As is tradition around these parts after the season is over, we’re taking a look at every player that got into a game for the St. Louis Cardinals this season. That’ll range from someone that didn’t record an out to someone that played almost every inning. Treat it like they are stopping by the manager’s office (umm, also imagine this was before the managerial change) on their way home for the winter for a performance review. Stats listed are ones generated during their time with the Cards and the grade is based not only on their performance but on the expectations for them going into the season. As he has the past few years, the legend that is cardinalsgifs has provided our excellent header image!
Player: Roel Ramirez
Season stats: 0-0, 81.00 ERA, 1 G, 0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 21.17 FIP, 9.000 WHIP, 0.0 K/9, -0.1 bWAR, 0.0 fWAR
Statcast: .665 xwOBA, 0.0 barrel %, 96.8 exit velocity, 100.0 hard hit %, 0.0 K %, 50.0 BB %
Best Statcast category: Max Exit Velocity (97th percentile)
Worst Statcast category: None
Hero/Goat: Goat 1
Grade: D
Positives: Made it back to the big leagues after his 2020 debut where he allowed four consecutive homers and then was removed from the 40-man roster later in the year….had a 4.34 ERA at Memphis and struck out over a batter an inning….was able to catch on with another major league system when the Cardinals put him on waivers, even if he didn’t make another appearance in the bigs.
Negatives: Was unable to lower his 81.00 career major league ERA….staked to a 7-1 lead against Arizona in June, he gave up a single, a walk, got a groundout, then walked another guy before giving way to Ryan Helsley, who wound up letting all of those runners score….was waived by the Mets in July, but cleared and finished the year on their AAA team.
Overview: The Cardinals can now close the book on two-thirds of the Tommy Pham trade, with both Ramirez and Justin Williams leaving the organization in 2021. Ramirez did get some bad luck–on a better day Helsley probably at least strands one or two of those runners, giving his ERA a better look–but when you throw an inning over two years and have nine runs go up against you, you probably aren’t helping balance the scales. At least the Cardinals are getting something out of Genesis Cabrera…..
Outlook: Ramirez signed with a Mexican Baseball League team after the season and will ply his trade outside of MLB in 2022, looking to improve so he can return to the majors. This will be his Age 27 season, so any improvement that is going to happen needs to happen quickly.
