Baseball in Fort Wayne

Former Fort Wayne Wizards outfielder, Yordany Ramirez, has signed with the Houston Astros and appears to have a good chance to make the big league roster. In fact, the signing is what enabled Houston to pull the trigger on a trade with the Atlanta Braves to acquire Oscar Villarreal for center fielder Josh Anderson.

“Making this deal was contingent on us being able to sign Yordany Ramirez,” Wade said. “[Ramirez] is a developing player with a lot of upside, and this was a chance to stockpile a quality outfielder to the system . . . we wouldn’t have made this trade without getting Ramirez signed. He’s a guy a lot of teams wanted.” [source: MLB.com].

Ramirez was signed to a Major League contract that includes a spot on the 40-man roster. In 2007, the 23-year-old batted .269 with four homers, 43 runs batted in and 22 stolen bases for Class high-A Lake Elsinore. He played 30 games with Triple-A Portland and hit .315 with four homers, 18 RBIs and six stolen bases. He is currently with Licey in the Dominican Winter League, where he is hitting .344 (11-for-32) with five RBIs in 12 games.

Baseball America’s 2007 Best Tools Survey ranked Ramirez as the best defensive outfielder and the best outfield arm in the San Diego organization.

While with the Fort Wayne Wizards in 2005, Ramirez appeared in 104 games where he hit .222 over 369 at-bats with 8 home runs and 68 runs batted in. He drew 18 bases on balls and stole 15 bases.

[tags]Yordany Ramirez, Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, Free Agency, Baseball in Fort Wayne[/tags]

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