LEON, Nicaragua – Starting pitching is a key to victory at any level of baseball, but especially in pool play at the World Baseball Classic, where pitchers are limited in the number of pitches they’re allowed to throw.
Nicaragua, which finished 0-4 in 2023 playing in Pool D at loanDepot Park in Miami at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, has 14-year Major League Baseball veteran Erasmo Ramirez on the roster. The veteran should be a big boost to the team, where, alongside winter ball ace Ronald Medrano, he’ll look to lead Nicaragua to a finish that assures that they won’t have to re-qualify for the next World Baseball Classic.
Ramirez has made two starts during the four-game exhibition series between Cuba and Nicaragua, which is all square at 1-1-1 and concludes tonight at 7 p.m. at Estadio Nacional Soberania in Managua. Thus far, the Rivas, Nicaragua native has thrown five innings in two appearances, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk, striking out five. He’s not expected to pitch again in the exhibition series against Cuba.
World Baseball Network caught up with Ramirez at Leon’s Estadio Rigoberto Lopez Perez ahead of Nicaragua’s exhibition game against Cuba on Feb. 22. The questions and answers below have been edited for length and clarity.
World Baseball Network: Erasmo, you’ve pitched 14 years in the major leagues, and now have a chance to represent Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic in Miami in just a couple weeks. What’s it mean to you?
Erasmo Ramirez: You work for your family, the family that raised you, the family that you create. And always it’s a privilege every time you represent your country. And you always just work the hardest you can to represent the best you can. Just don’t be afraid of the outcomes, because it can be good, it can be bad, but just go there, show them that you’re ready to go, and you just want to execute every pitch.
WBN: After 14 seasons in the major leagues, you’re a free agent now. Is this opportunity to pitch for Dusty Baker and pitch for Nicaragua in the Classic kind of a chance for you to audition for another season in the majors?
Ramirez: Well, as of right now, this is helping me, especially because Most of the teams have been wanting me to pitch, but there is no lead. There is nowhere I can just go and pitch. So being here in this exhibition games has been huge, especially for my agent. He wants some feedback for the teams. And we have some teams that are interested in me, but they’re like, well, we don’t have that many spots, but if some injury happens, we’re going to keep you in the loop. So hopefully something happened.
I don’t wish for anybody to get injured. It happened to me last year. And I just saying, I just want to be ready for whatever comes.
WBN: You faced Alfredo Despain twice in that first start in this series. Kind of a legend in world baseball circles. What did you see out of him, and how did you approach that at bat?
Ramirez: What I can say, he didn’t see that many pitches. He got the timing in the first one, and after that, he just went to work. And that’s, that’s, that’s being a veteran, right there. He knows like, ‘Bro, you, you give me two strikes. Sorry, bud. Now you have to go see.’ And barely, he just took a bounce of a pitch that was close to the strike zone. … He didn’t miss. And that’s what good hitters do. They just go execute and come back stronger the next time somebody, something goes wrong. They just keep challenging themselves.
WBN: How big a moment is this for baseball in Nicaragua to have this coaching staff leading the team with Dusty Baker, Randall Simon, guys with real big -time major league experience as coaches and managers and players going into the World Baseball Classic?
Ramirez: What I can say? It is huge. It’s a huge difference. When I show up over here, I notice that the guys are in a different mentality now because he’s a manager. He’s not afraid to tell you in your face, ‘Bro, you’re doing wrong. You’re not gonna play. You’re not playing with me till you fix yourself.’ So, guys like that, those are the managers you need to get better.
You don’t want somebody to tell you, ‘Hey, it’s okay, just keep working.’ You want somebody to come and tell you in your face, you’re not playing no more till you fix and show me that you want to play for this team. I’m a winner. And that’s what he shows.
And as of right now, the exhibition game, I’ve been seeing so many comments about what he does, but remember, he needs to check everybody. It’s hard, like, ‘He hit a homer, why would you take him out?’ Because he played the three innings or the four that he’s supposed to play, he did good, he had a good day, let’s see what the other the other guy is bringing. So he needs to check everybody. Remember, he’s not from here. He doesn’t have any feedback. He’s creating his own feedback.
It’s been amazing, and even the training, whoever is in charge of the conditioning, he’s amazing. I’ve been training with him, we talk about it, because I do a lot of exercises, I know what to do. But the way they train now, the way they like make them, not force them, just make them see that how important conditioning and having strong mentality is.
WBN: Last time around, you guys finished fifth in the pool in Miami and had to go back through the qualifier. Obviously, you’d like to avoid that again. But what is the real goal for Nicaragua when you guys get to Miami?
Ramirez: Just fight back. fight back, because that’s what we missed the last time. Last time, we just scored one run and we settled. Nothing else happened. Then we got a couple of mistakes in baserunning, a couple of mistakes fielding. It was a lot going on, but that’s the training for it. And with this kind of stuff that we had, we kind of like, we had the big hops and we feel like we can do and we will do better.
Photo: Nicaragua starting pitcher Erasmo Ramirez talked to World Baseball Network before Nicaragua’s Feb. 22 exhibition game against Cuba in Leon, Nicaragua. (Photo: Carlos Alfaro/Seleccion Nicaragua)
