Cubs Prospect All-Season Team: Pedro Ramirez Finishes First at Second Base
Our series on the Cubs Prospect All-Season team started at catcher and now continues with second base. As a quick reminder, the goal here is to find the prospect who had the best season at a particular position and not just to name the top-ranked player who happens to play that position. We’ll continue to update the list at the end of each post so you can track all of the selections as we go along.
Second base was another position that was hard to pick from as both Chase Strumpf and Pedro Ramirez put up solid seasons. Ultimately, I went with Ramirez because his numbers were hard to ignore as an 18-year-old playing for the first time in the United States.
Ramirez is a well-put-together middle infielder who moved over to second this year after being signed in January of 2021 out of Tembledar, Venezuela. He made a name for himself last year in the Dominican Summer League, where he eventually won the honor of Cubs DSL Player of the Year. Riding that success, the switch hitter led Cubs second basemen in wRC+, wOBA, average, slugging, and OPS.
He spent most of the season with the ACL Cubs, where he accumulated 163 plate appearances over 43 games before being rewarded with a late-season promotion to Myrtle Beach. Ramirez amassed 46 PAs in 10 games and ended up slashing .316/.388/.481 with a 138 wRC+ between both levels. That latter mark was tied for fourth across the entire organization.
Ramirez may develop some gap power, but home runs won’t be a big part of his game as he advances through the minors. You can see here how he is able to generate some of his power with a very smooth swing.
He has a solid approach at the plate and combines it with the ability to make good line-drive contact that allows him to spray line drives to all fields. I love how he stays with this pitch and lines it to left field.
Ramirez posted a 15.3% strikeout rate and a 9.1% walk rate, which helped him achieve that .388 OBP. Getting on base is important for him because it allows him to show off his plus speed. Ramirez was able to steal 15 bases in 19 attempts.
As of right now, I see him carving out a niche as a bench bat with solid defense up the middle. He should open 2023 in Myrtle Beach with a chance at moving up to South Bend sometime during the season. A good performance next season could really put him on the map as a prospect, and I really want to see how he continues to hit in a full-season league.
Catcher – Moises Ballesteros
Second – Pedro Ramirez