WASHINGTON -- It took one swing for Agustín Ramírez to set the tone on Friday night, mashing a home run into the visitors’ bullpen in left field at Nationals Park in the first inning. But he wasn’t satisfied with just one long ball. So, he hit another.
Ramírez walloped a home run in each of his first two plate appearances in the Marlins’ 11-9 series-opener victory vs. the Nats, finishing the night 3-for-5. It was the second multihomer game of Ramírez’s career (also April 27 in Seattle).
“I feel great,” Ramírez said. “You know, a little bit [of an] adjustment every game, every at-bat, and learning every day too. I feel great, amazing.”
“It was good for Agustín,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “I think he's had a terrific year [for] a rookie, how well he's performed. And certainly [it was impressive] for him to take a low fastball in that first at-bat and put a great swing on it. And I think the other one was a secondary pitch, maybe changeup or split, but he got elevated and hit a home run. So good to see him put on some swings like that, elevate the ball to the pull side.”
When he was first called up in late April, it seemed all Ramírez did was rake. He posted a .290 average in his first eight games, and by the end of May, he was hitting .256 -- slightly less impressive, but impressive nonetheless.
Of course, over time, Ramírez has cooled off as the league has adjusted to him (and him to the league, too). But through and through, he’s a raker. He leads the Marlins with 21 extra-base hits, just one more than Kyle Stowers, and his 10 homers on the season are tied for the team lead -- also with Stowers.
While Ramírez’s homers set the tone, it was after a two-hour, 14-minute rain delay that the Marlins carried through with their early efforts to grit out the win. And for Ramírez, that was what mattered most.
“I go to the field every day for the team,” Ramírez said, “100% for the team, to win.”
But really, it was his second home run that really left its mark.
While Ramírez’s first long ball went into the left-field bullpen -- the second, a solo shot in the third inning -- soared up to the concourse in the left-field corner, traveling a Statcast-projected 448 feet. It was the longest home run of Ramírez’s career, the longest by a Marlin this season and, at the time, the longest hit at Nats Park this year.
That only lasted until the bottom of the inning, though, as the Nationals’ James Wood hit a 451-foot two-run homer to straightaway center.
Still, this season's second-longest homer in the ballpark isn’t too shabby.
And, there will be plenty more long balls in Ramírez’s future -- after all, his max exit velo (114.7 mph) is in the top 6% of MLBers this season.