|
“FENWAY'S BEST PLAYERS”  |
|||
Hanley Ramírez was from Samaná, Dominican Republic. He attended Adventista High School in Samaná, and signed with the Red Sox as an international free agent in July 2000, at age 16. He played in the Dominican Summer League in 2001.The next year, with the Gulf Coast League Red Sox he hit .340 and was selected as a Gulf Coast League All-Star. He then was promoted to the Lowell Spinners. Hanley spent 2003 with the Class-A Augusta GreenJackets, and in 2004, he split time across the GCL Red Sox, the Class A-Advanced Sarasota Red Sox, and the Portland Sea Dogs, where he was selected as an Eastern League All-Star. Hanley made his Red Sox debut in September 2005 and appeared in two games that season, striking out twice. After the season, the Red Sox traded Hanley, along with Aníbal Sánchez, Jesús Delgado, and Harvey García, to the Florida Marlins in exchange for Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Guillermo Mota. After two fine seasons with Florida, entering the 2008 season, Hanley was now one of the faces of the franchise. He contributed well to the Marlins' fast start, earning a spot as the starting shortstop for the National League All-Star team for the first time in his career and was named NL Player of the Month in June. But during the 2011 season, Hanley performed below his usual level of play. By the end of June, he was hitting just .200 and in July 2012, he was traded to the Dodgers. In the last year of his contract in L.A., Hanley dealt with several injuries throughout the 2014 season and gained a reputation as a defensive liability at shortstop. In November 2014, as a free agent, Hanley signed a four-year deal with a fifth year vesting option, to return to the Red Sox. They announced plans to play him in left field, even though he had only previously played shortstop and third base in his career. On Opening Day 2015, in his first game with the Sox in almost 10 years, he played left field for the first time in his career and hit two home runs, one of them a grand slam, as the Sox routed the Philadelphia Phillies 8–0. At the end of April, Hanley hit his 10th home run of the season, joining David Ortiz as the only players in Sox history to hit 10 home runs in the month of April. However, a few days later, he left the game against the Rays after crashing into the left field wall at Fenway Park with a left shoulder sprain. He ended the season with a .249 batting average and 19 home runs, while his defense in left field was rated as the worst in the American League. Hanley reported early to 2016 spring training after being moved to first base. In July, he belted three two-run home runs against the San Francisco Giants at Fenway. In August, he hit a pair of three-run home runs against the Diamondbacks. It was his 20th career multi-homer game. Then in September, in perhaps the most memorable at-bat of his season, Hanley hit a walk off three-run home run to stun the Yankees and complete a thrilling comeback victory. The win would help the Sox to an eleven-game win streak and eventually the 2016 AL Eastern Division title. When Hanley hit his 30th home run of the season, along with Mookie Betts and David Ortiz, they became the first trio in Red Sox history with 30 home runs and more than 100 RBIs in the same season. With the retirement of David Ortiz and the offseason addition of first baseman Mitch Moreland, Hanley took on the role of designated hitter in 2017. He batted .242, with 23 home runs and in the ALDS, he was 8-for-14, as the Red Sox lost to the eventual World Series champion Astros. In 2018, Hanley batted .330 for the month of April, but struggled in May, batting .163. At the end of May, he was designated for assignment when the Sox activated Dustin Pedroia from the disabled list. Hanley signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians for 2019 but was let go in April. |
|||
|
|
