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November 19, 2015Cleveland Indians utility infielder Jose Ramirez was involved in a scary collision on Wednesday while playing for Toros del Este in the Dominican Winter League. Ramirez was the first prospect to reach MLB from the Dominican Prospect League and has played in his native country’s offseason leagues to continue working on his game.
On a play similar to the one that ended the season of Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Jung Ho Kang in September, current MLB free agent Moises Sierra (previously of the Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago White Sox) slid hard into second base as Ramirez attempted to complete a double play. The result of the takeout slide was a collision and an awkward fall by Ramirez, which resulted in him being taken off the field in a neck brace and on a stretcher after he was unable to leave the field under his own power.
ESPN Deportes Antonio Puesan was the first to report and provided pictures as photographed by Carlos Cruz:
Malas noticias, José Ramirez es sacado en camilla luego de un deslizamiento brusco de Moisés Sierra. pic.twitter.com/a67eIdYQEc
— Antonio Puesán (@antoniopuesan) November 19, 2015
Translation: Bad news, José Ramirez is taken out on a stretcher after a sharp slide of Moisés Sierra.
Puesan also shared more photographs from Carlos Cruz to capture the play:
Gracias a Dios todo salió bien con José Ramirez, gracias al lente de @carloscruzfoto1 por capturar ese momento. pic.twitter.com/VVmt5nEY8G
— Antonio Puesán (@antoniopuesan) November 19, 2015
Translation: Thank God everything went well with José Ramírez, through the lens of @carloscruzfoto1 to capture that moment.
Stateside, Indians In Depth reporter Todd Paquette kept many of us in the Indians community up to date on the progress and status of Jose Ramirez through the evening.
https://twitter.com/tpaquette_IID/status/667161219955060737
Thankfully, all of the current reports are stating Jose Ramirez avoided major injury, which was confirmed by teammate and Colorado Rockies prospect Cristhian Adames.
https://twitter.com/Crisadams26/status/667184508253286400
Translation: Thank God #JoseRamirez okay… Nothing serious happened… 🙏🙌🙏🙌
Jose Ramirez is an essential player for the 2016 Cleveland Indians. With Mike Aviles a free agent and unlikely to be re-signed, the 23-year-old Ramirez was believed to be the obvious replacement and in line for the key utility infielder role. While Ramirez has struggled some at the plate, his .239/.298/.346 career batting numbers have been buoyed by usually great defense in the field and the fact he is still an incredibly young prospect with 180 games of MLB experience.
Regardless, take a moment as Thanksgiving nears and be thankful a serious injury was avoided.
Update from Indians
Update on Jose Ramirez after a collision at second base last night in winter ball:
Mild to moderate left ankle sprain. He's day to day.
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) November 19, 2015
4 Comments
Pretty soon baseball will legislate any possible collisions at 2B completely out of the game and as a result baseball will suffer. There seem to be a lot more injuries to middle infielders but I think a lot of it has to do with the way players slide. They don’t know how to do it. I watch a lot of MLB Network and they often do a lot of demonstrations about not only the way players slide but also baserunning. I think the lack of fundamentals on the base paths is more of a problem and I hope MLB recognizes it and doesn’t try to use their rule book to correct the issues. MLB has enough problems with their current rule book and how umpires use and apply it IMO.
The current rules are enough to prevent most collisions if they enforce them. If the baserunner slides outside the basepath, then it is interference and the out at first is automatically given. If the fielders know the baserunners will stay in the basepath, then they can step outside it to avoid the slide.
Now, that being said, from photos, it appears the collision with Ramirez was completely legal and clean. He slid through the bag (hard to outlaw such).
well, the injury can’t make him any worse….
I’d have to see it from a different angle to say for sure, but it sort of looks like he turned a bit sideways sticking his left leg way out to snag Ramirez. Sliding through the bag is one thing, but guys can’t be turning themselves into a giant rolling pin to wipe out anything for 3 feet on either side of the base.
Runners should be allowed to slide through the bag, and the defender should have to move to avoid it, but at some point that has shifted into the right to break up the double play if you can reach the defender FROM the bag. I think that’s dangerous primarily because it forces 2nd basemen to jump and risk getting upended from below. I think a straight-up collision is preferable.