Team Brazil kicked off their World Baseball Classic with a pool-play opener against Team USA on Friday at Daikin Park in Houston. Los Angeles Angels prospect Lucas Ramirez grabbed the headlines in the first inning of the game.
Lucas smashed a solo home run off San Francisco Giants All-Star pitcher Logan Webb in his first at-bat in this year’s tournament. His home run reminded fans of Boston Red Sox legend and his father Manny Ramirez.
While the 20-year-old slugger was born in Weston, Florida, his father has Dominican roots. However, Lucas decided to represent Brazil since his mother, Juliana, was born and raised in São Paulo. He shared his pride in representing his mother’s birth country.
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“It means a lot,” Lucas said. “I get to showcase my abilities for Team Brazil and represent her. I’m not only representing Brazil in baseball. I’m representing the whole country and showing love to the culture.”
Lucas Ramirez was selected by the Angels in the 17th round of the 2024 MLB draft and registered a .772 OPS in their farm system last year.
While Lucas Ramirez is naturally a right-handed hitter, the 20-year-old switched to being a lefty on his father’s instruction.
“He just made me a lefty when I was little and I just stuck to it,” Ramirez said. “He was my hitting coach my whole life. I didn’t go to anybody else. I just trusted him. I tried to implement some of the stuff he did when he played, just from the left side. Nothing different.”
Lucas Ramirez hails Brazil’s “strength” ahead of WBC clash against Team USA
Team Brazil is making its first WBC appearance since the 2013 edition of the tournament. While they don’t boast many MLB-caliber players, Lucas Ramirez shared their fighting spirit ahead of the WBC opener against Team USA.
“We’re underrated,” Ramirez said. “A lot of people think [teams] are just going to walk all over us, but nah. We’ve got some power. We’ve got strength. We’re going to fight.”
Edited by Chaitanya Prakash
