The Official Site of Hanley Ramirez

Fri, May 23rd 2008, 12:31

Hanley heading back to lead off

From third to first. It’s a transition Hanley Ramirez is quite familiar with, and on Thursday the switch was made once again.

Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez has shifted his top offensive weapon to the top of the batting order.

Since his rookie season in 2006, Ramirez primarily has led off. But on May 2, the versatile 24-year-old was dropped to third in the order to take advantage of his power potential.

“We’ll see if it will be a jump start,” Gonzalez said. “Ultimately, we want to get him going. He wants to win ballgames, like all of us.”

Ramirez has been comfortable batting first. In 28 games and 115 at-bats from that spot, he had a .322 average with eight homers and 19 RBIs, to go along with nine stolen bases.

Ramirez had appeared in 16 games in the third stop, and in 56 at-bats, he was hitting .268 with one homer and four RBIs.

Ramirez was given the night off on Wednesday. It’s been a hectic couple of weeks for the shortstop, who last Saturday officially signed his six-year, $70-million contract extension.

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