Pirates’ Ramirez A Quick Riser

BRADENTON, Fla.—Much changed for Harold Ramirez from one spring training to the next. help with coursework

---

The right fielder arrived to minor league camp out of shape last year. As a result, he was held back in extended spring training and did not play his first game at high Class A Bradenton until May 26.

This spring, Ramirez took part in his first major league camp and was a Grapefruit League phenom with nine hits in his first 14 at-bats. Though ticketed for Double-A Altoona to begin the season, the 21-year-old made an impression on big league manager Clint Hurdle.

“I like the man in the box,” Hurdle said. “He’s what I call a ‘bone collector.’ He gets base hits. He can play three outfield positions. He’s learning things.”

Ramirez hit .337/.399/.458 with four home runs and 22 stolen bases in 80 games at Bradenton last year. He followed that with a winter-ball stint in the Mexican Pacific League that he found to be very beneficial.

“I feel more experienced now,” Ramirez said, “because they have a lot of big leaguers (in the MPL). They throw a lot of sliders in that league.”

Ramirez left camp to play for his native Colombia in a World Baseball Classic qualifier at Panama City in mid-March. He was slated to return to Bradenton to prepare for the Eastern League season.

Though the Pirates methodically move their players through the system for the most part, Ramirez, who signed in July 2011, has his eyes on making his major league debut at some point in 2016.

“I think this is the year I can make it,” he said. “I always try to play hard. If you try hard in this game, good things happen.”

PITTBURGERS

• Outfielder Austin Meadows, the organization’s top position prospect, sustained a fractured orbital bone around his right eye during a fluke spring training accident in which he was struck by a ball that deflected off the glove of another player while playing catch. He is expected to join Ramirez in the Altoona outfield once healthy.

• Third baseman Jordan Luplow, expected to play at Bradenton, will not be ready for the start of the season as he continues to recover from August surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left (non-throwing) shoulder. The 2014 third-rounder made the conversion from outfielder to third baseman last season at low Class A West Virginia.