Outfielder J.P. Ramirez, a New Braunfels Canyon graduate, is in his first season as a minor leaguer in the Washington Nationals’ system.

Playing at Class A Vermont, Ramirez is batting .253 with 26 RBIs in 54 games.

Over the course of the season, Ramirez will provide a monthly look at life in professional baseball with Express-News staff writer Lorne Chan:

We just finished a road trip in Batavia, N.Y., and got on the bus (it’s 11:30 p.m. on Thursday night) for an eight-hour ride back to Vermont.

You get used to the buses. We have TVs on, and I have my own row, so I end up getting some sleep. The games we play the day after trips like this are pretty rough, but that’s part of life in the minors. Everybody has to deal with it, and the minor leagues are all about testing yourself mentally. I don’t want to stay down here my whole life, so it’s more of a motivation to me.

Another part of the life is that there’s usually nothing to eat when we’re done with our games. We’re playing in some pretty small towns, like Batavia and Oneonta, so we end up ordering a lot of pizza. We don’t have cars, so we’ll sometimes walk a mile to find a diner that’s open 24 hours.

I end up ordering for a lot of the Latin players, too, since there isn’t much Spanish-speaking going on in Vermont. I’ve gotten to know a lot of them pretty well, since I can give them a Spanish-to-English link.

I’d heard stories about the minors, that it’s all about yourself and nobody talks to each other. Our team, we’re all about each other, like a high school team.

We’ve had a few pitchers get called up, and everybody’s just happy when it happens. Our season’s ending in the first week of September, so we’ll see where I wind up then.