Photo by: Justin Edmonds via http://www.thethletic.com
April 5, 2019 — The A’s have been playing spectacularly well the past eight games. They ended the matchup against the defending World Series Champs 3-1; the defense is a force to be reckoned with, and Ramón Laureano is a huge reason as to why.
It wasn’t easy for Laureano to start his baseball journey in the DR, so he had to figure out a way to start a career for himself. When he was in the DR his parents wanted him to focus on his studies and maintain good grades. For Laureano he was solely focused on a scholarship in the US.
“That meant entering Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI), a Major League Baseball youth outreach program designed to increase participation and interest in baseball among underserved kids. That meant leaving his family behind and taking a scholarship to attend a high school on Long Island. And that meant playing junior college baseball at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, where he finally began to turn some heads.” (McTaggart, B. via mlb.com)
When his coach mentioned a scholarship at Upper Rim Christian High School in Dix Hills, N.Y., he knew it was for him. He lived with seven different host families over the span of 2 1/2 years (sounds terrible), but he admits it helped shape him. (McTaggart, B. via mlb.com)
When Laureano played college baseball at NEO junior college, he was selected to the Men’s Division 1 all-Region 2 team, here are some stats:
“Laureano hit a team-leading .439 in 164 at-bats for NEO. He also led the Norsemen with 19 doubles, 13 home runs, 69 runs batted in and 72 total hits. Laureano scored 55 runs while recording 22 stolen bases.” (neoathletics.com)
Laureano was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 16th round of the 2014 MLB Draft. While Laureano was with the Astros he would pick the brains of Carlos Correa and Carlos Beltrán. He has always been focused on his game and how he can improve his skills.
Yet after four seasons with the Astros, they traded him to Oakland in 2017 because they felt their depth in the outfield was enough and there wasn’t much growth for him.
“Laureano’s stock had fallen after a poor 2017 in which the 23-year-old batted only .227 with a .668 OPS in 513 plate appearances with Class AA Corpus Christi. The previous year, the former 16th-round draft pick had broken out with a .319 average and .955 OPS in 505 plate appearances across Advanced Class A and Class AA.” (Kaplan, J. via chron.com)
Now with Oakland, Laureano is .261 with a .690 OPS. He’s mostly known for his laser arm, and has been given the nickname Laser Ramon. He has been throwing deep passes from the outfield and assisted with some great plays. For example:
He is in the lead for MLB assists with 11, the next closest is five. (@Athletics)
Laureano is doing some great work with the A’s, he definitely a reason the games have been so exciting! The 24-year-old is showing up on the field, I’m sure the Astros are a little upset they traded him, especially after he showed against them this weekend:
thesportsnote 