The legend of Agustin Ramirez continues to grow.
“We called up the greatest hitter alive, I guess,” Miami Marlins pitcher Cal Quantrill said with a laugh.
Ramirez hit his first major-league home run Friday night, a 406-foot blast to deep left-center field in the eighth inning, as the Marlins defeated the host Seattle Mariners 8-4 in the opener of a three-game interleague series.
“When I was running around the bases, the joy was incredible,” the rookie said through an interpreter.
Ramirez is batting 7-for-10 through his first three games, with four doubles, the homer and three RBIs. With a couple of walks, his on-base plus slugging percentage is 2.150.
“The quality of the contact, the at-bat quality, the calmness, the presence in the box — it doesn’t seem like the stage is too big for him,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “He took some really good swings … to homer out there to left-center here, that’s big-boy land.”
Ramirez was acquired by the Marlins last July as part of the package they received from the New York Yankees for Jazz Chisholm Jr.
He was called up from Triple-A Jacksonville on Monday due to injuries to Marlins catchers Nick Fortes (left oblique strain) and Rob Brantly (right lat strain).
Ramirez was in the lineup as the Marlins’ designated hitter on Friday and batted cleanup.
While he’s still learning the defensive side of the game, he’s already shown his bat deserves to be in the lineup.
“Catching is a tough position, especially a young catcher, and I think the times he’s been back there he’s handled himself well,” McCullough said of Ramirez, who caught Max Meyer’s gem Monday in which he pitched six scoreless innings with 14 strikeouts. “A lot of the game awareness, game situational things are just going to feel more normal for him. That just takes time.”
Jesus Sanchez also homered for the Marlins, who scored six unearned runs with two outs in the fifth inning to take the lead. The victory was Miami’s fourth in the past five games.
The Mariners lost the opener of a fourth straight series, though they have rallied to win two of three in each of the others.
Dylan Moore and Jorge Polanco homered for Seattle, which got a scare when ace Logan Gilbert left after three perfect innings with right forearm tightness.
Gilbert said he would likely have an MRI on Saturday.
“I felt it a little bit warming up. Just never went away,” Gilbert said. “Sometimes you just get going and it feels a little better. (Friday night), it just didn’t.”
Gilbert, who hasn’t missed a start since making his major-league debut in May 2021, led the majors with 208 2/3 innings pitched last season.
“I take a lot of pride in that,” Gilbert said. “It’s kind of how I want to be known, eating innings and being dependable and being healthy. You can’t control all that, but I’ve been healthy and never really came out of a start. I think this is the first one when I came out.”
Saturday night’s game is scheduled to feature a pair of right-handers in Miami’s Connor Gillispie (0-2, 6.75 ERA) against Seattle’s Luis Castillo (2-2, 4.44). Castillo has a 5-1 record with an ERA of 2.20 and 51 strikeouts in seven appearances against the Marlins in his career. Gillispie has never faced the Mariners.
-Field Level Media
