Marlins promote the prized prospect from the Chisholm trade with the Yankees
Catcher Agustin Ramirez, the prized prospect acquired in last summer’s Jazz Chisholm trade with the Yankees, was set to make his major league debut at home against Cincinnati on Monday night.
A right-handed hitter, Ramirez was scheduled to be in the starting lineup against Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo.
Ramirez was recalled from Triple A Jacksonville on Monday after Rob Brantly sustained a shoulder injury in Sunday’s game at Philadelphia.
Brantly, who is going on the injured list, had been promoted two weeks ago to replace starting catcher Nick Fortes, who was placed on the injured list April 10 with a left oblique strain.
Ramirez and fellow rookie Liam Hicks will be the Marlins’ catchers until Fortes returns.
MLB.com rates Ramirez the Marlins’ No. 4 prospect. The strength of his game is his bat. In 376 minor-league games, he hit .266 (.352 on base average) with 60 homers and 266 RBI, with 53 steals in 63 attempts.
This season, Ramirez, 23, was hitting .254 (.313 on base) with seven doubles, three homers and 12 RBI in 19 games, with five steals in five attempts.
Last season, his combined minor-league numbers for the Marlins and Yankees were .267, .358 on base with 25 homers and 93 RBI in 126 games.
The Marlins wanted him to focus on his defense, and how he calls games, during spring training and during his first few weeks in Triple A. There has been some improvement in those areas, though he has allowed 22 steals on 28 attempts this season.
“Catching is a tough position, especially a young catcher, and I think the times that he’s been back there, he’s handled himself well, and a lot of the game awareness, game situational things are going to just continue to feel more normal for him,” manager Clayton McCullough said during spring training. “That just takes some time. …
“While he’s quiet, this guy’s a really solid teammate. He’s a really hard worker. He wants to catch. He realizes and sees for us, too, the value offensively that he can provide, doing it at that position, kind of where the bar is at the Major League level. Like, ‘Wow,’ what a unique combination.”
Last year, Marlins president/baseball operations Peter Bendix said Ramirez, “in particular is somebody that we really liked. We think he is an impact catcher. Those are very hard to find.”
Yankees Double A hitting coach Kevin Martir told the New York Daily News last year that Ramirez “might be like a generational player. Not many guys at his age can make contact as much as he does and also hit the ball as hard as he does with that elite bat speed. He’s an outlier for sure.”
Here is MLB.com’s scouting report on him:
“Ramirez landed the largest bonus given to a Dominican catcher in the 2018-19 international class, signing for $400,000 with the Yankees. His career started slowly as he spent three years in Rookie ball and lost 2020 to the pandemic, but he broke out with 18 homers while advancing from Single-A to Double-A in 2023.
“He recorded a rare 20-20 season for a catcher last year with 25 homers and 22 steals between Double-A and Triple-A and went to the Marlins in July as the main prospect in the Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade.
“Ramirez has a compact right-handed swing with bat speed and strength, which allows him to make a lot of hard contact. Though his solid power plays from foul pole to foul pole, he has a pull-heavy approach that can result in too many rolled-over groundballs at times. He has a tendency to chase pitches out of the strike zone, yet he still puts the ball in play and draws a healthy amount of walks.”
Defensively, he’s “still very much a work in progress behind the plate, Ramirez committed 10 errors and 11 passed balls while allowing 110 steals in 122 attempts (90 percent) in 72 starts at catcher in 2024. His receiving, framing and blocking are all below average, and his solid arm strength is mitigated by a slow release. He’s a well-below-average runner with surprising basestealing savvy, though he probably won’t be nearly as prolific a thief in the big leagues.”
The Marlins also acquired infielders Jared Serna and Abrahan Ramirez in the trade.
Serna, who went on an offensive tear after the trade last July, is hitting .224 (.258 on base) with a homer and four RBI in 14 games at Double A Pensacola.
Ramirez is hitting .265 (.447 on base) with 11 RBI in 11 games at High A Jupiter.
This story was originally published April 21, 2025 at 11:11 AM.
