Is it possible that at the tender age of 25 Hanley Ramirez has already started to slow down?
I understand that he has a new role in the Marlins’ offensive line-up as he has shifted from lead-off to batting third. I understand that the Marlins are asking him to do more with his bat than with his feet. But does that explain why he’s being caught stealing more than he’s being successful?
Through May 3, Hanley has played in 22 games this year. In those contests, he has collected just 3 steals while being caught 4 times. If you compare his numbers from the 2008 season, he already had 8 steals in his first 22 games and had yet to be caught. Hanley was on his way to 35 steals for the 2008 season and was caught a total of 12 times. This year he is on pace to steal just 24 bases and be thrown out 32 times.
So, why the drastic change? Hmmm…. let the conspiracy theorists start their engines… It was reported by several websites that Hanley added up to 25 pounds of muscle during the off-season. You can read some of those articles here, here, and here. And while there is an obvious change in his physical appearance, my beliefs are a little different…
I hate to say this as I am a proud and lonely Florida Marlins supporter, but I feel like our star player, our leader, our franchise, has gotten lazy. I don’t see hunger in his eyes. I don’t see the same effort that this sub-par defender once showed us at shortstop. I don’t see dirty uniforms at the same rate as I used to. Has the big contract taken our star’s desire with it? I hope not. Hanley is by far our most talented player. He excites our home crowd like no other. We need him to be as focused as he has shown he can be. We need him to lead. We need the ‘old’(younger) Hanley Ramirez back!!!!
Please come back Hanley. It was just a few short months ago when we quietly wished for a 40/40 season from you. And we don’t mean 40 stolen bases and being caught 40 times…
He has always had great talent, but has never – never worked on his game. he seems to have a lot of brain cramps whenever he is playing against the Phils. Of course when he isn’t having brain cramps he is mashing the ball over the fences.
I hate to say it but it’s the money. He keeps getting caught stealing, making bad plays at SS, and many times it shows he just does not care about the game.
Number of times caught stealing is directly attributed to him bulking up. There’s nothing more to it.
His OBP and SBs will drop, but its no surprise considering what his new role in the lineup is.
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