How Ramos went from early Giants camp cut to MLB All-Star

SAN FRANCISCO -- The initial feeling for Heliot Ramos was shock, but as he started to let family members and friends know that he would represent the Giants in the MLB All-Star Game, other emotions flooded out. Ramos burst into tears when he read a congratulatory text message from his high school coach and had a memorable phone call with his parents, who never lost faith, even when Triple-A seemed impossibly far from the big leagues. 

"They always knew what I could bring to the table," he said last week. "But nobody was expecting me to be here right now."

Moms are their son’s biggest fans, but even Norma Ramos couldn't have quite imagined things working out this well. The Ramos parents were thrilled to hear the news last weekend, but then reality set in for his mother. She won't be able to attend the game. She's headed to Spain on a vacation with a close friend. 

"She's so mad," Heliot said, laughing. "She's so mad. She planned that trip for like two months already."

It's impossible to blame Mrs. Ramos for the scheduling. Two months before her son was named an All-Star, he was in Triple-A, seemingly out of the plans for an organization that had not developed a homegrown All-Star outfielder since 1986. 

This All-Star season literally came out of thin air. Ramos admits he has surprised himself, and it's not hard to figure out how the organization feels. 

On March 11, Ramos was part of a series of roster moves that might one day be printed out and framed on a wall at Oracle Park if things keep going this way. 

During one of the first rounds of cuts, the Giants optioned seven players to the minors, including Ramos, Brett Wisely, Randy Rodriguez and Erik Miller. 

In retrospect, it looks like a misevaluation of how ready some of the young players were to contribute, but there was a reason for the timing of the moves. If players on the 40-man roster get hurt in big league camp they end up on the Major League IL, accruing service time and making a big league salary. Most teams are extra cautious with prospects who aren’t likely to be ready at the end of camp.

Miller ended up returning late in the spring and making the Opening Day roster. Rodriguez found his command in Triple-A in April and has been a boost to the bullpen since his debut on May 4. Wisely showed up on May 12 and quickly became the team's most consistent middle infielder. 

But nobody hit the ground running like Ramos, who admits he "obviously wasn't happy" when he was optioned so early in camp, but says he doesn't really remember much about the quick meeting. Perhaps that explains why he has been so successful in his third stint as a big leaguer. 

Ramos became a father in the offseason and his natural exuberance gets turned up a couple of notches when talking about his daughter. Any poor days at the plate or disappointing decisions from your superiors are a lot easier to swallow when you come home to a smiling newborn. 

Becoming a father changed his outlook on life, but it was an alteration to his approach that allowed him to become an everyday player, someone who hit 14 homers with a .888 OPS in 60 games after getting called up. One thing Ramos does remember about that March meeting is the directive to have better pitch selection, and Giants officials saw that as he tore through Triple-A pitching in April. 

"If you had told me last year or two years ago, 'Hey, Heliot is going to get to the point where he's going to have high-quality at-bats in the big leagues,' I would have had really high confidence that he would be a productive player at this level," president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said. "That was really the last piece of his development. All credit to him, the fact that he really takes pride in it is what gives us a lot of hope and confidence that this is just going to continue and he's just going to continue on his upward trajectory."

The current trajectory leads to some interesting conversations about Ramos' development. He was drafted in the first round by the previous regime, but he has been developed by this one. You can give this staff credit for helping him get to this point, but you can also point out that A.J. Pollock and an inexperienced Wade Meckler were among those who got opportunities last year as Ramos waited for a consistent shot. 

In the end, perhaps Zaidi put it best when he said "all credit to him." Ramos hit .158 with one homer over 76 scattered at-bats the previous two seasons, but he didn't let that get him down. When the Giants needed to activate Brandon Crawford for the final game last season and chose Ramos as the one to be optioned, he didn't let bitterness take over. On his way out of Oracle Park that day, he talked excitedly about getting right back in the gym when he got home. 

"It's not easy to be up and down, trying to get your at-bats, trying to stay settled, but it is what it is," he said last week. "It's part of the business, it's part of the plan. That's what baseball is. I can't fight, I can't argue, I just have to do what I have to do."

When he was optioned in March, Ramos thought back to his experience in Winter Ball. While playing for Santurce in Puerto Rico, he saw that the only thing that mattered in that league was winning the game. 

"It doesn't matter who you are," he said. "If you're not winning, you're not doing anything."

That has been a theme of his postgame interviews over the last two months, and there have been a lot of them. Ramos hasn't just been the Giants' best player since making his debut on May 8, he has been one of baseball's best. Since that day, he is seventh in the NL in Wins Above Replacement.

What started as an unlikely thought turned into a slam dunk in late June. Ramos belonged in Arlington for the All-Star Game, and as the Giants continue to build for their future, they might do so around a 24-year-old who has played like a superstar for a couple of months. 

It's potentially a franchise-altering development, but Ramos and the Giants aren't looking too far down the line. They're all still trying to wrap their heads around an All-Star selection for a player who was sent back to the minors four months ago and unsure when he would get a chance to return. 

"I don't remember (an All-Star) that has had this type of year, where he was one of the first guys sent out in spring training, limited at-bats in his career at the big leagues, never really given much of an opportunity, and then when he was given an opportunity he has taken advantage of it to a point where I don't think I've seen anything this extreme," manager Bob Melvin said. "Credit to him, it's hard work, the ability has always been there, it needed to come out. With some success, he has flourished and thrived, and now he's a National League All-Star."

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