Red Sox sign power hitting first baseman Roberto Ramos From KBO

Is Roberto Ramos the next great Red Sox minor league signing?

The Boston Red Sox on Monday announced the signing of left-handed-hitting first baseman Roberto Ramos to a minor league deal. Ramos belted 38 home runs in 494 plate appearances in his first season for the Korean Baseball team the LG Twins in 2020.

He followed that up with a sophomore slump in 2021 where he slashed .243/.317/.422 and hit 8 home runs, leading him to be released by the team on June 27th after suffering a lower back injury on June 9th.

Nonetheless, Ramos’ 2020 season was enough for the Red Sox to offer him a minor league contract, as well as, an opportunity to return to the states where he was drafted by the Rockies in 2014.

During his time with the Rockies, he tore through the farm system making it to their Triple-A affiliate the Albuquerque Isotopes in 2019. There he spent the entire season and hit for an impressive .309/400/.580 and jacked thirty home runs earning him a spot on the Pacific Coast League All-Star team.

Unfortunately, this was not enough for the Rockies to give him a call-up to the big league team. This likely led to his decision to sign with the LG Twins in January of 2020. The 27-year-old will look to make his major league debut with the Red Sox in 2022.

Due to his lack of major league experience, as well as, the presence of both Bobby Dalbec and Triston Casas it is unlikely that Ramos will ever be the Red Sox starting first baseman. It never hurts to have depth at any given position in the lineup but Ramos happens to be at one of the few the Red Sox have a logjam at.

However, due to Travis Shaw likely departing through free agency, Kyle Schwarber drawing interest from other major league teams, and Dalbec’s struggles against right-handed pitching for most of 2021 it is entirely possible for Ramos to make the big league team out of spring training as a left-handed hitting first base option off the bench.

Chaim Bloom has struck gold with minor league free agents in the past. And with his track record of bringing in players, I think we can believe that the CBO sees something in the infielder. He’ll hope that Roberto Ramos is another instance of that.