Erasmo Ramirez Called Up by Mariners
By Brad Rowland
Before the 2013 season, many people were salivating over the prospect of Erasmo Ramirez joining the rotation of the Seattle Mariners. Then, the club inexplicably jettisoned the young right-hander to the minor leagues and replaced him with such “studs” as Joe Saunders and Jeremy Bonderman.
On Thursday, Seattle set Ramirez free from Triple-A and promoted him to a Major League rotation spot to replace Jeremy Bonderman.
Ramirez was very, very good in the minor leagues this season, posting a nice 3.09 ERA with 8.66 strikeouts per 9 innings, but it was his 2012 MLB debut that people are remembering with fondness. Last year, Ramirez made only 8 starts (16 appearances) as a 22-year-old but he made the most of them, putting up a 3.36 ERA (3.55 FIP) over 59 innings that generated that Spring Training buzz.
The pitcher that Ramirez will replace, former Tigers starter Jeremy Bonderman, struggled mightily this season (4.93 ERA and somehow, more walks than strikeouts), and it was only a matter of time before the organization turned to their most MLB-ready arm. The ceiling of Ramirez likely isn’t a “number 1 starter”, but fans of the Mariners should be thrilled by his promotion, and fantasy owners everywhere should be inserting Erasmo into their starting lineups in short order.