Don’t Forget About Erasmo Ramirez
Last season, Erasmo Ramirez pretty much came out of nowhere to post a 3.36 ERA (3.61 SIERA) between the bullpen and rotation. He finished the season in the Mariners rotation and over eight starts, posted a 3.64 ERA with a strikeout rate of 7.9. That performance was enough to intrigue fantasy owners and he was considered a sleeper by many. In fact, RotoGrapher Brett Talley liked him enough to boldly predict Ramirez would finish the season as a top 60 fantasy starter. Unfortunately, he has yet to throw a pitch for the Mariners this season, but you would do well to remind yourself who the man they call Erasmo is all about.
In spring training, Ramirez was not guaranteed a rotation spot, but given his competition, the assumption was that he would win the fifth starter job. That did not happen, as he opened the season at Triple-A. Things became a little bit clearer as to why when we learned that Ramirez would start the season on the disabled list. So it wasn’t a matter of the organization choosing Brandon Maurer and Blake Beavan over Ramirez because they expected both to outperform the latter, it was actually because of health reasons.
Since that time, we have heard little about what has afflicted Ramirez. It seems to be some sort of arm problem, whether the elbow or triceps. The good news is that he’s finally back now and has made three starts already between Double-A and Triple-A with solid results. No word yet on velocity though.
Over his eight starts last year, Ramirez’s fastball velocity was actually similar to what he showed when pitching in relief. He averaged between 91 and 94 mph over his individual outings. But while his fastball velocity was respectable, the real weapon was his change-up. He threw it about 22% of the time and it produced a SwStk% of nearly 26%. His slider was also a very effective pitch at generating whiffs, as its SwStk% was about 22%. Overall, his SwStk% was 11.3%, which is excellent, and typically matches up with a K/9 well above the 7.3 mark he posted. He also displayed very good control as he pumped in first pitch strikes at a better than league average rate.
A call-up of Ramirez isn’t necessarily imminent, but you have to assume that Jeremy Bonderman isn’t going to last much longer in the Seattle rotation. He is therefore someone to make a preemptive bid on in deeper leagues and ensure you quickly pounce on in mixed leagues if and when he does indeed get the call.
Mike Podhorzer is the founder of ProjectingX IQ, an advanced fantasy baseball analytics platform that transforms projection data and in-season performance signals into actionable intelligence. He is the 2015 Fantasy Sports Writers Association Baseball Writer of the Year and three-time Tout Wars champion. He is the author of the eBook Projecting X 2.0: How to Forecast Baseball Player Performance, which teaches you how to project players yourself. Follow Mike on X@MikePodhorzer and contact him via email.
Unless the Mariners are just completely stupid, which I suppose is possible, I think Erasmo has to be just 1 or 2 starts away from getting called up. He’s obviously better than Bonderman and Harang. I hope he comes up soon. I drafted him cheap in a keeper league and have not dropped him because I didn’t want to lose the right to keep him next year.
Mike: enjoyed your column and charts last year about first pitch strikes.
Are you planning on doing a similar column again anytime soon?
Hmm, I can’t even recall exactly what column you’re referring to! If you could find it, post the link to job my memory.
http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/pitcher-f-strike-leaders/ Posted a little more than a year ago.
Ahhh, one of my standard leaderboard analysis articles. Sure, I could do both ends of the coin next Mon and Tues.
Hmmm, still available in 15-team redraft league. Do I pull the trigger and drop Gausman?
Yeah, especially in a 15 teamer where you have 14 other owners who may have the same idea about picking up Erasmo before he’s officially called up.
Thanks. BTW, Mike Zunino does sound very close to Mike and Eno.
LOL
I know! And now when I listen to it knowing what he says, I’m like ohhh, of course he says Mike and Eno! I always thought it was a bit weird and random that of all the players he chose to mention in the rap, he went with Mike Zunino.
If Mike Podhorzer writes it – I read it.
That should be my new tagline, though edited for me – “If I write it, you read it”. I command you!
Who do you think I should promote from a minors roster, Ozuna or Arcia? Could use the space to add Erasmo and need R/AVG from the promoted OF.
Ozuna should be up and starting all season, Arcia prob not. Might be demoted again once Hicks returns.
Erasmo’s line in the launching pad of Las Vegas last night….
8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K
Yes please..
Drop Wacha for Erasmo now that he’s been demoted?…I’m in a 3-yr keeper and both would have same round implications. Hard to gauge what the Cards will do with him ROS especially since they are stretching out Carlos. Thanks, love the articles.
Hmmm since it’s a keeper league, makes it tougher. But I assume Wacha will just be clogging up a bench spot. I’d rather play for this year though, which means going with Erasmo under the assumption he’s called up shortly.