Ramón Laureano Jr. (born July 15, 1994) is a Dominican professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. Since , the team has played its home gam ...

, and

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

. He made his MLB debut in 2018 with the Athletics.

Early life

Ramón Laureano is the only son of Nina and Ramón Laureano. He was raised in

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

Career

Houston Astros

Laureano played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) is a Public college, public community college in Miami, Oklahoma. Established as the Miami School of Mines in 1919, NEO has an enrollment of approximately two thousand students. The Golden Norsemen is th ...

and was drafted by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

in the 16th round of the

2014 Major League Baseball draft The 2014 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 5 through June 7, 2014, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first two rounds were conducted on June 5, followed by rounds three through ten on June 6, and the last 30 round ...

. He made his professional debut with the

Greeneville Astros The Greeneville Astros were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Rookie League, Rookie-level Appalachian League from 2004 to 2017. They represented the town of Greeneville, Tennessee, though Pioneer Park (stadium), Pioneer Park, their h ...

in 2014. He batted .189 with one home run and two RBIs in 16 games, and played 2015 with the

Quad Cities River Bandits The Quad Cities River Bandits are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Their home games are played at Modern Woodmen Park (formerly John O'Donnell Stadium) in Davenport, Iowa, on ...

, batting .265 with four home runs, 34 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. Laureano started 2016 with the

Lancaster JetHawks The Lancaster JetHawks were a baseball team located in Lancaster, California. They were named for the city's association with the aerospace industry and played their home games at The Hangar. From 1996 to 2020, they were members of Minor League B ...

and was promoted to the

Corpus Christi Hooks The Corpus Christi Hooks are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Corpus Christi, Texas, and are named for the city's association with fishing. The team is owned b ...

in July. Laureano finished 2016 with a combined .319 batting average along with 15 home runs, 73 RBIs and a .955 OPS in 116 total games between both teams. He returned to Corpus Christi in 2017 where he posted a .227 batting average with 11 home runs, 55 RBIs and 24 stolen bases.

Oakland Athletics

After the 2017 season, Laureano was eligible to be selected during the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. Instead of placing him on the

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to prevent his selection, the Astros traded Laureano to the

in exchange for pitcher Brandon Bailey on November 20, 2017. On August 3, 2018, the Athletics called up Laureano, and he made his major league debut. His first major league hit that night was a walk-off single to break a scoreless tie in the 13th inning against the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

. Since the RBI became a stat in 1920, Laureano is the first Athletic to hit a walk-off RBI hit as their first major league hit. On August 20, 2018, he hit his first two major league home runs off

Bartolo Colón Bartolo Colón (born May 24, 1973), nicknamed "Big Sexy", is a Dominican American professional baseball pitcher for the Karachi Monarchs of Baseball United. He previously played for 11 different Major League Baseball (MLB) teams: the Cleveland ...

in a 9–0 shutout victory over the Texas Rangers. On September 7, 2018, he hit two more home runs in an 8–4 win over the Rangers, becoming the first player in A's franchise history to have two multi-homer games in his first 30 career games, achieving the feat in 29 games played. On May 7, 2019, Laureano robbed

Joey Votto Joseph Daniel Votto (born September 10, 1983) is a Canadian-American former professional baseball first baseman who spent his entire 17-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Cincinnati Reds from 2007 to 2023. He was the second Canad ...

of a home run in the sixth inning against the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

, which would aid

Mike Fiers Michael Bruce Fiers (; born June 15, 1985) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers, and Oakland Athletics. Fiers has pitched two no-h ...

's second career no-hitter. In 2019, Laureano batted .288 with 24 home runs and 67 RBIs. On defense he led all major league center fielders in errors, with 7, and had the lowest

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

of all major center fielders (.974). In the

Wild Card Game The Wild Card Series (formerly known as Wild Card Game from 2012 to 2019 and in 2021) are games that serve as the opening round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason. A single wild card game was instituted in 2012. This became a best ...

, Laureano drove in the Athletics' only run with a sacrifice fly. The Athletics were defeated 5–1 by the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

. On August 9, 2020, Laureano was ejected for the first time in his career for charging at the Houston Astros bench to go after Astros hitting coach

Alex Cintrón Alexander Cintrón (born December 17, 1978) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball infielder and current hitting coach for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox ...

, causing the benches to empty. He was suspended six games on August 11 due to the incident, while Cintron was suspended for 20. On appeal, Laureano's suspension was reduced to four games, beginning on August 14. In 2020, he batted .213, with 6 home runs, 25 RBIs, posted a .338

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

and a .366

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

. He had an AL-leading 12

hit by pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provide ...

es. On August 6, 2021, Laureano was suspended by MLB for 80 games for testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug

nandrolone Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an endogenous androgen. It is also an anabolic steroid (AAS) which is medically used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate ...

. On October 1, Laureano underwent core surgery. His suspension continued through the first 27 games of the 2022 season. On May 8, 2022, Laureano played his first game after his suspension. On July 11, 2022, Laureano misplayed a sinking line drive hit by the Rangers’

Josh Smith Joshua Smith (born December 5, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player who played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Entering the NBA straight out of high school, Smith played nine seasons with the Atlant ...

, resulting in an inside-the-park home run. On January 13, 2023, Laureano signed a one-year, $3.55 million contract with the Athletics, avoiding salary arbitration. In 64 games for Oakland, he batted .213/.280/.364 with 6 home runs, 21 RBI, and 8 stolen bases. Despite having the third highest rWAR on the Athletics, he was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must, within seven days, return the pla ...

on August 5.

Cleveland Guardians

On August 7, 2023, Laureano was claimed off waivers by the

. He played in 41 games for Cleveland down the stretch, hitting .243/.342/.382 with three home runs and 14 RBI. Laureano struggled for Cleveland in 2024, batting .143/.265/.229 with one home run and four RBI across 31 contests. The Guardians designated Laureano for assignment on May 20, 2024. After clearing waivers, Laureano was released by the Guardians on May 25, 2024, while being owed $5.15 million by the team.

Atlanta Braves

On May 29, 2024, Laureano signed a minor league contract with the

organization. He made 14 appearances with the Triple–A

Gwinnett Stripers The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia ...

, posting a .362 batting average with three home runs and 12 RBI. On June 15, the Braves selected Laureano's contract, adding him to their active roster, after incumbent center fielder

Michael Harris II Michael Machion Harris II (born March 7, 2001) is an American professional baseball center fielder for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was selected by the Braves in the third round of the 2019 MLB draft. He made his MLB deb ...

suffered a hamstring strain. In 67 games for Atlanta, he slashed .296/.327/.505 with 10 home runs, 29 RBI, and five stolen bases. On November 22, the Braves non–tendered Laureano, making him a free agent. Following the 2024 season, Laureano signed with the

Leones del Escogido Leones del Escogido (English: ''Chosen One Lions'' or ''Lions of Chosen One'' or ''Picked Lions'') is a professional baseball team in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Established in , Leones are the third most successful team in the Dominican Pr ...

to play

winter league baseball Winter league baseball is baseball contested in sports leagues during what is generally considered the baseball off-season. Background Annually, the highest level of professional baseball competition, Major League Baseball (MLB), begins with spri ...

in the

Dominican Professional Baseball League The Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League ( or LIDOM) is a professional baseball winter league consisting of six teams spread across the Dominican Republic; it is the highest level of professional baseball played in the Dominican Repub ...

Baltimore Orioles

On February 4, 2025, Laureano signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the

Skills profile

Laureano has drawn attention for the strength and accuracy of his arm.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laureano, Ramón 1994 births Living people Atlanta Braves players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Santo Domingo Cleveland Guardians players Corpus Christi Hooks players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Dominican Republic sportspeople in doping cases Glendale Desert Dogs players Greeneville Astros players Gwinnett Stripers players Lancaster JetHawks players Las Vegas Aviators players Leones del Escogido players Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Nashville Sounds players Norfolk Tides players Oakland Athletics players Quad Cities River Bandits players Stockton Ports players Tigres del Licey players 21st-century Dominican Republic sportsmen