The son of former MLB All-Star Manny Ramirez, Lucas Ramirez recently committed to the Tennessee Volunteers baseball, the team representing the University of Tennessee in NCAA Division I college baseball.
This is a huge accomplishment for the Ramirez family, as Lucas is following in the footsteps of his father. It is hard to imagine the level of pressure that Lucas must feel in order to live up to the success of Manny, who was a 12-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion.
Lucas, 19, took to Instagram to express gratitude to his parents for their unwavering support:
"I am insanely excited to announce that I will be committing to the University of Tennessee. I'd like to thank God for giving me this talent and strength to keep working. I'd to thank my dad and my mother for believing in me and giving me all the support I need." wrote Jr. Ramirez captioning his social media post.
He also thanked his baseball coach, Marcel, in his tribute post. As a proud father, Manny took to Twitter to congratulate his son for making it into VOLS.
"Proud of your hard hours of work, discipline, determination …can’t wait to see what’s the next chapter for you son." - Manny Ramirez
Ramirez knows that his son has worked hard and that he deserves to be recognized for his efforts.
Manny Ramirez's son enjoyed a heavy fan following while playing in Brockton Rox
Former MLB star Manny Ramirez's son, Lucas, enjoyed a heavy fan following while playing for Brockton Rox in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. He played alongside David Ortiz's son, D'Angelo Ortiz, on the Massachusetts-based team.
Frequently, fans were spotted crowding outside Campanelli Stadium, the home of Brockton Rox, to catch a glimpse of the future All-Stars.
Here's what Rox's general manager, Tom Tracey, had to say about the hype:
"It's definitely drawn a lot of hype. Fans hear the names and they're like, they want to go see these kids, if they're like their dads and everything. Fans are there before games, after games, and kids will mail letters to the stadium asking for autographs."
"D’Angelo Ortiz drives in Manny Ramirez Jr. and I suddenly feel very old." - Pete Abraham
Lucas and D'Angelo are aware of the situation and are putting effort into making a name for themselves in the baseball world.