Hanley being Hanley: Why Hanley is still the Marlins best player

I do not know about anyone else, but I am getting very sick of the Hanley Ramirez hate that is making its rounds through Marlins fans right now. It seems that fans have forgotten how good he actually is. Today, my goal is to give everyone a quick refresher on why Hanley Ramirez is still the Florida (Miami) Marlins‘ best player.

Over Hanley’s six-year major league career, he has posted these numbers:

Those are very impressive stats put up by one of baseball’s elite hitters. 2011 was a horrible season for Hanley. Hanley’s off season in 2011 could easily be attributed to his shoulder issues. Many Marlins folks believe that the shoulder had been bothering Hanley even before his season-ending injury against the New York Mets. That is the answer most Marlins fans would like to hear. The hope for the Marlins is that Hanley can be ready for the opening of the new ballpark on opening day, April 4th, 20012. Ramirez had the same type of surgery in 2007 in the off-season. He followed that up with what may have been his best season in his career:

The Marlins can only hope that Ramirez has a similar type season after going through the same surgery once more. Hanley posted his career high in BB% (13.3), homers (33), ISO (.239), and surprising his defense (0.8 UZR).

For those suggesting that Mike Stanton is ready to take over as the Marlins best player, here is a look at how Hanley’s first two seasons compare to Mike Stanton’s

No doubt that Mike Stanton is a budding superstar in the league and is going to hopefully be a great MLB player for a long time, but Hanley’s first two seasons completely blow Stanton’s first two seasons out of the water. There is really no comparison between the two. Hanley Ramirez is the more complete hitter. Also to note, 2007 was the season that Hanley battled through shoulder issues for the first time, and was still able to post these numbers.

The chatter that the Marlins would be better off trading Hanley Ramirez this off-season and unloading of his contract is a load of crap in my opinion. Hanley is still the Marlins’ best player when he is completely healthy. 2012 will be Hanley’s chance to prove to the haters that he can still be a force to be reckoned with. If Hanley can reproduce his numbers from either 2008 or 2009, the Florida Marlins chances of contending skyrocket. If he can’t, the Marlins are looking at another sub-par season. No matter how you look at it, the Marlins need their best player to play well if they want to contend in their brand new ballpark. That player is still Hanley Ramirez.