Hanley Ramírez (born December 23, 1983) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Florida / Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Cleveland Indians. Ramírez is a three-time MLB All-Star and received the 2006 National League Rookie of the Year Award. While he played the majority of his career at shortstop, he also played first base, third base and left field.
Ramírez established himself as an elite hitter during his prime years, with a high career batting average (.289) and a high isolated power (.197). However, he was rated as a poor defensive shortstop, resulting in a move to left field with the Red Sox, where he fared even worse defensively. For the 2016 season, he was transitioned to first base, a move that yielded good results both offensively and defensively. Ramirez's hitting declined from 2017 on, however, as he posted the lowest batting averages and the lowest OPS of his MLB career.
Hanley Ramírez was born on December 23, 1983, in Samaná, Dominican Republic, to Toribio and Isabela Ramírez. His father was an auto mechanic. His first name is a misspelling of Hamlet, which had been proposed by Ramírez's grandmother, a devoted reader of Shakespeare. A clerk was responsible for the erroneous spelling, but Ramírez himself has expressed no misgivings, later saying, "I love my name."
At an early age, Ramírez was an avid baseball fan. He was also known as a basketball player. He attended Adventista High School in Samaná, and attracted the attention of MLB scouts. Boston Red Sox scout Levy Ochoa signed him to the Red Sox in 2000.
Ramírez signed with the Boston Red Sox as an international free agent in July 2000, at age 16. He played in the Dominican Summer League for the DSL Red Sox in 2001. In 2002, with the GCL Red Sox he hit .340 and was selected as a Gulf Coast League and Rookie League All-Star. He also batted .371 in 22 games with the Class A Short Season Lowell Spinners that year.
Ramírez spent 2003 with the Class A Augusta GreenJackets, batting .275 in 111 games. In 2004, he split time across the GCL Red Sox (batting .400 in 6 games), the Class A-Advanced Sarasota Red Sox (.310 in 62 games), and the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs (.310 in 32 games). Ramírez was rated by Baseball America as the number ten prospect in baseball prior to the 2005 season, and with the Sea Dogs that year he was selected as an Eastern League All-Star while hitting .271 in 122 games.
Ramírez made his MLB debut on September 20, 2005, against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, entering the game as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the seventh inning and then striking out in his first at bat in the top of the eighth inning against Tim Corcoran. Ramírez appeared in only one other game that season, striking out again in one at-bat.
Florida / Miami Marlins (2006–2012)
After the 2005 season, the Red Sox traded Ramírez, along with Aníbal Sánchez, Jesús Delgado, and Harvey García, to the Florida Marlins in exchange for Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Guillermo Mota. During spring training, Ramírez was impressive enough to earn the starting shortstop job over Robert Andino. On April 3, he recorded his first Major League hit in his first at-bat of the season, a single to center field off of Houston Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt. On April 18, he led off the game with his first Major League home run off of Eric Milton of the Cincinnati Reds. He hit his second home run in the seventh inning of that game against reliever Mike Burns.
Ramírez led all MLB rookies with 185 hits, 119 runs, 11 triples and 51 stolen bases. He hit seven leadoff home runs, the most in team history for a season and a career. Ramírez's 46 doubles in the 2006 season is the all-time NL record for a shortstop aged 22 or younger. He was the first NL rookie to post at least 110 runs and at least 50 stolen bases. He became just the fifth big-league player since 1900 to hit at least 45 doubles and steal at least 50 bases, joining Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Craig Biggio, and Lou Brock. He finished the season as the NL Rookie of the Year Award named by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
During his sophomore season, Ramírez picked up where he left off. The ever-improving young star was hitting .331 with 14 home runs and 35 RBIs to go along with 27 steals at the All-Star break. Despite his numbers, he did not make the All-Star roster.
Marlins manager Fredi González experimented with Ramírez in the number three slot in the lineup, batting him ahead of Mike Jacobs when injuries hit the Marlins position players. Gonzalez believed Ramírez could be a middle-of-the-lineup player because of his ability to hit for power.
In a game against the Cincinnati Reds on July 22, 2007, Ramírez overextended his shoulder when he tried to hit a pitch on the low outside corner off right-hander Bronson Arroyo. He was helped off the field and was determined to have suffered a partial dislocation of his left shoulder.
In 154 games Ramírez batted .332 with 29 home runs, 81 RBIs, 125 runs and 51 steals. He joined the 20–50 club, falling one home run shy of becoming only the third player in baseball history to hit 30 or more home runs and steal 50 or more bases in the same season. Ramírez led the National League in VORP.
After the end of the season, Ramírez underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair his injured left shoulder.
Entering the 2008 season, after the Marlins traded All-Stars Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers, Ramírez was now one of the faces of the franchise. Ramírez contributed well to the Marlins' fast start, earning a spot as the starting shortstop for the National League All-Star team for the first time in his career. He went 2 for 3 with two singles and a run in the 2008 All-Star Game.
In addition, Ramírez agreed to a six-year, $70 million extension, by far the richest contract in Marlins history.
Ramírez was named NL Player of the Month in June. He had been batting .298 with six doubles, a triple and ten home runs. He led the NL in home runs, runs scored and total bases.