Focused Ramos ready to shed tag as injury-prone catcher

Catcher Wilson Ramos came to Washington in a 2010 trade with the Minnesota Twins. Since then, his career has been defined by a kidnapping incident in Venezuela, as well as injuries that put him on the disabled list for three consecutive seasons.

But this season, that could all change.

Ramos, 27, has a new lease on life. He's one of the Nationals' most consistent hitters. He's relaxed, healthy, and enjoying his job and life away from the field. He's dropped weight, feels strong and his body is more agile, thanks to a new offseason workout routine. And he says he's working twice as hard so that his new daughter will be proud of him.

"I've turned the page," Ramos says. "My new daughter makes me feel good."

Ramos' offense is another reason he and the Nationals are smiling. He carries a 14-game hitting streak into Tuesday night's game at Arizona. He's hitting .320 with a .343 on-base percentage. His average is best for National League catchers and his on-base percentage is second to San Francisco's Buster Posey's .371.

"If he can play every day, he can put up special numbers as a catcher," Nationals manager Matt Williams says of Ramos. "He can be one of the premier catchers in the game."

Ramos says his experience makes him a better hitter. He feels confident and aggressive at the plate.

"I want to put a good swing on the ball, I like to hit the ball to all fields," Ramos says.

Ramos is hoping to shake the past and catch 120 to 130 games this season. He says he wants to be known as a baseball player, not someone who survived a terrifying kidnapping experience in November 2011.

He played a career-high 113 games in 2011, but 24, 78 and 88 in each of the last three seasons. He had a knee injury in 2012. The next season, he had multiple hamstring injuries, and last season, he broke the hamate bone in his hand and re-strained a hamstring.

Breaking a bone can happen to any one, but Ramos thinks the hamstring injuries have been fixed with a workout routine that stresses more running and less weight work.

He spent his offseason doing running drills - backward, forward, sideways, zigzags - going at all speeds. And, the running drills took precedent over defensive drills or work in the weight room.

Doctors told him he was putting too much stress on his legs. "He told me that my tendons were too tight," Ramos says, meaning they were ripe for injury.

And, while he's got a chance to be an elite hitter for a catcher, Ramos, who was acquired for a closer, Matt Capps, who is no longer in the game, knows that defense is his No. 1 priority.

He worked with Ivan Rodriguez, a future Hall of Fame catcher, when Rodriguez was with the Nationals. Rodriguez advised him to be patient, calm and learn what makes each pitcher tick.

In spring training, Ramos' new project was learning starter Max Scherzer, the 2013 American League Cy Young Award winner with the Detroit Tigers who signed a $210 million contract to come to D.C.

"We're on the same page all the time, that makes me feel good," Ramos says.

Ramos knows defense from a catcher is the most important element. He says if he goes 0-for-3 at the plate, but keeps the opponents from scoring, he's done his job.

"If I block a ball and prevent a runner scoring from third, that makes my day," Ramos says.

Nationals lefty Gio Gonzalez says the pitching staff likes his determination in taking control of the pitching staff.

"He's the total package," Gonzalez says.

In January, Ramos was the 25th recipient of the Tony Conigliaro Award by the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

The award is given to a player who shows spirit and determination in beating obstacles. It is named for Conigliaro, the Red Sox outfielder who was beaned in the face with a fastball during the Red Sox's "Impossible Dream'' season of 1967, causing a severe eye injury that derailed his career.

Others who have won the award include the Angels' Jim Abbott, who was born without a right hand; Kansas City's Jim Eisenreich, who overcame Tourette's syndrome; and Boston's Jon Lester, who overcame a cancer diagnosis and pitched the Red Sox's World Series clincher in 2006.

Ramos said the award sits on his table at home and it gives him a boost, knowing that others recognize the work he puts in.

"It's not easy to be on the disabled list three years in a row," Ramos says.

This season, the disabled list could be a distant memory.