More James Ramsey Details from a Cardinals Writer

The Cleveland Indians completed a trade of Justin Masterson to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for prospect James Ramsey. We covered the trade quickly here and Nick gave you a good look at who Ramsey is here. We were also contacted by our St. Louis site, Arch Authority, who had interviewed Ramsey during the All Star Break. In order to learn more about the players our teams acquired we asked each other some questions. Here is their questions to me and my answers about Masterson. Below were my questions to them and their answers, learn more about Ramsey from someone who covered him:

1) What are his biggest strengths as a prospect that Indian fans can look forward to?

On the field, Ramsey is a very solid all-around player who is going to provide a very steady defensive presence in center field, and his minor-league home run numbers indicate that he has more punch in his swing than a lot of big-league center fielders. As good of a player as he is, perhaps Ramsey’s greatest strengths are the things he delivers off the field. He’s a renowned leader who is going to work his hardest to create a positive clubhouse environment. That passion is definitely reflected in his play, which usually is a good thing, except in instances like earlier this year, where he hurt his shoulder running into a fence to catch a fly ball. Overall, I would compare Ramsey to Nick Swisher, except with good defensive ability in center. He’s got the same types of attributes- he’s a grinder who is going to hit for some power, and he’ll probably put up a solid if unspectacular batting average. He’s got that same type of enthusiasm and passion that Swisher has though, and that could make him a star if he performs well on the field.

2) What has kept him in Double A after being such a high draft pick?

Ramsey really has been stuck in Double-A through no fault of his own. The Cardinals have spent a large chunk of 2014 with a Triple-A outfield consisting of Oscar Taveras (#2 prospect in baseball according to MLB.com), Stephen Piscotty (also a first-rounder, the organization’s #2 prospect, and #57 prospect in baseball), and Randal Grichuk, yet another former first-rounder who was acquired in the David Freese trade and who may end up being the Cards’ center fielder of the future. When you also factor in that they’ve had to find at-bats throughout the course of the year for major-league veterans Joey Butler and Shane Robinson, plus Thomas Pham, a 26-year-old who may have big-league potential but has already spent four years in Double-A as he’s been held back by injuries, it just made more sense to give Ramsey another year to polish his skills in Double-A. The plan was to promote him to Triple-A as soon as a spot opened up for good, but obviously now with him having been traded that won’t be an issue.

3) Why were the Cardinals willing to give him up for a few months rental of Masterson?

I think it’s due to the same reason that he was still stuck in Double-A: they have too many outfield prospects, and with Matt Holliday and Allen Craig both locked up long-term, there just was never going to be a scenario where there would be room for all these guys in the big leagues. When you factor in the Triple-A guys, plus Charlie Tilson, their #8 prospect who is at Double-A, Rowan Wick, a younger guy who is thriving and moving through the system quickly, and a slew of other young guys who have the potential to fill big-league backup roles if necessary, it probably won’t hurt the Cardinals to lose one of their many young outfielders. Thus, they found Ramsey a reasonable price to pay in order to be able to fill out their struggling rotation.