Look out world, Hanley Ramirez is ready to play hard this season.
No more fooling around for this kid. No more treating ground balls with that special Roger Dorn flair. No more strutting around like he taught Abner Doubleday the nuances of the game. No more spotting the pitcher a pitch or two in each at-bat.
Ramirez, the star shortstop of the Florida Marlins, is ready to rebound from a sub-par 2010 season in which his average dropped 42 points, his RBIs plummeted from 106 to 76 and his defense regressed from casual to careless.
With spring training only two weeks away, the enigmatic star is ready to return to the form of 2009 that nearly netted him the NL MVP award. He says he “has the hunger of a rookie,” and started his offseason workouts a month early, according to a report from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
Good for him. It’s heartwarming to see a three-time All-Star who is about to make $11 million decide that unlike last year, this time he really means business. These sorts of stories always make me wonder why he wasn’t motivated before? Perhaps it’s a matter of being too good too soon, and you just assume you’re going to hit .340 and drive in 100 every year. It just comes that easily. Or maybe it’s a matter of looking at the prospect of making $57 million over the next four seasons and feeling pretty happy with yourself.
Either way, Marlins fans are going to be facing years of frustration if their best player has to remember to be motivated every of couple of seasons. Ramirez is obviously a great talent, and even a down season like 2010 translated into an OPS+ of 124. But he’ll have to realize at some point that you can’t get by on talent alone. Otherwise you end up like Shawn Kemp, and nobody wants to see that.
Jackson reports that last year, opposing pitchers figured out that a steady diet of sinking pitches down-and-in would hold Ramirez in check, and the Marlins star never adjusted. And then there is the issue of his attitude, which some teammates perceive – according to Jackson – as moody.
There’s nothing wrong with a little humility. And knowing what a joy it is to watch Ramirez at his best, one can only hope that his new-found motivation has a lasting impact.
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