The Phillies entered the season with two good reliever prospects. One of those (Jimmy Cordero) went down early in the year, the other blazed through the minors to make his debut at age 23. Edubray Ramos’ journey to the majors has not been a straight one. He was out of baseball less than a year after signing with the Cardinals. It would be a year and a half before the Phillies gave him a second chance in the game. Ramos had a year of mediocrity in the Phillies season before going on a meteoric rise that would see him go from the VSL to the majors in two years. Armed with a plus fastball-breaking ball combination, Ramos looks to be a part of the Phillies future and potentially a key part of their future bullpen.
What Was Written Before the Season:
Role: High leverage reliever
Risk: Medium – Ramos has the control, but he still loses his command at times. The line between a middle reliever and a high leverage stopper can be a thin one.
Summary: Ramos had a lot of helium last year when he made the top 50 as a reliever, without appearing in a full season game. In 2015 he exceeded even those lofty expectations when he dominated the Florida State League before ending the regular season in Reading (he would also pitch in both the Arizona Fall League and Venezuelan Winter League). His numbers were not as good in AA, as his control faltered, but the control bounced back in Fall League, when he did not walk a batter in any of his appearances. In addition to Ramos’ success against higher level competition, his fastball ticked up from 92-94 touching 95 to sitting 94-97. He still throws a breaking ball that goes from a power curveball to a short, cutter like slider. There is more control than command as he tends to fill the strikezone more than work the edges, but there is room for the command to continue to grow. With two plus pitches and solid control, Ramos projects as a good middle reliever with back end impact if he can grow his command. He was added to the 40 man roster this offseason and should see the majors at some point soon.
2016 Outlook: By being on the 40 man roster Ramos will get an invite to big league spring training, but there is very little chance that he will open in the big league bullpen. His performance there will determine whether he makes a repeat trip to Reading or moves on to Lehigh Valley. Either way he will be close to a major league call up.
What Happened in the Minors:
Stat Line (AA): 11 G 15 IP 2.40 ERA 1 HR 1 BB (1.8%) 15 K (26.8%)
Stat Line (AAA): 15 G 23.2 IP 0.38 ERA 0 HR 3 BB (3.3%) 26 K (28.9%)
Ramos did to the minors exactly what he has been doing to the minors over the past few seasons. He blazed through AA and AAA with great control and a swing and miss breaking ball. Ramos firmly sat in the mid to high 90s with his four seam fastball, up from the low to mid 90s of his earlier seasons in the Phillies organization. In Reading they used him as the primary closer to open the season, giving him some experience in the back of the bullpen role. In AAA he saw more two inning stints and was masterful in that role, breaking 30 pitches in an outing just twice in 15 games in AAA. The hallmark for Ramos in the minors has always been his ability to throw strikeouts and routinely had outings where he would only through a couple of balls total.
What Happened in the Majors:
Stat Line: 42 G 40 IP 3.83 ERA 5 HR 11 BB (6.9%) 40 K (25.0%)
The Phillies brought Ramos to the majors on June 24 as they sought to stabilize their bullpen. From his callup through the beginning of September Ramos provided the Phillies with another backend arm to pair with Hector Neris and Jeanmar Gomez. Much like the rest of the bullpen, the long season (Ramos ultimately pitched 78.2 innings across majors and minors in 2016) got to him and his command seemed to falter down the stretch. The fatigue may have also caused a sore elbow which ended his season prematurely on September 22. The Phillies maintain Ramos’ long term health is not in question and that decision to have him not throw was precautionary.
In the majors, Ramos used a 4 seam fastball that averaged 95-96 and touched up to 98 and a hard slurvy breaking ball. His fastball lacks great movement, but he was able to throw it for strikes in the majors just like he could in the minors, but his still developing command got him into trouble at times and his fastball was not really a weapon. On the other hand, Ramos’ breaking ball was a real weapon. Some call it a slider and others a curveball, and he can throw the pitch anywhere from about 77 to about 84. This does lead to some consistency issues, but opposing batters missed 40% of the breaking balls they swung at this year, making the pitch a real weapon for Edubray.
It is not all great for Ramos though. As you would expect for a fastball-breaking ball reliever he struggled against left handed batters. He missed less bats against them while allowing all of his home runs vs left handed batters. Part of this is Ramos’ other problem, he does not get whiffs in the strike zone in the majors. Now that is the hardest skill for any pitcher, so this is not a huge knock against Ramos. Against righties he was able to bury the breaking ball down and away from them for a swinging strike. Against lefties he had some success getting misses up and out of the zone, and some down, but not to the success he had against right handed batters.
Overall Ramos was solid, but unspectacular statistically for the Phillies. However, at 23 years old he showed some flashes of skills that could make him a valuable asset for the Phillies going forward.
The Future:
At this point it seems clear that Ramos has a role in a major league bullpen. The problem is that he still has work to do to not have that be just a low leverage middle relief arm. I am often asked about what is the difference between command and control. This is what control looks like:
Ramos throws strikes, what he needs to do to take his game to the next level is to throw better strikes. Ramos’ fastball lacks explosive movement so he will need to compensate by locating to the edges of the zone to avoid hard contact. He also needs to keep his breaking ball down to get hitters to swing over it, as any loopy hanging breaking balls are going to be crushed by major league hitters.
Ramos turns 24 this offseason, so he is young, but not extremely young. Velocity wise he is a finished product, but like many young players the key in the major leagues is reach the next level of consistency and refinement. If Ramos can make those adjustments he has the stuff to be a bullpen asset alongside of Hector Neris as the Phillies try to build their next competitive team.