Trim and power hungry
Ramirez comes in ready for the season
FORT MYERS — J.D. Martinez is still out there, which means there’s a chance the best power hitter on the market could end up hitting third or fourth for the Red Sox on Opening Day.
But there’s also a chance he doesn’t. And in that scenario, Hanley Ramirez becomes one of the most important Red Sox players.
If there’s any fan base that can be OK with the idea of a beat-up 34-yearold at designated hitter, it has to be Red Sox faithful. David Ortiz scared them a few times with a couple of prolonged slumps and a few too many injuries as he made his way into his late 30s, and persevered through 40. Tom Brady is still going strong at 40.
And no, Ramirez has neither the pedigree nor past performance of either of those New England icons. He has Ortiz on speed dial. And he’s such a fan of Brady he bought the quarterback’s book and began training like him last year.
“A guy like that inspires people to get better and to show to others that age is just a number when you do the little things right,” Ramirez said yesterday.
For those who follow him on Instagram, they got used to seeing videos of Ramirez working out by his pool in Miami. But he wasn’t crushing double-digit sets with 300 pounds on the bench press. He didn’t want to get bigger. This time, Ramirez got smaller. He was throwing a medicine ball, pulling on rubber bands and working on his balance.
And while he said he hasn’t met Alex Guerrero, Brady’s infamous trainer, nor does he strictly adhere to the Brady diet, the slugger has taken to the idea of working the little muscles and staying flexible.
Ramirez said he lost 15 pounds, and nobody who saw him walk into camp could argue with him.
“He looks really good, man,” said right fielder Mookie Betts. “Maybe it works.”
In 2015, Ramirez showed up looking monstrous after putting on substantial muscle. Then he had a horrible season. In 2016, he trimmed down. He wanted to get more agile. Then he had the first 30-homer, 100-RBI season of his career. In 2017, he looked bigger again. Another bad season.
Fluke or not, Ramirez’ physique has directly correlated to production. The smaller he is, the bigger the numbers.
“No heavy lifting,” he said. “I read Brady’s book and it’s working for me. When you’re young, you need the big muscles to get stronger. When you get in that age past 30, you’ve got to concentrate on the little muscles. You get that power from the big muscles. When you get hurt, most of the time those little muscles stop working. So you’ve got to keep working on those little muscles, which is what those bands do. They give you resistance and keep the little muscles working.
“My hips and swinging, hands are faster. It’s effortless. I feel good things. At the end of the day, you just sit down and think about changes you’ve got to make for next year and when you start doing that, you see the difference. The mind is telling you that it needs it.”
Coming off surgery on his left shoulder, Ramirez said he’s 100 percent healthy. Last spring he couldn’t throw. Currently he’s been throwing for the last three weeks.
With a healthy shoulder, manager Alex Cora thinks Ramirez could be a weapon again.
“I think the shoulder was a big problem,” Cora said. “When he was loading, he was pulling off the ball, wasn’t staying on pitches like he used to. He used to drive the ball to right-center.”
The numbers prove it. According to FanGraphs, Ramirez pulled the ball 43 percent of the time last year, up from 38 percent in 2016, his best season with the Red Sox. His groundball rate dropped 7 percentage points while he seemingly tried to put everything in the air. And his contact rate was a career-low 75 percent while pitchers overloaded him with junk and threw him the fewest fastballs of his career, just 55 percent heaters.
Changes were necessary. If shoulder surgery wasn’t enough and the Tom Brady workout plan doesn’t work and Ramirez can’t adjust to the way pitchers are attacking him, his career is in jeopardy.
But he’s given the Sox reason to believe that he’s not done.
“You’re gonna see (more power), for sure,” Ramirez said. “Literally, I was hitting with one arm last year and I hit 23 (homers). Now that I feel good, there are not going to be excuses. Better go out there and hit 30.”
And if he can show them something in the next week or two, it could take pressure off the front office to make a giant splash in free agency.
“If he hits,” Cora said, “he’s going to play.”