Spring Training Game #16: White Sox @ Rangers -- Gavin Floyd vs. Vicente Padilla

Ramirez reminds me in a lot of ways of Alfonso Soriano, although he doesn't have Soriano's explosiveness at the plate. Ramirez is slight of build, but wiry strong, and could probably add some muscle in an MLB-caliber conditioning program. He has very quick wrists and gets the bat to the ball quickly, with very good plate coverage as well. His swing has Soriano's exaggerated finish, and when he connects he has plus raw power to his pull side (left field) and can at least put it to the wall to the opposite field.

The similarities to Soriano continue through to Soriano's biggest negative as a hitter, his lack of plate discipline, and if anything, Ramirez' discipline might be worse. Because he can get the bat to the ball so easily, he tries to hit everything, and very few players in baseball can succeed with that approach. In today's game, Ramirez swung at a ball that hit him, and then swung at another one that would have hit his jaw if he hadn't fouled it off. He took just two pitches in his first three trips to the plate, one of which was a called third strike. He seems to be a reactive hitter, one who reacts to the pitch as it travels rather than trying to recognize the pitch as it leaves the pitcher's hand. So if he gets a pitch in his zone, he can destroy it. He seems to anticipate fastballs in fastball counts, but he can be beaten by a pitcher who can locate his stuff just out of Ramirez's reach.

On defense, he is indeed a bit rough. He has plenty of athleticism to handle second base, but his actions are all wrong for the position, similar to the way B.J. Upton couldn't play second despite being an excellent athlete. Ramirez hampers himself further with a tendency to try to make the flashy play, going for the glove flip during today's game when he would have been better served trying to get the ball out of his glove and then throwing it.

If the White Sox give Ramirez a starting job, he's likely to hit for a decent average with 20-homer power, but his OBP would be poor because he's not going to draw many walks. A few weeks or months in AAA to get him comfortable facing American pitching wouldn't hurt him or the big club.

Other observations from Surprise&

• Josh Hamilton murders fastballs. He took the first pitch he saw, a 92-mph fastball from Gavin Floyd, out to center field, and his other two hits were also smoked. Hamilton isn't just a fastball hitter, but at the least, pitchers need to work him away with offspeed stuff, because throwing him a fastball in or near the zone is asking for trouble.
• Speaking of Floyd, he's gone backward since his days as a top prospect. The No. 4 pick in the 2001 draft -- one ahead of Mark Teixeira -- once had one of the best curveballs in the game, but it's dropped all the way to solid average, and he can't get consistent bite on it, throwing just one plus curve (to strike out Michael Young) during his outing. He doesn't command his four-seamer at 91-93 mph, and his straight changeup isn't going to fool hitters.
• Kazuo Fukumori worked a short inning, showing an 89-91 mph fastball with some downhill plane and a "shuuto" at 85-86 mph with a solid late break that's more vertical than horizontal, making it almost like a splitter with a little cut. He has some effort to his delivery, and I don't see plus fastball command. But if he stays on top of the ball and can mix in the shuuto, he should be effective.
• I've said before that I believe Josh Fields will develop into an above-average offensive third baseman, but he has yet to show progress recognizing breaking balls. That's going to keep his contact rate and his walk rate down, and he doesn't have a great glove on which to fall back.