Aaron Gleeman on the brilliant young National who nobody talks about (enough):
Just Another Reason To Like The Nationals
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Wilson Ramos went 3-for-3 with a homer last night and is now hitting .267 with a .331 on-base percentage and .443 slugging percentage in 109 games for the Nationals.
Those certainly aren’t jaw-dropping raw numbers, but Ramos’ production adds up to an adjusted OPS+ of 112 and that’s damn impressive for a 23-year-old rookie catcher.
Gleeman notes that in the last 25 years, only six 23-year-old catchers have posted OPS+'s above 100 in at least 400 plate appearances: Joe Mauer, Buster Posey, Jason Kendall, Craig Biggio, Wilson Ramos and Russell Nathan Coltrane Jeanson Martin.
Now, it’s also worth nothing that Mauer’s and Posey’s OPS+‘s were far higher than Ramos’s.
We would actually get a slightly more representative sample if we expand our search to include 22- and 24-year-old catchers ... but that certainly doesn't make Ramos look even worse, because then we add names like Mike Piazza, Alex Avila and Ivan Rodriguez. Sure, Matt Nokes and Sandy Alomar are in there, too. But essentially, a catcher who hits like this in his early 20s is destined for a productive career.
Or as Gleeman concludes, “I think I speak for my fellow Twins fans when I say: Sigh.”
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