Inside The Padres

Padres' Top International Signee Draws Comparisons To Five-Time All-Star

Leodalis de Vries is a switch-hitting savant who 'models his game' after one of the best.
J.P. Hoornstra|
Padres' Top International Signee Draws Comparisons To Five-Time All-Star
Padres' Top International Signee Draws Comparisons To Five-Time All-Star

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San Diego Padres

The San Diego Padres' new prized prospect models his game after one of the best.

Speaking on a Zoom with reporters on the day his minor league contract became official, Leodalis de Vries said he has been modeling himself after another switch-hitter: Jose Ramirez, the Cleveland Guardians' five-time All-Star.

Ramirez, 31, is a career .279/.355/.499 hitter with 216 career home runs. Perhaps most remarkably, Ramirez is the rare switch hitter whose splits are virtually even — an All-Star from both sides of the plate. As a right-hander, Ramirez has a career slash line of .279/.361/.506. As a left-hander, he's slashing .279/.341/.486.

Few better role models have existed for a switch hitter in major league history. Fortunately for de Vries, he and Ramirez know each other personally:

"He's given me a lot of advice, not just how to conduct myself on the field but off the field as well."

MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez said in an interview with MLB Network that de Vries' choice of a role model is already bearing fruit:

"I think he models his game a little bit after Jose Ramirez. He's a switch hitter, projectable frame, good bat speed – all the things you want as a teenager. Tons of projectability. Another thing that really stands out is his athleticism. He's just a great athlete. His dad played for the Dominican national basketball team. So the kid's become a competitor. There are high hopes for him with the Padres."

Monday, the Padres signed de Vries, 17, to a $4.2 million bonus – the largest in this year's international signing class. The Padres' hopes for their new prospect are understandably high. 

Knowing de Vries models his game after perhaps the best switch-hitter in the game will do little to temper expectations.

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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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