B4B

In a (subscriber-only) blog entry at ESPN; Keith Law compared Alexei Ramirez’ tools to that of Alfonso Soriano, who some argue is the most physically gifted athlete in all of baseball.

“…Ramirez reminds me in a lot of ways of Alfonso Soriano, although he doesn’t have Soriano’s explosiveness at the plate. His swing has Soriano’s exaggerated finish, and when he connects he has plus raw power to his pull side (left field) and can at least put it to the wall to the opposite field.

With the 2B job still up for grabs on the South Side, Ramirez is somebody worth keeping a very close eye on. Law also goes on to say:

“…If the White Sox give Ramirez a starting job, he’s likely to hit for a decent average with 20-homer power, but his OBP would be poor because he’s not going to draw many walks.

PECOTA backs up Law’s analysis, projecting a .292 batting-average, with 12 long-balls, in 456 plate appearances. He’s also good for at least double digit steals if given that many PA.

UPDATE: It looks like Alexei Ramirez has officially made the team. Yahoo hasn’t added him to their system as of 03/22, but keep an eye out.

Here’s a video of an Alexei Ramirez HR: