Ramón Tavárez

Hector Ramón Tavárez

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 180 lb.

• Born November 12, 1969

BR minors 90-92

BR minors 95-09

Biographical Information

Ramón Tavárez has played in several countries over four different decades.

Tavárez first spent time in the Dominican Summer League in the late 1980s. He came stateside in 1990 with the Medicine Hat Blue Jays and hit .279/.324/.360; he fielded .904 at shortstop, a position he split with Mike Coolbaugh. In '91, Ramon batted .291/.374/.342 for Medicine Hat with 10 steals in 10 tries and also played for the St. Catharines Blue Jays, going 1 for 1. He hit .278/.340/.367 for the 1992 Dunedin Blue Jays, in a utility infielder role.

Ramón was 14 for 39 for the 1994 China Times Eagles in his first trip to Taiwan. He returned three years later and batted .348/.379/.478 for the Chianan Luka. In between, he hit .268 and slugged .350 for the '95 Palm Springs Suns and .287 with a .404 slugging percentage for the 1996 Tri-City Posse.

Tavárez came to Italy in 2001 to play for Anzio. He hit .388/.534/.657 with 55 walks and 44 RBI in 53 games while fielding .915 at short. He finished second in average behind Manny Francois. He led in OBP and was second in walks behind only Claudio Liverziani.

In 2002, the switch-hitting veteran put up a line of .383/.492/.580 for Anzio with 38 runs and 38 RBI in 48 games. He was third in average behind Orlando Munoz and Davide Dallospedale. He was second to Liverziani in OBP and 4th in slugging.

Ramón had his third straight .380 season for Anzio, hitting .380/.445/.540 in 2003. He scored 43 runs and drove home 41. He was third in average and 6th in OBP that year. Tavárez fell to .282/.393/.335 in 2004 at age 34. After two straight seasons fielding under .900 at third base, he also moved to the outfield that year.

After not playing in Serie A1 in 2005, Ramón returned in 2006 to bat .350/.411/.425 in part-time action for Anzio. He moved to Nettuno in 2007 and hit .291/.452/.350 to place third in OBP. He hit .280 in the finals, but Nettuno fell in 7 games.

In 2008, Tavárez put up a .260/.358/.331 line for Nettuno and then hit only .182 in the postseason, but they won the pennant. He starred in the 2008 European Cup. In the Regensburg phase, he hit .571/.591/.810 with six runs in five games. He led the event in average, was 4th in slugging, led with 12 hits, tied Raily Legito for 4th in OBP, tied for third with three doubles (even with Alexander Lauterbach and Tomas Polansky) and tied for 8th in runs. Tavárez then was 3 for 7 with a walk, two doubles and 4 RBI in the 2008 European Cup Final Four. He tied for third in average (behind Lorenzo Avagnina and Dean Rovinelli) and led in total bases, RBI and doubles. In the bottom of the 8th of the finale, with Nettuno behind T&A San Marino, 2-1, he stepped up with two on and two out. Facing Luca Martignoni, he promptly delivered the two-run, game-winning double, to take home MVP honors.

The 39-year-old from Bani returned to Nettuno in 2009 and batted .231/.326/.299. For 2010, he moved to the Catania Warriors Paternò.

Sources

• Italian Baseball and Softball Federation
• Baseball.it
• Chinese Wiki Baseball
• 2002-2004 Baseball Almanacs
• 1991 Baseball Guide