Tigers#1
02-08-2003, 01:04 PM
Third baseman will be at minor league camp
February 8, 2003
BY GENE GUIDI
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
It hasn't been announced yet, but the Tigers have signed Wilken Ramirez, a highly regarded third baseman from the Dominican Republic.
Ramirez, 17, was sought by a number of teams.
"Our guys who scouted him in the Dominican are really excited because they said this is the first time we got a young player who everyone wanted," said Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers' general manager.
Dombrowski wouldn't say exactly how much the Tigers paid to sign Ramirez, but he acknowledged that it was in the hundreds of thousands.
Ramirez, from the small town of Bani, had been working out at the Tigers' academy in the Dominican. Ramon Pena, a baseball operations assistant who scouts foreign players, called the Tigers and said they should come down and take a look at Ramirez.
Assistant general manager Al Avila made the trip and was impressed with what he saw.
"He's already 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, and has a good body," Avila said. "I timed him in 6.7 seconds for the 60 and then had him hit off of guys throwing 91-92 m.p.h., and he handled himself well. He has a combination of power and speed that catches your eye.
"Pena said he wouldn't come cheap and he didn't, but he has a chance to be something special."
Ramirez will be at the Tigers' minor league camp in Lakeland, Fla., for spring training and is scheduled to begin his professional career this season in the Gulf Coast League. Cincinnati: Commissioner Bud Selig is urging Marge Schott to drop her lawsuit seeking better seats in Cincinnati's new ballpark, but the former controlling owner of the Reds has no plans to drop her case. "This issue has to be resolved by a judge," Schott's lawyer, Mark Wasserman, said. Schott sued Monday, saying she's entitled to a private box and premium-section seats in the Great American Ball Park, comparable to what she had in Cinergy Field.
February 8, 2003
BY GENE GUIDI
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
It hasn't been announced yet, but the Tigers have signed Wilken Ramirez, a highly regarded third baseman from the Dominican Republic.
Ramirez, 17, was sought by a number of teams.
"Our guys who scouted him in the Dominican are really excited because they said this is the first time we got a young player who everyone wanted," said Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers' general manager.
Dombrowski wouldn't say exactly how much the Tigers paid to sign Ramirez, but he acknowledged that it was in the hundreds of thousands.
Ramirez, from the small town of Bani, had been working out at the Tigers' academy in the Dominican. Ramon Pena, a baseball operations assistant who scouts foreign players, called the Tigers and said they should come down and take a look at Ramirez.
Assistant general manager Al Avila made the trip and was impressed with what he saw.
"He's already 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, and has a good body," Avila said. "I timed him in 6.7 seconds for the 60 and then had him hit off of guys throwing 91-92 m.p.h., and he handled himself well. He has a combination of power and speed that catches your eye.
"Pena said he wouldn't come cheap and he didn't, but he has a chance to be something special."
Ramirez will be at the Tigers' minor league camp in Lakeland, Fla., for spring training and is scheduled to begin his professional career this season in the Gulf Coast League. Cincinnati: Commissioner Bud Selig is urging Marge Schott to drop her lawsuit seeking better seats in Cincinnati's new ballpark, but the former controlling owner of the Reds has no plans to drop her case. "This issue has to be resolved by a judge," Schott's lawyer, Mark Wasserman, said. Schott sued Monday, saying she's entitled to a private box and premium-section seats in the Great American Ball Park, comparable to what she had in Cinergy Field.