Bryan Ramos of the White Sox hits a sacrifice fly against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second inning at Busch Stadium on May 5, 2024, in St. Louis.
Joe Puetz/Getty
ST. LOUIS — Eloy Jimenez knows what Bryan Ramos got to experience this weekend.
Watching the White Sox’ top third base prospect break into the major leagues, seeing his angst, enjoying his success and the whirl wind of emotion took Jimenez back five years.
They were nice memories.
“It reminded me of me of 2019 when I first came up,” Jimenez said after he and Ramos fueled the Sox’ 5-1 victory against the Cardinals Sunday at Busch Stadium. “He was very anxious but doing well.
“He was excited. To be here. It’s a privilege to come to the big leagues, and especially when you are Latin. We have the opportunity, but not too many guys make it. But to be one of them is good.”
Ramos, called up from Double-A Birmingham Saturday when third baseman Danny Mendick — the regular third baseman after Yoan Moncada went down with an adductor strain — landed on the injured list with a stiff back.
Ramos, the Sox’ No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline, made his debut defensively in the last two innings of Saturday’s 6-5 win and, in the starting lineup for the first time Sunday, lifted a sacrifice fly against Matthew Libertore in his first plate appearance in the second. In a four-run seventh that broke the game open and sent the 8-26 Sox to their fifth win in nine games and second series win in the last three, Ramos singled for his first hit and scored a run.
“Last week we had the Tommy Pham effect. Right now we have the Bryan Ramos effect, so let’s keep it rolling,” said left-hander Garrett Crochet, who pitched six innings of one-run ball.
There was a Jimenez effect, too, in the form of a 418-foot homer to right center against Giovanny Gallego breaking a 1-all tie and starting the four-run seventh. As manager Pedro Grifol said, things are always better for Jimenez, who homered for the fourth time, when he’s lifting the ball and hitting it to center and right fields.
Jimenez noted the Twins’ and Rays’ success against him in recent series.
“So to stay that way like in ’19, when I had the most homers I hit [31] and pretty much all my homers went to the other side, is good. So hitting the ball that way means I’m getting better.”
A few lockers away, in a corner of the visitors clubhouse, Ramos was beaming. Like Jimenez, Ramos does his interviews in English.
“I feel like there’s nothing better than this,” Ramos said. “I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a kid playing baseball in Cuba and then was trying to sign in the Dominican, since then that was my dream to get to the big leagues and get a hit and all this, it’s like, I’m way too happy right now.”
Ramos said he was keeping it simple at the plate, trying to get the ball in the air for the sacrifice fly and trying to go the other way when he singled to center.
“And I get a base hit, perfect,” he said.
“I don’t want to try to be the hero, I want to work for the team. My goal was to get the ball to the other side of the field but I get a base hit so I’ll take that.”
Enduring a historically bad start, the Sox took the win and their first road series win in open arms.
And they’re 2-0 with Ramos, who figures to get plenty of playing time while Mendick is on the IL.
“Ramos is a presence out there,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “He looks the part when he stands in the box. It’s fun to have him here because he’s dangerous. And he can run and he’s athletic. It’s going to be fun to watch him play.”
“Today was more tranquilo but yesterday was my first game and I just came to play defense and man, this place is loud,” Ramos said. “When they go crazy… But I said to myself, ‘We’re here so we’ve got to play.’ I tried to stay as calm as I can.”