Heliot Ramos’ Progress Wins Over Giants

Heliot Ramos’ performance in the Under Armour All-America game in July wouldn’t rate as the first impression he made on the Giants, but it was a lasting one.

In fact, it’s one reason San Francisco selected the 17-year-old outfielder with its first pick (19th overall) in the draft.

Ramos went 3-for-3 with a triple and a homer that day at Wrigley Field.

Giants vice president for scouting and international operations John Barr had seen the Puerto Rico native “even before then, but seeing him in that setting, playing against some of the best players from around the country and performing, that boded well for him.”

The more the Giants saw of Ramos, who attended the Leadership Christian Academy, the more they liked him.

“Every single time we’d go see him,” Barr said, “whether it be November, January or throughout the spring, he just continued getting better . . .

“We do think that he is a five-tool player, (and) we think he can stay in center field.”

The Giants have had little success in grooming outfielders for the past two decades. Their top two picks last year, Vanderbilt’s Bryan Reynolds and Samford’s Heath Quinn, were outfielders.

Barr said those selections—and the pick of Ramos—were not part of a grand design based on need.

“It just came down to that’s how the draft board fell for us this year and also last year,” Barr said. “I don’t think we thought that Reynolds was going to be there last year when we made our selection. And this year, we just had Ramos the highest-rated guy on our board at the time for us to pick.”

Listed at 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, Ramos comes from an athletic family. One brother, Henry, is an outfielder with the Dodgers’ Double-A Tulsa affiliate; he was Boston’s fifth-round pick in 2010. Another brother, Hector, plays on Puerto Rico’s national soccer team.

Barr said that if Heliot Ramos “continues to mature into his body, we may have something special.”