PORT CHARLOTTE — Harold Ramirez joined the Rays’ squad Sunday morning definitely looking the part.
“He seems like very much a team guy, that he went ahead and dyed his hair our color,” manager Kevin Cash said. “That is Ray blue, not Cub blue.”
Actually, Ramirez explained, the somewhat electric hue was for the Caimanes de Barranquilla team he played for this winter in his native Colombia. But he is very eager to fit in with the Rays after being acquired from Chicago in a trade Friday.
“I was very excited because this team, they like to compete a lot,” Ramirez said. “They want to go to the playoffs, so I’m going to give my 100 percent over here.”
The Rays are banking on help from Ramirez, 27, who they plan to use as their right-handed DH, and occasional outfielder, against lefty pitchers.
He came with solid references.
As word of the trade filtered out Friday night, Cash got a text from good friend Terry Francona, who managed Ramirez last year in Cleveland, and “spoke really highly of him” — that he was good to have in the lineup as well as in the clubhouse.
Rays starter Luis Patino was definitely glad to see Ramirez, as they are two of about eight current big-leaguers (and fewer than 30 overall ) from Colombia, and know each other well.
“He’s my brother,” Patino said via team interpreter Manny Navarro. “All offseason we work together and we get to hang out with each other. (Friday) night I called him and he said, ‘Hey, prepare your teammates — Randy (Arozarena) and those guys — because I like to play dominoes.’ It’s the first time in my career I’m going to play with another Colombian as well.”
Said Ramirez: “We are like brothers. So now we are helping each other to be better to be here. So that’s good for us.”
In playing 221 games over parts of three seasons with Miami and Cleveland, Ramirez has established himself as someone who doesn’t make contact often enough, but when he does tends to hit the ball very hard. He ranked 37th in the majors last year with an average exit velocity of 91.3 mph and 44th with a max of 114.8 mph.
The challenge now is to get those hard-hit balls in the air more frequently, as Ramirez too often hits ground balls and line drives, with just 18 homers in his first 770 big-league at-bats.
Yandy Diaz had a similar profile when the Rays acquired him from Cleveland in December 2018, and he has made some noticeable improvements. Ramirez is hoping to do the same, changing the foundation of his swing to get under the ball more to provide loft.
“I just started working on something different to put the ball more in the air because I have good power, so that’s going to help me to hit more homers,” he said. “So let’s see what’s going to happen.”
Rays hitting coach Chad Mottola said his review of video and seeing Ramirez in the cage Sunday morning has him encouraged.
“He’s doing it the right way,” Mottola said. “He’s done it with a mechanical change that should last. It’s not just one of these things where you tell him and they start to make bad decisions because they’re trying to catch a ball they can hit out.”
Ramirez has had a hectic few days, delayed by visa issues from reporting to camp with the Cubs in Arizona until Thursday, then getting word Friday of the surprising trade — as the Cubs acquired him in November after he was designated for assignment by Cleveland — and flying to Florida on Saturday.
The Rays plan to give him some time to get acclimated and in shape to play games, but Ramirez — who had only about two weeks off after a winter ball season extended by a trip to the Caribbean Series — said he is ready to go and eager to pull on Rays’ blue.
“The results are going to come. I have confidence,” Ramirez said. “I hope they’re going to get confidence in me, too.”
