 12:04
Hanley Ramirez believes he can do better
The question came from a child, and it triggered loud laughter Saturday from more than 200 people at a town hall meeting during Marlins FanFest: “When will Hanley get a new clean batting helmet?”
Hanley Ramirez, the Marlins’ All-Star shortstop, dropped his head and smiled.
“I can’t do it,” he shouted to the crowd, referring to his trademark helmet caked with layers of dirt, grime and pine tar. “I’ve been doing that for five years and I don’t want to change. Nobody here wants me to change, right?”
Actually, there is one person who would welcome some change to Ramirez’s batting approach — Ramirez himself.
That’s right: the player who led the National League with a .342 batting average last season thinks he could have — should have — done better.
“I want to improve everything, be more consistent,” he told reporters after the town hall meeting at Sun Life Stadium. “I could have hit .370, but that last week, I went a little bit into a slump.”
Ramirez was hitting .361 on Sept. 13. He went 12-for-64 (.187) in his final 17 games, a slump that he says haunted him during the winter at home in the Dominican Republic.
Ramirez said he also found himself dwelling “a lot” about the Marlins’ second-place finish in the National League East, how they narrowly missed the playoffs despite winning 87 games.
“I went home this year and said, if we would have won that game or that game, we could have been in this position. We would’ve been close to the Phillies,” he said. “But this is a new season. We’re looking forward to being in the pennant race all season long.”
Comments
Q & A
Got a Question for Hanley Ramirez? Ask it here.
