The Mets took a swing on Jose Ramos this offseason, and the early returns have made the Dodgers’ decision look a lot less mysterious.
Ramos was one of those low-cost minor league bets that can quietly pay off if everything clicks. He came over after Los Angeles moved on from him, and the appeal was obvious enough: he’s only 25, he had shown some pop in the Dodgers’ system, and he had just put together a strong Triple-A line of .295/.359/.557 in 167 plate appearances last year. Even so, the Dodgers let him go, and the Mets stepped in hoping they had found something.
Instead, Ramos has spent this season in Double-A, and the bat has not played the way the Mets wanted. Through 357 plate appearances, he’s hitting .214/.331/.378 with 13 home runs and 112 strikeouts.
That strikeout total tells the story. He’ll take his walks, but the contact issues have been the drag on everything else.
The swing-and-miss has been a recurring problem, too. Ramos struck out 129 times in 411 chances last year while splitting Double-A and Triple-A in the Dodgers’ organization, and Mets minor league coaches have not been able to clean that up. A 31% strikeout rate is not a total disaster on its own, but it has been part of the same pattern for him.
There was at least one encouraging stretch. Ramos opened the year in rough shape, finishing April at .149/.296/.284, then bounced back in May with a .262/.392/.476 line. Since then, though, the production has settled into similar territory in June and July, including a .674 OPS in June and .679 in July.
Those numbers might look more acceptable against big league pitching. In Double-A, they leave him looking overmatched.
The Mets hoped this might be a sneaky offseason win. So far, it looks a lot more like the Dodgers knew exactly what they were doing.
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