Ramon Laureano of the Oakland Athletics continues to prove that you should not under any circumstances test his howitzer of a right arm.
Attention all non-Oakland Athletics players, Third Base Coaches, Managers, Analysts, and everyone else. This is a public service announcement that you should not under any circumstances attempt to take an extra base when the ball is hit within the vicinity of Ramon Laureano. It does not matter if it is behind him or in front of him, just don’t try it. That concludes this PSA.
Folks, you would think that with MLB.TV, Statcast, and the Internet, that this announcement wouldn’t be necessary but here we are. Laureano’s right arm has such incredible heat-seeking technology that Raytheon wants to figure out how to use it in its next missile. Consider the following video starting at the 0: 55-second mark and compare that to the videos above.
Advantage: Laureano, and it’s not that close either.
Last night, Laureano terminated the Baltimore Orioles’ would-be scorer, Richie Martin, at the plate on a ridiculous throw that came in at 96 MPH perfectly on a line to A’s catcher Josh Phegley (video below).
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That was his league-leading fourth assist in 2019, with Mookie Betts and Leury Garcia trailing him with three. Laureano’s throws continue to be aesthetically pleasing to fans and valuable by preventing runs for the A’s.
In fact, Laureano is tied for the league lead in assists from 2018 to present day at 13 alongside Billy Hamilton. The most impressive part of that statistic, however, is that Laureano has done it in only 504.1 innings on the field. Billy Hamilton, Mitch Haniger (12), and Andrew Benintendi (12), all have over 1000 innings in the OF to rack up those kills.
The other guys who have ~500 innings in the field have five assists or less to their name. Laureano has 13! Runners continue to test Laureano and he continues to mow them down from anywhere and everywhere.
Between his plus speed and rocket for an arm, Laureano has been a very good defensive player for the Oakland Athletics. By Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), he has been worth +7 runs from 2018 to present, which makes him a top 30 OF and puts him in the same company as Jason Heyward and Cody Bellinger. Remember though, these numbers are more impressive because Laureano has done it in significantly fewer innings.
Ramon Laureano has been incredibly fun to watch in the OF so far. Eventually, teams should wise up and stop running on him at some point. When that happens, his arm will still be valuable because it will prevent runners from taking the extra base and set up pitchers for double plays, or the opportunity to pitch out of jams with runners in scoring position.
In closing and as a reminder, DONT RUN ON LAUREANO. It won’t end well for you.