2B Ricardo Ramirez and 3B Ernesto Colon join the Rio Hall of Fame

[Echo127]

I've been planning to do this for a while, but just never got around to it.

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2B Ricardo Ramirez's induction has been a long time coming, considering he officially retired in 2111 and hasn't played in the WBA since 2108.
 
Ramirez was Rio's first pick in the inaugural daft (before my time). He served as Rio's leadoff hitter from 2100 through 2106 and boasts a career OBP of exactly 0.400 (currently Rio's career and single-season leader in that category). Ramirez's bat never failed him, but an injury that kept him out for the entirety of the 2102 sapped a lot of his mobility, and he continued to lose more and more range every season after that. In 2106 I moved him to 3B to attempt to extend his career, but over the next offseason his range dropped to 2 and for the 2107 season I was forced to relegate him to a pinch-hitting role--which he excelled at, of couse. I tried to change his position to "DH" at this point, but Huck didn't let me because he still had a 1 rating at 1B.

The following season would be Ramirez's last--Los Angeles signed him on a 1-year deal and played him regularly at 1B. He finished that season with an OBP of 0.415 and an OPS of 0.800--pretty impressive for a 38-year-old (I told you his bat never failed him!).

In addition to the Rio OBP records I've already mentioned he holds Rio's single-season batting average record as well - 0.346, in 2101. His final career numbers: 964 hits, 581 walks, 550 runs, and 21.3 WAR over parts of 8 seasons. He doesn't have any spectacular career highlights that stand out--he just got on base.

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3B Ernesto Colon might be a name that none of you remember. That would be because this is more of a sentimental HoF induction than a performance-based one. Colon was the first free agent signing I made after joining this league--a 4-year $8.6M deal (he played his first 3 seasons for the Twin Cities Millers [now the NW Emeralds]). He was an elite defender across the infield, but ended up playing primarily at 3B for me, since Ricardo Ramirez and Piero Folena had 2B and SS locked down. At the plate, he was all about that gap power--at one point he was the Rio career leader in doubles and triples, ahead of Ricardo Ramirez, Irving Butler, and Piero Folena. He still holds the Rio single-season triples record, with 10.

Colon's performance in the first 3 years of that deal made the signing a steal. Over those 3 years he earned a total of 9.2 WAR, including 3.9 WAR in 2105--a huge part of the reason that I won the 2105 ABL Championship by mistake (some day I might need to do a write-up on that season--I thought I was rebuilding, then had a ton of players overachieve).

After that point Colon's contact ability slipped--he finished with -0.2 WAR in 2106 and I signed him on a cheap 1-year extension in 2107 to keep him around as a defensive replacement. For the next 5 years Colon stayed in the organiztion as a minor leaguer and occasional short term injury replacement. Instead of sharing career stats, I'm going to highlight his performance over his 3-season peak: 427 hits, 127 doubles, 19 triples, 28 HRs.

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Ramirez and Colon are the 2nd and 3rd members of the Rio Hall of Fame, joining (of course) the great Ze Vargas. You can read his career summary here: http://www.worldbaseballassociation.com/forum/index.php?topic=222.0

[Huckleberry]

Good stuff, man. I fixed the link to Ze Vargas's post.