From OKC to the Big Leagues

Lane Ramsey is an Oklahoma City-native who has made it to the MLB, but his path is not like most who have made it to the Bigs. Ramsey’s favorite sport wasn’t even baseball growing up, as he played football, basketball and baseball up until his high school years.

“Basketball was my true love and is still my favorite sport,” Ramsey exclaimed.

For Ramsey, baseball was almost never a thing he was going to pursue for a career as he said he almost quit baseball completely at the age of 12, but his father talked him out of quitting and sticking to the sport. Ramsey just didn’t believe that his love for baseball would get him far with how much he loved basketball. 

“I’m extremely thankful for my Dad and Mom as they have been such huge parts of helping me realize a lot of potential I had in this game,” Ramsey said. 

As most high school baseball players, Lane both pitched and hit throughout his time at Putnam City North High School. When it became time for his senior year, his hitting saw a decline and his pitching began to grow even better. 

“I had a conversation with my high school coach, along with my parents, and felt that focusing on purely pitching would be the best thing for my career as I progress,” Ramsey quoted.

Ramsey would, after high school, go on to play college baseball at Newman University, then make a pitstop at the JUCO-level Cisco JC,  before transferring to the University of Oklahoma. Ramsey would then play at Oklahoma in 2018 and then get drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 23^rd round, pick 678 overall. 

“It was a surreal feeling. It felt like all of the training and sacrifices I made were worth it in the end,” Ramsey explained.

It seems as of the past decade the state of Oklahoma has improved dramatically with more and more players making it to the next level and beyond, especially in the OKC-metro and surrounding towns. 

“Oklahoma is a terrific spot for baseball players to improve their skills and play at an extremely high level.” 

“The state routinely has high school players being drafted in the MLB draft or athletes going to all colleges across the country and some at the highest level,” Ramsey said. 

One of the biggest changes to help players and specifically pitchers master their craft and learn the best way they can is a machine and program called PitchingWRX. Ramsey is general manager at PitchingWRX in Edmond to help the next generation of players coming through the state. 

Ramsey explained that “We have upwards of 250 athletes ranging from high school down to the youth ages of 8 and seeing the drive and skill level these kids possess at such an early age is incredible to witness.”

For most pitchers, the biggest time for improvement is the offseason. The offseason for baseball is typically from October through February. For Ramsey he says his offseason has different phases throughout the winter months.

“Early on in the offseason is typically when pitchers don’t throw or keep throwing to a minimum for recovery. Then as November approaches my throwing will continue to ramp up each week as well as my lifting program,” Ramsey explained.

“The whole goal of an offseason for a pitcher is to look back on what you did well and what you didn’t do well in the previous season and work to get better in those areas. Whether that’s physically, mentally, mechanically, velocity, working on pitch shapes or correcting limiting factors in your body that may be harming you.”

Ramsey wants everyone to understand that no matter what might be going on in your life, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t make it, and if you put your mind to it anything is possible. 

“If a kid who loves basketball can make it to the MLB then any of these kids can do what they believe.”