NEW YORK -- Some light was shed on Hanley Ramirez's strange season Thursday.
Manager John Farrell noted that he and the coaching staff have been working with Ramirez on eliminating the uppercut to his swing.
After building up his upper body in the off-season, Ramirez was apparently determined to transform himself into a power hitter.
In reality, that's not who he's been in his career. Despite his strength - and perhaps owing to playing in big, pitcher-friendly ballparks in his two previous career stops - Ramirez has only once hit more than 30 homers in a season - and that was seven years ago.
Ramirez has always been more of a line drive hitter, who would hit 25 homers by virtue of merely hitting the ball hard. He would routinely bash out doubles, but this season, has just eight.
Think about that: despite playing in arguably one of the best doubles parks in the game, Ramirez has just eight doubles in almost 400 plate appearances. That would seen virtually impossible, but it's evident that Ramirez's all-or-nothing approach has made him a different hitter - and not a better one.
While they continue to work with Ramirez on rediscovering his old swing, maybe they can next tackle the loss of selectivity at the plate. Ramirez arrived back in Boston with a career on-base percentage of .373. This year, his OBP and with two-thirds of the season complete, he's walked just 20 times.
His walk ratio (7.1 percent) is barely half of what it was just two seasons ago (14 percent).