Manuel Ramírez

Manuel Jesus Ramírez Nogueda

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 165 lb.
• Born September 7, 1982 in Acarigua, Portuguesa Venezuela

BR Minors page

Biographical information

Manuel "Manny" Ramírez is a former minor league catcher/first baseman who played from 2001 to 2004 in the Milwaukee Brewers farm system.

Signed as an undrafted free-agent in 2000, he began his professional career in 2001 with the AZL Brewers, where he hit .303 with five home runs and 30 RBI in 46 games. In 175 at-bats, he slugged .531, hitting 17 doubles and four triples. He led his team that year in doubles and RBI. He was second on the team in runs (his 27 trailing Ozzie Chavez's and Francisco Plasencia's 38), triples (he had four, Chavez had six), and home runs (Matt Serafini hit seven dingers).

With the High Desert Mavericks in 2002, he played in 62 games, collecting 52 hits in 193 at-bats for a .269 batting average. He hit three home runs, drove in 22 runs and scored 30. He grounded into 10 doubles plays, which led the team.

His batting average jumped to .330 in 2003, while playing for the Helena Brewers. He hit 11 home runs and drove in 52 runs, with both totals leading the team. He also led the team in doubles, and he tied with Barrett Whitney and Justin Barnes for the team lead in doubles plays grounded into, with five. He tied with Robby Deevers for second on the team in hits, with 72.

In 2004, his batting average dropped almost 100 points to .236 while playing for the Beloit Snappers. He hit five home runs and drove in 35, while scoring 36. His professional career ended following the 2004 season.

Overall, he hit .280 in 257 career games. In 882 at-bats, he collected 247 hits, 67 doubles, six triples and 24 home runs. He scored 129 runs and drove in 139, stealing only four bases, walking 74 times and striking out 177 times.

Ramírez was part of the "age change conspiracy" that so often happens with Latin American baseball players when they go to the United States to play professional baseball. He originally claimed to have been born on July 7, 1982, but it was later found out that he was born on September 7, 1982. [1]

Ramírez has played a couple times for Venezuela's national team since his minor league career ended. He helped them win the Silver at the 2005 South American Championship. In the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games, he hit .310/~.310/.379. In the 2006 COPABE qualifiers for the 2008 Olympics, he hit .268/.262/.463 with five runs, five RBI and two homers in 7 games as a 1B/RF/DH for Venezuela. He was 1 for 10 with two walks in the 2007 Pan American Games. In the 2007 Baseball World Cup, he batted .185/.214/.333 as a 1B/DH. The bright spot was a 2-run homer off of David Bergman, more offense than the vaunted Cuban national team managed against the bespectacled Dutch star.

Ramírez went 2 for 22 in the 2008 Americas Baseball Cup but Venezuela still won a spot in the 2009 Baseball World Cup.

Sources

• The Baseball Cube
• IBAF site
• Central American and Caribbean Games