Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Erasmo Ramirez
Player Data: Age: 30, B/T: R/R
Primary Stats: 6 G, 14.1 IP, 1 S, 0.63 ERA, 1 HR, 4 BB, 9 SO, 0.837 WHIP
Advanced Stats: 3.68 FIP, 0.7 WAR
Free Agent: 2021
Grade: A
2020 Review:
The Nicaraguan-born Ramirez was signed by the Mets on a minor league contract in June of 2020, but wasn’t called up until the beginning of September. Looking back on his performance, the front office probably should have brought him up sooner.
Ramirez began his 2020 run on September 7th against the Phillies. Rookie David Peterson struggled out of the gate, and only lasted two innings before taking the short walk from the mound to the dugout. Ramirez was called in to limit the damage, and lasted five total innings, giving up just two hits and one earned run on a home run.
That would be the only homer he allowed all season, as well as being only one run he’d allow. Although the Mets’ offense couldn’t come back to win, Ramirez made quite the first impression.
Ramirez got more chances on Sept. 11 and Sept. 13 in a series versus the Toronto Blue Jays, slotting five innings across the two games, allowing just three hits on one walk and three strikeouts.
The right-hander’s worst outing was still a good one against the Phillies on Sept. 17, as he allowed one hit and walked two while striking out a season-high three batters.
Ramirez ended the season with two one-inning performances on Sept. 19 and Sept. 26 versus the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals, respectively. He gave up two hits over these two innings, walked one, and struck out two.
It was a tiny sample size, but Ramirez was on track to have the best season of his career if the season had been longer. A lot of this success rode on his pitch usage. Ramirez has been consistently increasing the use of his sinker over the last few seasons, but the one big change he made in 2020 was with his cutter.
In 2018, Ramirez used his cutter 27.4% of the time, while his changeup sat at 20.4%. In 2019, he used the cutter 19.5% of the time, relying more heavily on his changeup at 24.4%. In 2020, however, his cutter usage increased drastically, spiking up to 37.9% compared to the changeup at just 11.8%.
Ramirez was not an overpowering pitcher by any stretch, but he came in and got some great results for a Mets pitching staff that was struggling to find answers all year.
2021 Outlook:
Ramirez isn’t exactly at the top of the pitcher free agent market, but that doesn’t mean he would be a bad signing. The Mets could get a very friendly contract with him, as he is entering his age 31 season and really hasn’t had a lot of recent success at the major league level besides his brief achievements with the Mets this past year.
Signing Ramirez to a one-year contract could help bolster the Mets bullpen that could use the help. There might even be a chance they can sign Ramirez to a minor league contract again, with an invite to Spring Training.
