Phillies prospect Ramirez blossoming on the farm

On an almost daily basis, J.C. Ramirez tells Mark Parent to relay a message to Chuck LaMar, the Phillies' assistant general manager in charge of player development.

"Tell Chuck I'm getting ready," Ramirez says to Parent, the manager of the double-A Reading Phillies.

Translation: Ramirez is preparing to pitch in Philadelphia.

"I'm telling you, the kid wants to play in the big leagues," Parent said. "He does everything that you want him to do."

LaMar has no doubt that the 22-year-old righthander acquired from Seattle as part of the increasingly less infamous Cliff Lee deal will accomplish his goal.

"There is no question in our mind he's going to be a major-league pitcher, it's just a matter of how good," LaMar said.

At the moment, Ramirez is the best pitcher on the Reading staff, if not in the entire Eastern League.

Despite his first poor start of the season, Thursday against New Hampshire, he still has a minuscule 1.86 ERA.

His successful start can partly be attributed to good health.

"He pitched with a hip injury most of [last] year, and a lot of players would have gone on the disabled list and just shut it down for the year and regrouped for this year," LaMar said. "The doctors were convinced he wasn't going to do any more damage, and to his credit he continued to pitch and continued the learning process."

The final result was a painful 5.45 ERA in 13 starts with Reading after going 4-3 with a 4.06 ERA at single-A Clearwater. As soon as the season ended, Ramirez had hip surgery.

"I had an extra bone in my hip and it was broken, so they shaved it and they repaired the broken part," Ramirez said. "I know I had to battle through it last year because this is my career. I wanted to keep pitching and I felt like I could do it."

After an offseason of intense rehab work, Ramirez said, this is the strongest he has ever felt.

"It is a huge difference," Ramirez said. "Now I can push off and get on top of the ball because my lower body is strong. I'm comfortable with my legs. I'm completely healthy, and I just worry about the hitters and throwing the ball down."