Veteran third baseman Aramis Ramirez formally announced his retirement from Major League Baseball on Thursday afternoon, as reported by Dominican media outlet Grandes en los Deportes.

Ramirez said that his career will come to an end at the beginning of Spring Training, however, he is going to try to remain in good enough shape to make one more appearance in the Dominican Winter League with Los Tigres Del Licey. 

Ramirez said that his plan is to remain involved in MLB and the game of baseball yet he does not know within what capacity he will fill. As mentioned by MLBTraderumors, Ramirez does not see himself as a coach or manager but is open to the idea of working front office work, especially if it is with Moises Alou who currently is doing so with the San Diego Padres, serving as a special assistant to the team’s player development staff. Alou is also currently a potential managerial candidate which includes the Padres who currently hold a vacant position.  

The main reason in which Ramirez set his mind to retiring is to spend more time with his family after an 18 year playing career.

Ramirez was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent back in 1994 when he was only 16 years of age and became one of the top prospects let alone one of the top players in the game at a very fast rate. He was ranked no. 5 prospect by Baseball America while at the minor-league level in 1998 and later made his MLB debut as a 20-year old. As

As noted by MLBTradeRumors, it took three years of back-and-forth trips between the Majors and minors for Ramirez to break out, but he ended up doing so in a huge manner in 2001 when he hit .300/.350/.536 with 34 home runs after having become the Pirates’ everyday third baseman.

Ramirez had some struggles in 2002 but those were minor and he continued to lift himself to the position of which he is now considered a near hall of famer. Ramirez hit the rebound button in 2003 and later ended up in a trade to the Chicago Cubs with guys like Kenny Lofton, where he spent nine years of his career.

Ramirez was a two-time All-Star with the Cubs and received MVP votes in four of his nine seasons in Chicago. Ramirez hangs up the cleats with an overall batting line of  .294/.356/.531 having averaged 27 homers per season with the Cubs which set the stage for a free-agent deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. His next destination was where it all began, back in Pittsburgh after the Brewers traded him in exchange for minor-league right-hander Yhonathan Barrios

When Ramirez arrived, he decided it would be the perfect place to call it a career having finished it on a strong note with an organization in which he was familiar with given that is where he was brought up and introduced to the game of baseball. 

Ramirez retires from the Major League baseball as a .283/.341/.492 lifetime hitter with 386 home runs, 495 doubles, 1098 runs scored and 1417 RBIs. Ramirez was never the strongest at the hot corner yet managed to play it in his final season where had enjoyed some better years prior. 

Fangraphs values Ramirez’s career at 38.3 wins above replacement, while Baseball-Reference has him at 32.1 WAR. Over his strong career, his talents earned him just shy of $148MM after 18 years and 111 days of Major League service time. 

From all of us at VAVEL, we wish Ramirez a happy retirement and wish him well as he moves on to the next stage of his life, whatever it may be.

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