Reports out of Venezuela say Washington National catcher Wilson Ramos has been kidnapped.
The news was confirmed by Ramos’ winter league team, The Tigres de Aragua.
According to Mark Zuckerman of CSN Washington:
According to the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional, four gunmen approached Ramos at his home in the Santa Ines section of the city of Valencia and took him away. Family members have informed police but have not yet heard from the kidnappers.
The motivations for such a frightening act could be several. Kidnappings in Venezuela are relatively common when done for extortion. Though Ramos is not highly paid by baseball player standards, his $415,000 salary last year is still considerable, even more so in a third world country. This could also be an attempt to extort from the Nationals and/or the Tigres de Aragua.
Such a history with violence involving baseball players is also not uncommon. Henry Blanco’s brother was kidnapped and killed in 2008. A year later a son of Yorvit Torreabla was kidnapped, but then released unharmed. These are just a couple examples of many, unfortunate tales.
Ramos had yet to play for his winter league team. He hit .267 with 15 homers and 52 RBI in his first full season in the majors in 2011.
