Rangel Ravelo


Rangel Ravelo is a Cuban professional baseball first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball.

Career

Chicago White Sox

Ravelo was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the sixth round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft out of Hialeah High School in Hialeah, Florida. He signed with the White Sox and made his professional debut with the Bristol White Sox. In 2011, he played for Bristol and Kannapolis Intimidators and also spent 2012 with Kannapolis. He returned to Kannapolis to start 2013 and was promoted to the Winston-Salem Dash early in the season. Ravelo played 2014 with the Double-A Birmingham Barons. During the season, he had a 26-game hitting streak. After the season, he was named the Barons Player of the Year after hitting.309 with a.859 on-base plus slugging and 11 home runs.

Oakland Athletics

After the 2014 season, the White Sox traded Ravelo, Josh Phegley, Marcus Semien, and Chris Bassitt to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for Jeff Samardzija and Michael Ynoa. He played for three Athletics affiliates in 2015: the Arizona League Athletics, Double-A Midland RockHounds, and Triple-A Nashville Sounds. He spent the entire 2016 season with Nashville, finishing with a.262 batting average with 8 home runs and 54 RBI. He was designated for assignment and sent outright to Nashville after the season. The A's invited him to spring training in 2017 as a non-roster player. With no natural position to play at Triple-A, due to Matt Olson's full-time first base assignment, and being too advanced for Double-A, Ravelo was released before the start of the season.

St. Louis Cardinals

Ravelo then signed a minor league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, and was assigned to the Memphis Redbirds, where he spent the whole season, posting a.314 batting average with eight home runs and 41 RBIs. in 89 games. He returned to Memphis in 2018, slashing.308/.392/.487 with 13 home runs and 67 RBIs in 100 games. He returned to Memphis to begin 2019. St. Louis promoted Ravelo to the major leagues on June 17, 2019. On September 5, 2019, Ravelo hit his first career Major League home run off of former Cardinals farmhand Kyle Barraclough in the 8th inning of a win against the San Francisco Giants. Over 39 regular season at-bats with St. Louis, Ravelo hit.205 with two home runs and seven RBIs. Over 95 games with Memphis, he slashed.299/.383/.473 with 12 home runs and 56 RBIs.