Ramírez eyes adjustments for Year 2 after historic rookie season
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Six months ago, Marlins catcher Agustín Ramírez looked like the front-runner for the National League Rookie of the Year Award.
Ramírez’s historic start to his Major League career included the following:
- First player in at least 125 seasons to have three games with multiple extra-base hits within his first five career games
- First player since at least 1901 to record at least seven hits, including five extra-base hits, in his first three career games
- Second-fastest Marlin to reach 15 career home runs in their first season in the Majors (79 games), trailing only Giancarlo Stanton (71 games, 2010)
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As is the case with any player – no matter the amount of experience – the league quickly adjusts. It’s the player’s job to counter as quickly as possible. Ramírez, who turned 24 on Sept. 10, stumbled down the stretch and finished fifth for NL Rookie of the Year on Monday night. He received two fourth-place and six fifth-place votes for a total of 10 points.
Despite drastic first- and second-half splits (.759 vs. .637 OPS), Ramírez still paced NL rookies in runs (72), hits (124), doubles (33), total bases (222), home runs (21) and extra-base hits (55) while ranking second in RBIs (67) and tied for fourth in steals (16). For historical context, Ramírez became the first rookie catcher in MLB history to eclipse 20-plus homers and 10-plus stolen bases, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
In franchise history, Ramírez was the first rookie to record 30-plus doubles, 20-plus homers and 10-plus steals in a season, and he is only the seventh Marlin to reach those marks, joining Stanton, Cliff Floyd, Derrek Lee, Hanley Ramirez, Gary Sheffield and Preston Wilson.
Ramírez matched J.T. Realmuto’s 2018 All-Star and Silver Slugger campaign for most homers by a Marlins catcher, and Ramírez’s 55 extra-base hits tied Ivan Rodriguez’s showing from the 2003 World Series season.
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“I'll say it was a ‘regular’ season,” Ramírez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. after the final game. “I think I can do more than what the numbers show. I know I said it before: I don’t want to be selfish or anything, but I feel I have more to give, and I'm going to work on that. Just keep working, making the adjustment to give all I got and have better numbers next year.”
By season’s end, Ramírez’s OPS+ had dipped to 92 and his bWAR to minus-0.4. His defensive shortcomings often overshadowed his offensive achievements.
Ramírez led all MLB backstops in errors (10) and passed balls (19). He threw out just eight of 91 basestealers. According to Baseball Savant, Ramírez ranked in the 1st percentile in blocks above average (minus-28), 56th percentile in framing (0) and 28th percentile in pop time (1.99).
“I think we saw all of Agustín's positives, as well as the areas that he needs to improve,” president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said in his end-of-season press conference. “He showed that he has, in my opinion, the ability to be a Major League catcher and also needs to improve a lot in order to be able to consistently achieve that level.
“I think that his offense could even take another step forward. I think he showed a lot of the foundations that we like to see offensively: Hits the ball incredibly hard. He doesn't swing and miss a ton. He gets a really competitive at-bat. I think there's a lot more to come offensively from him, and I think he knows he needs to improve the defense.”
That he does. Ramírez is already training back home in the Dominican Republic.
“200%,” Ramírez said. “That's something I'm going to continue working on. I am a catcher. I want to be a catcher, and something I'm going to continue working so next season I can show that defense is up to that level.”
One of the Marlins’ most interesting spring storylines will be at backstop, where MLB Pipeline’s No. 70 overall prospect (No. 4 for Miami) Joe Mack will split reps with Ramírez and Liam Hicks. Mack was the Minor League’s Gold Glove winner at catcher in 2024, and he helped lead Jacksonville to the Triple-A national title this year.
“I think that we'll see [Ramírez] come back next year recharged, rejuvenated,” manager Clayton McCullough said toward the end of the season. “There are adjustments he's going to have to make offensively to perform better, which is fine, and then also defensively, he's going to have to continue to get better. But I think what we've seen this year makes us still as excited as we were, regardless of how it's finished.”