Cubs' Aramis Ramirez: Dominican baseball players do not like to walk, Dominicanos no les gustan pasaportes

This according to Chicago Cub and Dominican Aramis Ramirez, who recently hit his major league leading 12th first pitch home run.  He dropped this classic quote to explain why he swings at a lot of first pitches:

“I don’t know, I’m Dominican -- we go out there swinging, we don’t work a lot on it,” Ramirez said. “[Starlin] Castro’s got like 450 at bats and like 20 walks. What do I got, like 25? We don’t walk, we like swinging the bat. So I don’t have an explanation for you. I’ve always been aggressive. I just happen to hit more homers this year.”

The classic part comes when he says "we don't work a lot."  Something probably lost in the translation there...  Think it should say "we don't work the count a lot," but hey I am just the Dominican Baseball Guy.  What do I know?

Ramirez is the latest free swinging Dominican, of which there have been a number like Vladimir Guerrero and Starlin Castro.  But it is probably a stereotype, because other Dominicans like Moises Alou and Manny Ramirez have had very sharp eyes and taken many walks.

In any case the strategy seems to be working for Aramis Ramirez this year.  He has had a bounce back year and been able to stay healthy.  Right now he is 12th in the NL in home runs and 6th RBI.  The Dominican Baseball Guy thinks this final quote from Aramis pretty much describes the whole shabang of being a hitter:  “If I see a pitch I like I’m going to swing at it,” Ramirez said.  He is from Santo Domingo, DR.

Chicago Cubs' Aramis Ramirez with RBI in 2007, by Guano on Flickr