Matt Purke felt relief the minute he became a member of the Washington Nationals.

Finally he would begin throwing to batters again. Finally he’d be in live games again. Finally, after three months spent doing nothing but staring at a catcher’s target, building up his arm strength with a throwing program, he could put a spring battle with bursitis behind him and return to playing baseball.

So it was with a little bit of irony that Purke sat in a dugout in Arizona last month the day before he’d make his first professional start — more than 63 days after he signed on the dotted line — and talked about the challenges he’d faced since that August day when he forewent more schooling and opted to become a National.

His strength wasn’t fully back. His sharpness wasn’t nearly where he wanted it to be. The inactivity — watching as the Nationals’ New York- Penn League affiliate Auburn Doubledays made a push for the playoffs, throwing four times in Instructional League games — drove him crazy, even though he understood the reasoning behind it.

“I could tell that I hadn’t pitched to a batter in like five or six months,” Purke said. “It just wasn’t as sharp as where I was before. Throwing and all of that is one thing but continuing to pitch to batters is another.”

Purke is possibly the gem of the Nationals’ 2011 draft, a 2009 first-round pick of the Texas Rangers whose deal fell through on a veto by Major League Baseball because of the team’s financial troubles at the time. When he’s at his best, he’s a power lefty who has a devastating curveball and an already-developed slider/cutter/changeup mix. That pitcher is a steal in the third round of the draft — even with his major league deal and signing bonus that total nearly $4 million.

“He’s a really special young man,” said Nationals director of player development Doug Harris. “Really mature, very focused but with a calmness about him. He’s very humble. He’s impressive. Very impressive.”

He’s also intellectual by nature — cerebral, as one Nationals executive put it — so it was difficult to digest that precision was not a part of his game as he began his long-awaited professional career.

“I’m a really hard critic on myself,” he said. “More than anyone else. When someone tells me, ‘Well, you did OK, you’re just working’ — me, I want to make sure that it’s good every time I go out there.”

It was with that in mind that Purke came out for his first start in the Arizona Fall League and was, quite simply, awful. Purke faced eight batters and retired one. He couldn’t escape the first inning, the lone out coming on a rocket down the right-field line that Philadelphia Phillies prospect Tyson Gillies chased down. Purke fell behind almost every hitter and threw just 22 pitches: 12 strikes, 10 balls. Any hopes he had of showing off the skills that at one time catapulted him to the top of draft boards were resoundingly dashed.

What came out was a lefty with little control whose fastball reached just 92 mph — not the pitcher the Nationals were hoping could complement a rotation headed by Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimmermann.

But there was caution breathed with each sigh scouts and evaluators let out as they watched Purke’s much-anticipated, albeit abbreviated, performance.

“The numbers are going to be inflated,” said Single-A Potomac pitching coach Paul Menhart, who served in the same capacity for the Scottsdale Scorpions. “They’re going to be inflated out here because it’s an offensive league and I’ll leave it at that. Traditionally, any pitcher who has success out here is usually not normal.”

What then, to make of Purke — who showed marked improvement with each AFL appearance and will find himself in big-league camp this spring whether he’s ready? His fastball velocity rose to 96 mph, and that sharpness he’d been searching for began to return to all of his pitches as he worked through a few mechanical tweaks. He finished the AFL season with four scoreless innings, during which he struck out four, allowed two hits and walked one.

The only pitcher in team history beside Strasburg to earn a spot on the 40-man roster before throwing a professional pitch knows he’s not Strasburg. He also knows he’s healthy and has joined the likes of Bryce Harper knowing he’s in contention for the Nationals’ 25-man roster.

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© Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

Read More: Mark Buehrle (P – CWS), Washington Nationals, Chicago White Sox, Florida Marlins

As a durable, consistent left handed starting pitcher with a proven track record, White Sox free agent SP Mark Buehrle is high up on the list of many teams looking to bolster their starting rotations this off season. Buerhle already reportedly received an offer from the Miami Marlins, and now he will reportedly entertain another team from the NL East.

The Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore reported Monday morning that the Washington Nationals have identified Buehrle as their top free agent target and will visit him and his agents at his home in St. Louis on Monday. Kilgore also reported that Buehrle and his representatives met with Nationals management last week in Milwaukee, though it’s unknown when the Nationals will extend an official offer.

For more updates on the hot stove, stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago. For more on the White Sox, check out South Side Sox, SB Nation’s Chicago White Sox blog. And for news from around major league baseball, visit Baseball Nation.

WASHINGTON (WJZ)—Eight days after being kidnapped in his home town of Venezuela, Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos returned to Washington, D.C. after a dramatic rescue.

Monique Griego has more on his traumatic ordeal.

Just days after being rescued from kidnappers in Venezuela, Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was back in D.C. to thank his fans.

“I just want to thank my fans for your prayers and support,” Ramos said.

Ramos’ harrowing experience began Nov. 9. He was in his home town of Valencia, Valenzuela to play winter ball when four men kidnapped him at gunpoint.

As investigators searched for clues, the Nationals team, including General Manager Mike Rizzo, waited and worried.

“A lot of people were just sitting on their hands waiting for some information. It was very, very difficult,” Rizzo said.

Fans in Washington held vigils.  Along with his friends back home who pleaded for his safe return.

Two days later, their prayers were answered. After a dramatic gunfight, Ramos was rescued.

Commandos also arrested six of his ten alleged kidnappers. It didn’t take long for word to get back to Rizzo.

“I get emotional when I talk about it now. It’s one of our own. He is a family member,” Rizzo said.

Despite his ordeal, Ramos’ focus seems to already be back on baseball.

“I’m happy to be here, happy to be with my family, and see you in spring training,” Ramos said.

Despite everything that happened to him, Ramos still plans on returning to Venezuela to play for their league.

It’s believed Ramos’ kidnappers planned to hold him for ransom money.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former major league catcher Randy Knorr is being promoted from minor league manager to major league bench coach by the Washington Nationals.

Knorr replaces Pat Corrales, who became Washington’s bench coach when Davey Johnson took over as manager after Jim Riggleman abruptly resigned during last season.

Otherwise, the Nationals announced Thursday that Johnson’s staff will stay the same in 2012: hitting coach Rick Eckstein, pitching coach Steve McCatty, third base coach Bo Porter, first base coach Trent Jewett and bullpen coach Jim Lett.

Knorr retired as a player in 2004. He is 384-380 as a manager in the minors, including at Triple-A Syracuse in 2011. He was the Nationals’ bullpen coach for part of the 2006 season and all of 2009.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The Washington Nationals finalized their coaching staff for the 2012 season Thursday evening when they promoted Triple-A manager Randy Knorr to the major league coaching staff as the bench coach for manager Davey Johnson.

“I’m excited,” Knorr said in a phone interview. “Getting the chance to work with Davey and [Nationals general manager] Mike Rizzo and the rest of the coaching staff in September was great. I really liked being up there with those guys and I worked with those players for so long in the minor leagues that it was really fun watching them play at that level.”

Knorr, 43, who spent the last seven seasons serving as a coach or manager at every level in the Nationals organization, joins the major league coaching staff for the third time after two stints as the team’s bullpen coach in 2006 and 2009. His mind and passion, however, have always been geared more toward that of a manager and it was for that reason that Rizzo offered Knorr to chance to return to managing in 2010 in the minor leagues.

Knorr served as the Nationals‘ Triple-A manager for the 2011 season but also managed three seasons with Single-A Potomac, Single-A Savannah, the organization’s Arizona Fall League team in 2010 and at Double-A Harrisburg that same year. He led Potomac to the Carolina League championship in 2008.

As a result of his extensive work within the Nationals‘ organization, Knorr has worked with the majority of the Nationals‘ youthful major league roster and is extremely well-thought of among the players who have come through the system for his no-nonsense style. Among his pupils: infielders Ryan Zimmerman, Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa, pitchers John Lannan, Drew Storen, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmmeran and Ross Detwiler.

The Nationals bench coach position was filled by Pat Corrales after the resignation of manager Jim Riggleman and reassignment of John McLaren following a three-game stint as interim manager. The 70-year-old Corrales, however, decided to return to an advisory role after the 2011 season and the Nationals made it clear they were looking for a bench coach who could be considered — along with third base coach Bo Porter and first base coach Trent Jewett — as a possible successor to Johnson.

“I just think it’s gives them a comfort level and a chance to see what I can do with [the players] at that level,” Knorr said. “I’d like to think of it as the next step but just the fact that I’m up there and in that position, I think it’s a good opportunity.”

Knorr’s name was among the first to be mentioned when it was announced that the team would have a bench coach opening. However, after the initial buzz about the position, Knorr hadn’t heard anything official from the Nationals and began preparing to return as the manager for Triple-A Syracuse. He was reached Wednesday night by Rizzo, though, about the bench coach position and things progressed from there.

Many of the current Nationals credit Knorr, a 19-year MLB veteran catcher, with helping them mature — both as people and players — and he’s a respected presence in the clubhouse.

“I think that [experience in the system] probably put me on the top of the list because I have had [those players] and have a good relationship with most of them,” Knorr said. “I feel like I can get the most out of them.”

Porter and Jewett will also return, along with bullpen coach Jim Lett, pitching coach Steve McCatty and hitting coach Rick Eckstein. This will be the fourth season on the staff for both McCatty and Eckstein and the third for Lett. Porter and Jewett will be returning for their second seasons.

This move also gives the Nationals a vacancy at Triple-A. There was no immediate word who would replace Knorr in that position.

© Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former major league catcher Randy Knorr is being promoted from minor league manager to major league bench coach by the Washington Nationals.

Knorr replaces Pat Corrales, who became Washington’s bench coach when Davey Johnson took over as manager after Jim Riggleman abruptly resigned during last season.

Otherwise, the Nationals announced Thursday that Johnson’s staff will stay the same in 2012: hitting coach Rick Eckstein, pitching coach Steve McCatty, third base coach Bo Porter, first base coach Trent Jewett and bullpen coach Jim Lett.

Knorr retired as a player in 2004. He is 384-380 as a manager in the minors, including at Triple-A Syracuse in 2011. He was the Nationals’ bullpen coach for part of the 2006 season and all of 2009.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON — Former major league catcher Randy Knorr is being promoted from minor league manager to major league bench coach by the Washington Nationals.

Knorr replaces Pat Corrales, who became Washington’s bench coach when Davey Johnson took over as manager after Jim Riggleman abruptly resigned during last season.

Otherwise, the Nationals announced Thursday that Johnson’s staff will stay the same in 2012: hitting coach Rick Eckstein, pitching coach Steve McCatty, third base coach Bo Porter, first base coach Trent Jewett and bullpen coach Jim Lett.

Knorr retired as a player in 2004. He is 384-380 as a manager in the minors, including at Triple-A Syracuse in 2011. He was the Nationals’ bullpen coach for part of the 2006 season and all of 2009.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP)—Former major league catcher Randy Knorr is being promoted
from minor league manager to major league bench coach by the Washington
Nationals.

Knorr replaces Pat Corrales, who became Washington’s bench coach when Davey
Johnson took over as manager after Jim Riggleman abruptly resigned during last
season.

Otherwise, the Nationals announced Thursday that Johnson’s staff will stay
the same in 2012: hitting coach Rick Eckstein, pitching coach Steve McCatty,
third base coach Bo Porter, first base coach Trent Jewett and bullpen coach Jim
Lett.

Knorr retired as a player in 2004. He is 384-380 as a manager in the minors,
including at Triple-A Syracuse in 2011. He was the Nationals’ bullpen coach for
part of the 2006 season and all of 2009.

* Washington Nationals catcher was abducted for 48 hours

* Ramos’ ordeal shone light on crime in Venezuela

CARACAS, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Venezuelan authorities have
charged eight people over the kidnapping of Major League
Baseball player Wilson Ramos(notes) that threw a spotlight on violent
crime in the South American nation.

The 24-year-old Washington Nationals catcher was freed last
week in a hail of bullets during a raid by security forces on a
mountain hide-out two days after he was snatched from his
parents’ home in Venezuela during an off-season visit.

The detainees include a 74-year-old man and one woman.

The charges against them include kidnapping, criminal
association, use of a stolen vehicle and possessing illegal
arms, the attorney general’s office said late on Wednesday.

Some of the suspects were held during the raid, while
others were picked up afterward in an operation that President
Hugo Chavez’s government touted as a major success.

Detractors, however, say the fact Ramos was kidnapped in
the first place shows how uncontrolled crime has become in
Venezuela during Chavez’s nearly 13 years in power.

Ramos is one of many Venezuelans who have found fame and
fortune playing baseball in the U.S. big leagues. His abduction
shocked baseball-loving Venezuelans and brought an outpouring
of anxiety during the 48 hours of his disappearance.

Kidnappings, armed robberies and murders are frighteningly
common in Venezuela, an OPEC member nation with enormous oil
wealth alongside widespread poverty.

Ramos is one of the more highly regarded catching prospects
in baseball. He had a .267 batting average with 15 home runs
and 52 runs batted in for the Nationals during the 2011 season,
his first in the major leagues.
(Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne; editing by Eyanir Chinea and
Mohammad Zargham)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan authorities formally charged eight suspects Wednesday in the kidnapping of Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos.

The charges against include kidnapping, illegal possession of firearms, using a stolen vehicle and criminal association, prosecutors said in a statement. Those jailed include six men accused of directly participating in the abduction and a 59-year-old woman and 74-year-old man who are charged as accomplices for allegedly providing food to the group.

The 24-year-old baseball player was seized at gunpoint outside his family’s home in the city of Valencia last week and was rescued by police commandos two days later in the mountains of Carabobo state.

Authorities said four men were arrested at the abductors’ hideout but other suspects escaped the police raid. On Monday, police arrested a Colombian and a Venezuelan as alleged participants in the kidnapping. The older man and woman were detained before the rescue.

Ramos said after his release that his kidnappers had carefully planned the abduction with the help of an informant who had studied his movements. Ramos said his abductors told him they were going to demand a large ransom.

“What they did was laugh, joke about my pain,” Ramos said in brief remarks on television Tuesday.

The 74-year-old suspect, Aristides Sanchez, was granted house arrest by a court as permitted in Venezuela for suspects older than 70. However, officials said he will remain jailed until authorities confirm his age.

Sanchez is the father of another jailed suspect, 26-year-old Alexander Sanchez, the attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Ramos recently returned to his homeland after his rookie year with the Nationals to play during the offseason for his Venezuelan team, the Aragua Tigers. He has said he expects to be on the field playing for the Tigers again soon.

“I’m very thankful, and I feel like I’ve been born again,” Ramos said.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan authorities formally charged eight suspects Wednesday in the kidnapping of Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos.

The charges against include kidnapping, illegal possession of firearms, using a stolen vehicle and criminal association, prosecutors said in a statement. Those jailed include six men accused of directly participating in the abduction and a 59-year-old woman and 74-year-old man who are charged as accomplices for allegedly providing food to the group.

The 24-year-old baseball player was seized at gunpoint outside his family’s home in the city of Valencia last week and was rescued by police commandos two days later in the mountains of Carabobo state.

Authorities said four men were arrested at the abductors’ hideout but other suspects escaped the police raid. On Monday, police arrested a Colombian and a Venezuelan as alleged participants in the kidnapping. The older man and woman were detained before the rescue.

Ramos said after his release that his kidnappers had carefully planned the abduction with the help of an informant who had studied his movements. Ramos said his abductors told him they were going to demand a large ransom.

“What they did was laugh, joke about my pain,” Ramos said in brief remarks on television Tuesday.

The 74-year-old suspect, Aristides Sanchez, was granted house arrest by a court as permitted in Venezuela for suspects older than 70. However, officials said he will remain jailed until authorities confirm his age.

Sanchez is the father of another jailed suspect, 26-year-old Alexander Sanchez, the attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Ramos recently returned to his homeland after his rookie year with the Nationals to play during the offseason for his Venezuelan team, the Aragua Tigers. He has said he expects to be on the field playing for the Tigers again soon.

“I’m very thankful, and I feel like I’ve been born again,” Ramos said.

 

Prosecutors charged eight people Wednesday with the kidnapping of Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos in his home country of Venezuela, five days after he was dramatically rescued.

The eight were accused of aggravated kidnapping, plotting to commit a crime and using a stolen vehicle, among other offenses, a statement from the prosecutors’ office said.

Two of the suspects also were charged with resisting arrest and weapons possession, it added.

The 24-year-old catcher, snatched by gunmen near his parents’ home last Wednesday, was rescued in a hail of gunfire Friday when security forces raided the remote mountain hideout where he was held.

Venezuelan authorities earlier said there were six Venezuelans and five Colombians detained in the case, but on Wednesday authorities did not give the nationalities of those charged.

Ramos, who had been training with the Aragua Tigres, a Venezuelan winter league team, said he believed his kidnappers were from neighboring Colombia, citing their accents.

Kidnapping is not unusual in Venezuela, and many cases are resolved within hours or days after payment of a ransom.

In 2009, there were 16,917 kidnappings in the country, although some nongovernment organizations estimate the number is higher.

Though this was the first time a professional baseball player has been kidnapped in Venezuela, relatives of players have been snatched in recent years.

The Nationals acquired Ramos, 24, from the Minnesota Twins in a trade in July 2010. As a rookie in 2011, he hit .267 with 15 home runs and 52 RBI in 113 games.
 

Prosecutors charged eight people Wednesday with the kidnapping of Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos in his home country of Venezuela, five days after he was dramatically rescued.

The eight were accused of aggravated kidnapping, plotting to commit a crime, and using a stolen vehicle, among other offenses, a statement from the prosecutors’ office said.

Two of the suspects also were charged with resisting arrest and weapons possession, it added.

The 24-year-old catcher, snatched by gunmen near his parents’ home last Wednesday, was rescued in a hail of gunfire on Friday when security forces raided the remote mountain hideout where he was held.

Venezuelan authorities earlier said there were six Venezuelans and five Colombians detained in the case, but on Wednesday authorities did not give the nationalities of those charged.

Ramos, who had been training with the Aragua Tigres, the Venezuelan league team for whom he plays during the Major League Baseball off-season, said he believed his kidnappers were from neighboring Colombia, citing their accents.

Many people in baseball-mad Venezuela breathed a sigh of relief when officials announced that Ramos had been rescued safe and sound.

Kidnapping is not unusual in Venezuela, and many cases are resolved within hours or days after payment of a ransom.

In 2009, there were 16,917 kidnappings in the country, although some non-government organizations estimate the number is higher.

Though this was the first time a professional baseball player has been kidnapped in Venezuela, relatives of players have been snatched in recent years.

The Nationals acquired Ramos, 24, from the Minnesota Twins in a trade in July 2010. As a rookie in 2011, he hit .267 with 15 home runs and 52 RBIs in 113 games.

VALENCIA, Venezuela – His eyes tearing up with emotion, Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos embraced his rescuers Saturday and said he had wondered whether he would survive a two-day kidnapping ordeal that ended when commandos swept into his captors’ mountain hideout.

Ramos said that he was happy and thankful to be alive a day after his rescue, saying that his final moments as a prisoner were hair-raising as police and the kidnappers exchanged heavy gunfire in the remote area where he was being held. He said his kidnappers had carefully planned the abduction and told him they were going to demand a large ransom.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get out of it alive,” Ramos told reporters at a police station in his hometown of Valencia, flanked by police investigators, National Guard commanders and Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami. “It was very hard for me. It was very hard for my family.”

El Aissami said authorities arrested four of the captors, all of them Venezuelan men in their 20s. A 60-year-old woman and a 74-year-old man were also arrested as accomplices for supplying the kidnappers with food from their home in the area, he said. The six suspects were led past journalists at the police station with black hoods over their heads.

Authorities were still searching for four Colombian men who escaped during the rescue, El Aissami said. He didn’t say whether anyone was wounded in the gunbattle.

Ramos, 24, was seized at gunpoint outside his family’s home Wednesday night and whisked away in an SUV. It was the first known kidnapping of a Major League Baseball player in Venezuela, and the abduction set off an outpouring of candlelight vigils and public prayers at stadiums as well as outside Ramos’ house.

El Aissami said investigators’ first break in the case came when they found the kidnappers’ stolen SUV, a bronze-colored Chevrolet, abandoned in the town of Bejuma alongside the mountains of central Carabobo state. With that location pinpointed, he said, they studied past crimes in the area and ended up checking on a rural house that authorities believed had been used in a previous kidnapping.

An SUV parked outside had mud on it even though there was no mud in the area, El Aissami said. Investigators suspected that SUV was being used to shuttle food to another spot nearby, and eventually determined the house was probably being used by the kidnappers as a support base while holding Ramos elsewhere, he said.

El Aissami said authorities took over the house and detained the couple who had been cooking for the abductors.

Once investigators thought they had found the general area where Ramos might be, President Hugo Chavez personally authorized an aerial search mission and teams also set out on foot in the mountainous area, El Aissami said. He said the teams searched most of the day on Friday and finally came upon the remote house where Ramos was being held.

Chavez followed the operation “minute by minute,” the justice minister said.

Ramos had recently returned to his homeland after his rookie year with the Nationals to play during the off-season in the Venezuelan league.

When he was abducted, he was standing with his father and two brothers just outside the front door of his family home in a working-class neighbourhood of Valencia, about 90 miles (150 kilometres) west of Caracas.

Ramos said his captors drove him for five or six hours, and once changed from one SUV to another. He said they bound his hands at first, but later allowed him not to be tied up. The kidnappers didn’t cover their faces and they spoke little to him, he said.

“They demanded only money,” he said.

Ramos said some of his abductors spoke with Colombian accents and revealed they had studied his movements before carrying out the abduction.

“They told me many things they knew of my private life,” he said. “They knew a lot about me. They had very good information, an informant who told them all that.”

Asked more about that informant, Ramos said he didn’t have further details but that “they themselves told me.”

El Aissami said one of the Colombians wanted by authorities lives in the area, and investigators believed he planned the kidnapping and studied Ramos’ daily routine.

“This person is the one who gives the information to a criminal group,” which in turn carried out the kidnapping, El Aissami said.

He said the investigation also pointed in part to “Colombian paramilitary groups that could be involved in the kidnapping.”

Ramos said he was kept in a room and passed the time lying on a bed. When the gunfire erupted Friday as his rescuers arrived, “I was on the bed and I threw myself directly to the floor.”

“It was like 15 minutes of shots until the officials arrived and saw me in the room,” said Ramos, who hugged the justice minister as well as police and National Guard officers at the news conference.

Ramos said he was enjoying being back with his family, and planned to start training Monday to play with his Venezuelan team, the Aragua Tigres, on Wednesday.

He said he didn’t plan to travel to Washington for now. “I want to stay here to give them that, to the Venezuelan people … so that they can see me play here.”

After his rescue was announced Friday night, Ramos’ mother, Maria Campos de Ramos, celebrated, exclaiming on television: “Thanks to God!”

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo also celebrated the news.

“He asked me to thank all who played a role in his rescue, and all those who kept him and his family in their thoughts and prayers,” Rizzo said in a statement. “I join Wilson in thanking the many law enforcement officials in Venezuela and investigators with Major League Baseball who worked tirelessly to ensure a positive ending to what has been a frightening ordeal.”

A baseball official said Major League Baseball’s local security agents worked with Venezuelan law enforcement on the case. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

Security has increasingly become a concern for Venezuelan players and their families as a swelling wave of kidnappings has hit the country’s wealthy and middle class in recent years. Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in Latin America, and the vast majority of crimes go unsolved.

Major League Baseball officials said it was the first kidnapping of a major leaguer that they could recall. But relatives of several players in Venezuela have previously been kidnapped for ransom, and in two cases have been killed.

Bodyguards typically shadow major leaguers when they return to their homeland to play in Venezuela’s baseball league.

“They didn’t physically harm me, but psychologically I underwent very great harm,” Ramos said. “I was always praying to God, and thanks to God he gave me the miracle of sending me these wonderful people.”

He saluted his rescuers, saying: “I’m alive thanks to them.”

___

Associated Press writer Jorge Rueda in Caracas and AP sports writers Howard Fendrich in Washington and Ron Blum in New York contributed to this report. Rueda reported from Caracas.

VALENCIA, Venezuela — His eyes tearing up with emotion, Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos embraced his rescuers Saturday and said he had wondered whether he would survive a two-day kidnapping ordeal that ended when commandos swept into his captors’ mountain hideout.

Ramos said that he was happy and thankful to be alive a day after his rescue, saying that his final moments as a prisoner were hair-raising as police and the kidnappers exchanged heavy gunfire in the remote area where he was being held. He said his kidnappers had carefully planned the abduction and told him they were going to demand a large ransom.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get out of it alive,” Ramos told reporters at a police station in his hometown of Valencia, flanked by police investigators, National Guard commanders and Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami. “It was very hard for me. It was very hard for my family.”

El Aissami said authorities arrested four of the captors, all of them Venezuelan men in their 20s. A 60-year-old woman and a 74-year-old man were also arrested as accomplices for supplying the kidnappers with food from their home in the area, he said. The six suspects were led past journalists at the police station with black hoods over their heads.

Authorities were still searching for four Colombian men who escaped during the rescue, El Aissami said. He didn’t say whether anyone was wounded in the gunbattle.

Ramos, 24, was seized at gunpoint outside his family’s home Wednesday night and whisked away in an SUV. It was the first known kidnapping of a Major League Baseball player in Venezuela, and the abduction set off an outpouring of candlelight vigils and public prayers at stadiums as well as outside Ramos’ house.

El Aissami said investigators’ first break in the case came when they found the kidnappers’ stolen SUV, a bronze-colored Chevrolet, abandoned in the town of Bejuma alongside the mountains of central Carabobo state. With that location pinpointed, he said, they studied past crimes in the area and ended up checking on a rural house that authorities believed had been used in a previous kidnapping.

An SUV parked outside had mud on it even though there was no mud in the area, El Aissami said. Investigators suspected that SUV was being used to shuttle food to another spot nearby, and eventually determined the house was probably being used by the kidnappers as a support base while holding Ramos elsewhere, he said.

El Aissami said authorities took over the house and detained the couple who had been cooking for the abductors.

Once investigators thought they had found the general area where Ramos might be, President Hugo Chavez personally authorized an aerial search mission and teams also set out on foot in the mountainous area, El Aissami said. He said the teams searched most of the day on Friday and finally came upon the remote house where Ramos was being held.

Chavez followed the operation “minute by minute,” the justice minister said.

Ramos had recently returned to his homeland after his rookie year with the Nationals to play during the offseason in the Venezuelan league.

November 12, 2011, 7:48 PM EST

By Daniel Cancel

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — Wilson Ramos, the 24-year-old Venezuelan catcher for the Washington Nationals, was rescued yesterday in a mountainous area of central Venezuela two days after being kidnapped by gunmen in front of his family’s home.

Venezuelan commando units found Ramos unharmed in a rural area of Carabobo state and arrested three people, Interior and Justice Minister Tarek El-Aissami said. President Hugo Chavez ordered an aerial operation to rescue Ramos yesterday, he said.

“Ramos was rescued safe and sound,” El-Aissami said on state television. “We have three people detained and he’s on his way back to his family.”

Ramos was the first major league baseball player to be kidnapped in Venezuela even as family members of professional players have been targeted in recent years. The case highlighted the South American country’s crime problem where murders have almost quadrupled since 1999, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory.

Ramos played his first full major-league season in 2011 and hit .267 with 15 home runs and 58 runs batted in while supplanting 14-time All-Star Ivan Rodriguez as the Nationals’ regular catcher.

Ramos made a major-league minimum $414,500 with the Nationals last season. He was preparing to join his local winter league team the Tigres de Aragua when he was abducted.

‘Thrilled’

“The news from Venezuela tonight is reassuring,’’ Mike Rizzo, the general manager of the Nationals, said in a statement. “Though details are limited and we have not yet talked directly with Wilson, we are thrilled with reports that he has been rescued and is being safely returned to his family.”

The Venezuelan catcher was kidnapped while visiting his mother’s home in Santa Ines, Carabobo state on Nov. 9, when gunmen entered at around 7:15 p.m. local time and forced him into an orange SUV, according to a government statement. His kidnappers didn’t contact the family or police.

In 2009, the 11-year-old son of catcher Yorvit Torrealba was kidnapped and returned after a ransom was paid, while the mother of ex-pitcher Victor Zambrano was rescued after being taken. The previous year, the brother of Henry Blanco , another major-league catcher from Venezuela, was shot and killed by kidnappers after being abducted in a Caracas suburb.

Venezuela has the third highest homicide rate in the Western Hemisphere after Honduras and El Salvador, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime .

Anibal Sanchez, a Venezuelan starting pitcher for the Florida Marlins, canceled his December trip home after hearing of the Ramos kidnapping, the Sun Sentinel, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based newspaper, reported yesterday.

National Sport

Venezuela has the second-highest number of Latin American players in the Major Leagues after the Dominican Republic and baseball has been the national sport since U.S. oil workers introduced the game at the beginning of the 20th century.

Many players return home during the offseason to either spend time with family or play in the winter league that runs from October until January.

“We’re enormously happy,” Rafael Rodriguez, president of the Tigres de Aragua said on state television. “The important thing is for him to be with his family and to check on his emotional state, the baseball issue is secondary right now.”

While veteran players who receive higher salaries use armored cars and bodyguards when they return to Venezuela in the off season, younger players are more at risk, Jose Grasso, President of the Venezuelan Baseball League said today in a phone interview.

Abraham Ramos, Wilson’s father, told state television that his son was headed home and doing well after speaking with him.

“He told me to calm down that everything is fine,” Abraham Ramos said. “I feel like the happiest man in the world. We’re waiting for you son.”

–Editors: Paul Tighe, Allen Wan

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Cancel in Caracas at dcancel@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net -0- Nov/12/2011 04:50 GMT