Alex Ramírez

Alex Ramírez
Yokohama BayStars — No. 3
Outfielder
Born: (1974-10-03) 3 October 1974 (age 37) Caracas, Venezuela
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Professional debut
19 September, 1998 for the Cleveland Indians
NPB statistics (through 2011 season)
Batting average	.303
Home runs	359
Runs batted in	1182
Teams
Cleveland Indians (1998–2000) Pittsburgh Pirates (2000) Tokyo Yakult Swallows (2001–2007) (NPB) Yomiuri Giants (2008–2011) (NPB) Yokohama DeNA BayStars (2012–) (NPB)
Career highlights and awards
2× Central League MVP (2008、2009) Leader of Batting average in Central League (2009) 3× Leader of RBI in Central League (2003, 2007, 2008) Leader of Home run in Central League (2003) 2× Japan Series champion (2001, 2009)

Alexander Ramón Ramírez (born on 15 August 1974 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who currently plays for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball. He played in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians (1998–2000) and Pittsburgh Pirates (2000). He bats and throws right-handed.

Minor leagues

He was named the Indians' 1998 Minor League Player of the Year (receiving the "Lou Boudreau Award").^[1][2]

Major League Baseball career

In three MLB seasons, Ramírez batted .259 with 12 home runs, 48 RBI, 38 runs, 17 doubles, three triples, and three stolen bases in 135 games.

Nippon Professional Baseball career

After the 2000 season, Ramírez signed with the Yakult Swallows (2001–2007) and was their cleanup hitter. He did hold the Central League (Japan) record for most base hits in a single season (204) set in 2007, but Hanshin Tigers outfielder Matt Murton would surpass this with 214 hits in 2010. Due to contract issues (Ramírez wanted a multi-year contract, but the Swallows offered a one-year contract), he decided to sign with the Yomiuri Giants before the 2008 season.

In 2008, Ramírez led the Central League with 125 RBI while hitting .319 (6th in the league) with 45 home runs (2nd). He also hit two home runs in Game 2 of the Japan Series, including one in the bottom of the ninth to win Game 2.

At the end of the 2008 season, Ramírez won the Central League MVP Award to become the third Venezuelan player to be honored with the title in Japanese Baseball, joining Roberto Petagine (Central League, 2001) and Alex Cabrera (Pacific League, 2002).^[3]

After playing eight seasons in NPB, he obtained FA Right in 2008, and he is also not bound to the restriction of the number of non-Japanese players on each team. Currently, for non-Japanese players, only Ramirez, Tuffy Rhodes, and Alex Cabrera have the right. In 2009, he became the second player to obtain overseas FA rights allowing him to play overseas (even this means nothing as he comes from the Major League) and the fastest foreign player to accumulate 1500 hits in NPB.

Career statistics

Statistics current as of 23 October 2011

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alex Ramírez

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics from Japanesebaseball.com
• Alex Ramirez Web Site

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