José Ramos was almost a Met on paper only. The Mets signed the former Dodgers prospect at the end November, almost a week after the deadline to protect players from the Rule V draft. No one selected Ramos in the draft and now the intriguing prospect has a chance to make his major league debut with the Mets this summer!
Ramos was listed as the Dodgers #29 prospect heading into the 2024 season by MLB Pipeline, with an assumed major league debut in 2025. That didn’t happen and he was actually unranked last season. His power has been his calling card throughout the minors, slugging 25 bombs in 2022. He’s coming off of a successful campaign last season hitting 18 homers between Double A and Triple A slashing .251/.326/.456. Overall in the minors he has slashed .254/.338/.445 over 581 games with 92 homers.
The Mets will get a quick look at José Ramos over the next week or so before he heads off to play for Panama in the World Baseball Classic. Ramos has represented his home country multiple times in international competitions. In the 2023 WBC, Ramos went 5-for-16 with a home run and five strikeouts (.313/.353/.500). In 2024 he played in the Premier12 tournament and went 2-for-17 with a home run and 3 RBI’s. The World Baseball Classic is a huge opportunity for Ramos who should get a lot of playing time, probably more than if he stuck in Mets camp for the first round of the tournament.
Ramos will most likely make his major league debut at some point this season with the Mets. It is highly unlikely that he breaks camp with the Mets. The Mets currently have six outfielders on the 40-man roster (Soto, Robert Jr., Tyrone Taylor, MJ Melendez, Jared Young and Nick Morabito), plus Brett Baty may see time in right field due to all the infielders on the roster. They have four more outfielders outside of Ramos in camp on NRI’s (Ji Hwan Bae, Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing and Christian Pace).
Ramos’ path to majors will depend on a few things. If Benge is ready to go and there’s a path for him to play everyday, Benge will get the call. If Baty is hitting and playing passable defense, he will stay in right. If there is a short term need, there needs to a spot on 40-man and Ramos will still have to leap frog Jared Young. Ramos will also have to play better than Pache and Bae. All this is to say, the Mets outfield is crowded with current top-prospects and former top-prospects. Ramos has flashed potential before, especially in the World Baseball Classic where he should get plenty of playing time. He has a difficult path to the majors, but one he should make at some point this year.
