The sad and disappointing news came out this morning that Sean Ratliff has retired from baseball. Ratliff missed the entire 2011 season after he was struck in the face by a foul ball during spring training and broke six bones. He courageously attempted to comeback from the injury, but in seven games for St. Lucie this season he hit .136 with 3 hits and 10 strikeouts in 22 at bats.
The injury really was a shame because heading into the 2011 season before his injury Ratliff was one of the more intriguing and promising outfield prospects in the upper levels of the Mets system, alongside guys like Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Lucas Duda. Ratliff was a 4th round pick in 2008 out of Stanford and immediately established himself as a prospect with power, hitting seven homeruns for Brooklyn that summer. He followed that up with 15 homeruns for Savannah the following year. In 2011 he split the season between St. Lucie and Binghamton and hit .298/.353/.505 with 21 homeruns and 35 doubles. That power definitely made him a prospect to keep an eye on, and while there’s no guarantee that he would have eventually made a contribution at the major league level, it’s a shame that we’ll never know.
4 comments
Mr North Jersey
4/22/2012-12:49pm at 12:49 pm (UTC -4)
So sorry to hear that. Wish him well and hope he can remain in baseball in some capacity.
SpencerRealDirtyMets
4/22/2012-2:08pm at 2:08 pm (UTC -4)
Always sad to see injury derail a career, best of luck to Sean wherever he goes in life.
Stickguy
4/22/2012-5:14pm at 5:14 pm (UTC -4)
bummer for him. and the team.
You can live with a playing injury, like a knee or elbow, since they are part of the game but losing your career to a total fluke like this is a shame.
srt
4/22/2012-7:24pm at 7:24 pm (UTC -4)
That really is a shame. Wasn’t meant to be. Good luck to the young man and here’s hoping his plan b leads to success.