Phillies: Where has Edubray Ramos’s control gone?
By John Town
Phillies reliever Edubray Ramos has been unable to reign in his arsenal despite being able to keep it under control last season.
The struggles of the Phillies bullpen this year are well-documented so I don’t need to dive into them anymore. However, I would like to focus on the 24-year-old Edubray Ramos.
Ramos started the 2016 season with Double-A Reading, but after cruising through there and Triple-A Ramos made it to the major-league bullpen. He made 40 appearances and finished the season with a 3.83 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 3.64 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and 0.5 fWAR. He wasn’t anything special, but Ramos clinched a spot in the bullpen for 2017 as a reliable reliever.
This season, Ramos has looked radically different. He has more than doubled his walks-per-nine with 11 walks in 18.2 innings in 2017. He is throwing fewer pitches in the strike zone according to PITCHf/x.
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His control certainly isn’t helped by the fact that he took a comebacker off the elbow in his April 27 outing. Up to that point, Ramos had a 10.8% walk rate, which is already bad. Afterward, it has jumped up to 14%. His WHIP has also risen from 1.56 to 1.84. It may just be a coincidence, but it is a trend worth noting.
Ramos has been able to strand 82.5% of runners on base, which has kept his ERA in check.
That number is likely to fall back towards his 72.5% left-on-base rate from 2016, which is right around league-average. That will lead to his ERA reflecting his substantial walk rate.
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The Phils need consistency from someone other than Pat Neshek in this bullpen if the team has any hope of succeeding. If that someone is to be Ramos, his walk rate needs to drop precipitously.