Why SF Giants made former top prospect Heliot Ramos one of their first spring training cuts

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — This time last year, Heliot Ramos was one of the Giants’ most promising prospects and among the candidates to break camp in the San Francisco Giants outfield. While he didn’t make the Opening Day roster, he got his first call-up within the first week of the season.

Since then, however, it has been almost all downhill for the 23-year-old former first-round draft pick.

That culminated Friday, as Ramos was optioned to the minor leagues in the Giants’ second round of cuts from major-league camp. The only other player on the 40-man roster to be cut sooner was right-hander Randy Rodriguez, who only reached Triple-A at the very end of last season.

“He just didn’t perform at the minor-league level last year,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Heliot still has some work to do. We saw that last year. Much more important than what we’ve seen in spring training so far is what we’ve seen over the last couple of years. We need to see him perform at the minor-league level to earn another opportunity at the major-league level.”

In 2022, Ramos was assigned to Triple-A Sacramento out of spring training. But only two games into the Giants’ season, they called him up when a roster spot opened up when John Brebbia went on the bereavement list. Four games later, when Brebbia returned, Ramos was sent back to Triple-A. He would be called up three more times, never longer than that initial four-game look.

At Triple-A, Ramos struggled.

In May, his batting average dipped below the Mendoza line, and he finished the season batting .227/.305/.349 (a .654 OPS) with 11 home runs in 427 plate appearances. It was his worst statistical season in almost every offensive category since being drafted in 2017. his

The precipitous drop in his stock as a prospect was made clear before this season when the national top-100 lists were released by various publications. Every year since 2018, Ramos had ranked among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects, topping out at No. 63 in 2019, and among the top three in the Giants’ system. In their pre-spring rankings this year, Ramos had been surpassed by 15 other players in the Giants’ system, and his name didn’t appear on a single top-100 list.

While Kapler praised Ramos’ baserunning this spring and the additional muscle he packed on over the offseason, there was little he could do to put himself back in the position he was in only a year ago. According to Kapler, he must first prove himself at Triple-A.

“We really want to establish a culture in our organization of being promoted to the major leagues based on merit and performance,” Kapler said. “We want to see him take significant steps forward as an offensive player (and) continue to improve his defense. He looked good as a baserunner. We want to give him every path to get to the major leagues, but he has to perform.”

Eight others reassigned: The Giants have 57 players left in major-league camp after their second round of cuts, which included Ramos and eight other players in camp as non-roster invitees: IF Armando Alvarez, OF Vaun Brown, OF Clint Coulter, RHP Nick Duron, IF Tyler Fitzgerald, C Ricardo Genovés, RHP Trevor Hildenberger and LHP Erik Miller.