Ramón Urías

Ramón Francisco Urías

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

• Debut August 20, 2020

• Born June 3, 1994 in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora MEX

BR page

Biographical Information

Ramón Urías is the brother of Luis Urías. Both brothers were members of the Mexican national team for the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Ramón was originally signed by the Texas Rangers as an international amateur free agent on December 6, 2010. He played two seasons in their system, both with the DSL Rangers, in 2011 and 2012, hitting .213 in 49 games the first year and .268 in 56 games the second. Following that season, he was purchased by the Diablos Rojos del Mexico in the Mexican League, and played for them from 2014 to 2017. He had some good seasons in La Liga, batting .351 in 106 games in 2015, .302 in 53 games in 2016, and .340 in 106 games in 2017.

His success in Mexico motivated the St. Louis Cardinals to sign him as a free agent prior to the 2018 season. He split that year between the Springfield Cardinals of the AA Texas League and the Memphis Redbirds of the AAA Pacific Coast League. In 90 games total, he hit .300/.356/.516 with 28 doubles and 13 homers. In 2019, he spent the bulk of the season with Memphis, hitting .293 in 96 games, but did not get a shot at the majors. The big break for him came before the 2020 season, when the Baltimore Orioles claimed him off waivers from the Cardinals. The major league season was shortened to 60 games by the COVID-19 pandemic that year, and the minor leagues were shut down, but Ramón got to spend time at the Orioles' alternate training site and made his major league debut on August 20th. In 10 big league games, he hit .360 with 1 homer and 3 RBIs. In 2021, he played 24 games with the AAA Norfolk Tides, but otherwise spent the year in Baltimore, where he hit .279 with 7 homers and 38 RBIs in 85 games for a fine rookie season; his OPS+ was 112.

In spite of the Orioles promoting great young prospects left and right over the next two seasons, as the team's on-field performance improved remarkedly, Ramón managed to secure his place as the regular third baseman in both 2022 and 2023, although he also saw time at second base both years, and also at first base in 2023. In 2022, he hit .248 in 118 games, with 16 homers and 61 RBIs, while in 2023 he won the Gold Glove as the best-fielding third baseman in the American League, beating out Matt Chapman of the Toronto Blue Jays for the honor. He hit .264 in 116 games, but with only 4 homers, so his OPS+ dipped below 100 for the first time, to 98. He made his postseason debut that year, going 1 for 2 as the Orioles were swept by the Texas Rangers in the Division Series. His starting job was under pressure early in 2024 when rookie Jackson Holliday, coming off a great spring training and a first few scorching weeks in AAA, was promoted to the big league team in April. However, Holliday failed to hit in his first look at the Show and was sent back to the minors. That left Urías as the starter over the first half of the season, although he was likely to have to cede his position as soon as the youngster was ready to return, with Jordan Westburg sliding over the third base and Holladay taking over at second. Holliday was called up again on July 31st, but that very same day Westburg suffered a broken bone in his right hand when hit by a pitch, which meant that Urías would continue to get a lot of playing time until Westburg was ready to return. He took advantage of the additional playing time to improve his batting numbers, as from August 9-27, he went 15 for 50 (.300) with 5 homers, doubling his season's total to that point and 15 RBIs in 17 games. This included a 5-RBI game on August 16th and a key two-run homer off former teammate Jack Flaherty in a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 27th - all at a time when the Orioles were in a lock-step battle with the New York Yankees for the AL East lead.

Notable Achievements

• AL Gold Glove Winner (2022/3B)

Further reading

• Maria Guardado: "How the Urías brothers rose up the ranks of Mexican baseball", mlb.com, March 9, 2023. [1]
• Jake Rill: "'I feel amazing': Urías stays hot, homers to beat LA", mlb.com, August 28, 2024. [2]

Related Sites

• Ramón Urías on mlb.com