Painting The Blue: Varsity Baseball Pitcher Nathan Ramirez

Varsity baseball pitcher Nathan Ramirez was bound for excellence since he started playing baseball at the age of two. His parents, coaches, and himself look back at the past and look forward to the future.

By: Fabian Anguiano

Nathan Ramirez first started playing baseball at the young age of two at his local YMCA, the rest is history.

When Ramirez entered Redwood, he would be on JV his freshman year, and would get a taste of varsity that same year when he would get called up for playoffs.

Getting the feeling of a playoff atmosphere as a freshman felt, “Super fun to learn from the older guys above me. It was great to have a huge coaching staff and support around me at that time,” said Ramirez.

Ramirez feels he has grown as a person over his four years at Redwood by lending his teammates a hand and being more of a team player. 

Ramirez feels like what he did best during his time at Redwood was being a good overall teammate to his current and new teammates, just being there for them when they are in need.

Ramirez believes that the team as a whole could have had more success during his time here, “we could have had a better playoff run, and all the years that I’ve been here, we’ve kind of always been early exits.”

Ramirez’s favorite part about playing for Redwood is that there is always pressure on the team, as they are usually one of the top teams in Visalia, the team that everyone wants to beat.

Having a coaching staff that works with the team every day, being there for them all the time, is how Ramirez’s coaches have helped him evolve over the years.

Ramirez would like to end his senior season with the team going as far as they can in the playoffs. He is likely going to play baseball for COS.

Ramirez has also played travel baseball. For Nathan’s mother, Ericka Trevino, that calls for a lot of transportation, as Ramirez has played baseball in Missouri, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada.

Mrs.Trevino believes that being a good athlete is great, but having character has more importance. “That’s kind of how we feel about it. We’d love to see him excel on the field in athletics, but we mostly want to see him excel as a person, so we’re big on grades here at home. We encourage him to do all the things, but he has to earn them,” said Mrs.Trevino.

Some of Mrs. Trevino’s favorite moments from Ramirez’s time at Redwood is when he pitched a shutout game against El Diamante during this season, in which they clinched the East Yosemite League title.

Another moment is the past game against the maroon school, as it was a late-night game which started at 7:30 PM. Nathan would pitch seven innings, allowing only one run, giving the Rangers the victory.

To Mrs. Trevino, watching her son play for Redwood has been, “Great. Redwood’s a big school, and just to see the friends that he’s made, his social circle, it’s been really good kids. We’ve been very pleased with that.”

What Mrs.Trevino enjoyed most about watching her son play baseball was watching him play at the high school level. Seeing Ramirez only become a pitcher for Redwood was a change-up, as he originally also was a third baseman. His parents are really proud watching him face that pressure.

Mrs. Trevino emphasized that Ramirez will defend his teammates no matter what, so much that he will take it personally; he is a well-rounded team player overall.

Ramirez can improve on and off the field, “He’s juggling the time that baseball is, especially at Redwood. They practice long hours, many days, and then off the field. Outside of school, there are things to be done as well to better yourself. So I would say he’s handled juggling the schedule well, but of course, there are always ways to improve yourself,” said Ms.Trevino.

Mrs. Trevino had more to say, “We’re grateful to have gotten to see Nate play as often as we did. We’re grateful for the coaches; we’re grateful for Redwood,” said Mrs. Trevino. “The league that they’re in, competition that they have, we’re grateful that Nate had the opportunity to play at Redwood, and we’re grateful we got to see him play so much. We’re super proud of him.”

Nathan’s father, Sam Ramirez, was not an athlete growing up, so everything Nathan has gone through has been a, “New experience, even for me. I couldn’t sort of guide him sometimes about as he got older in school and stuff, what to do with the coaches. That wasn’t kind of something I was familiar with. So learning along the way has been a challenge,” said Mr. Ramirez.

On the baseball field, Mr. Ramirez has tried to support Nathan by giving him the space to do what he has to do. Mr. Ramirez has never been critical of his son’s performance; he tries to ask Nathan questions to get to a point where he can understand.

To Mr. Ramirez, there are no specific plays throughout Nathan’s high school career that have stood out to him the most, only the fact that Nathan has always been an unselfish teammate, he always puts the team first. Mr. Ramirez believes Nathan carries himself with good poise and good maturity.

Getting to watch his son follow his dreams has been, “One of the most incredible things I’ve been able to do as a parent. I was not an athlete because I had a job from when I was 14 working full time. I didn’t have the luxury being able to play sports to do those things. So being able to see him enjoy and live his life and make the choices he wants to make, and the things that make him happy are super satisfying as a dad, as a parent,” said Mr. Ramirez.

Watching Nathan play for Redwood has been great for Mr. Ramirez, he believes that the team is a great unit as a whole, and that it’s the best place for Nathan.

Mr. Ramirez believes the best thing Nathan has done in his baseball career is persevere, Nathan has had injuries over the years. Throughout all of that, Nathan having the right attitude has got him through.

Ramirez’s former JV coach, Chuck Andrews, first impression of Ramirez was that he was a dedicated young man, as he was walking into JV as a freshman.

Andrews believes that Ramirez has grown over his four years at Redwood as being more mature, being more aware of what is going on, and more aware of his future.

Andrews’ favorite part about coaching Ramirez was that he, “Was willing to learn; he was dedicated to growing, not only in just baseball, he had an interest in learning more about life,” said Andrews.

What stood out most to Andrews about Ramirez was how dedicated he was to his craft; he was focused on what he wanted to accomplish.

Andrews had more to say about Ramirez, “I will say one of my favorites, not because I look for favorites, but just because the way I define a favorite is someone that’s willing to be coachable, someone that has a goal set of what he wants to accomplish,” said Andrews.

Varsity baseball coach, Daniel Hydash’s first impression of Ramirez came when he was in action, “I remember his first bullpen that he threw out here, September of his freshman year, and my pitching coach at the time was watching it, and told me to come over and watch. You could tell as a freshman that he was a guy that was going to be around the strike zone through three pitches for strikes. You could just see that he had that bulldog mentality in him,” said Hydash.

What Hydash believes Ramirez has grown most as a pitcher is becoming a complete pitcher, which is someone that has a good amount of strikes in a game, makes complete pitches, and executes three pitches for strikes. 

As a person, Ramirez has grown as a leader, he is not the type of person that gets all pumped for a game, he does what he needs to do in order to prepare for every game, he leads by example.

What Ramirez can do better is, “Not that he doesn’t get in the weight room already, but that’s something that I’d like to see him continue to do as he goes on to college or the next level,” said Hydash. “I think again, that’s important for all athletes, but for Nate, I think that could take him even to the next level as far as being a quality pitcher.”

Hydash’s favorite part about coaching Ramirez is his competitiveness. Hydash has all the confidence in Ramirez that he is going to step out on that baseball field to compete, and not back down from anything. 

With Ramirez likely playing baseball for COS, Hydash believes that he will continue to work and will do very well. Hydash has no doubt that he will succeed greatly at the next level.

Tags: Baseball, coaches, dan hydash, deep dive, gigantea, Gigantea athletics, rangers, Redwood, redwood athletics, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, redwood sports, rhs, senior, sports, visalia ca