Ramos ends funk with power surge

It hasn't been the easiest start to the season for Heliot Ramos, but the odds are good he'll wake up tomorrow with a much different outlook.
The second-ranked Giants prospect went deep twice for his first career multi-homer game, drew a pair of walks and drove in three runs to lead Class A Advanced San Jose past Stockton, 6-3, on Wednesday night at Banner Island Ballpark. Ramos has three hits -- all home runs -- and five RBIs in his last two games after beginning the season 1-for-15.

Gameday box score
Despite his struggles at the plate, the 19-year-old had been getting on base, walking four times in his first five games. He added a fifth in the opening frame and scored on Ryan Kirby's three-run homer. Ramos joined in on the long ball action with a two-run shot to right field in the third before going deep over the left-center field fence in the fifth to give him homers in three of his last four at-bats since Tuesday night. He walked in the seventh and grounded out in the ninth.
The introduction to the California League had not been kind to Ramos, who entered Wednesday hitting .105 with nine strikeouts in five games. The big night at the plate boosted his average 77 points to .182 in 21 at-bats.
MLB.com's No. 90 overall prospect burst onto the scene in 2017 in the Rookie-level Arizona League. San Francisco selected Ramos with the 19th overall pick that June and he paid immediate dividends, batting .348/.404/.645 with 23 extra-base hits, 27 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in 35 games in the AZL. The Giants aggressively promoted the Puerto Rico native to Class A Augusta last year, where he was one of the South Atlantic League's youngest players at 18. 
"It's fun," Giants top prospect Joey Bart told NBCS Bay Area recently. "Obviously, you can see he hits a lot of balls on the barrel. He's a really good player, really good hitter. It's fun to watch him. I had a good time kind of sitting there and admiring what he does out there. He's a kid at 19 years old doing that. It's very impressive."

Ramos held his own against older competition and ended the season with a .243/.313/.396 slash line and 43 extra-base hits in 124 games. He participated in last summer's All-Star Futures Game was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training, where he collected one hit in four Cactus League at-bats.
Starter John Gavin surrendered two unearned runs, three hits and a walk with two strikeouts in four innings before giving way to Clay Helvey, who was charged with a run on three hits and three walks while fanning one in 1 1/3 frames in his season debut. Olbis Parra (1-0) and Raffi Vizcaino -- who earned his first save of the year -- combined for five strikeouts and two walks over 3 2/3 hitless innings.
A's No. 15 prospectNick Allen singled and doubled for the Ports, and starter Mitchell Jordan (0-1) was reached for five runs -- four earned -- on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts in four innings.