Wilson Ramos Rescued, Intends To Resume Playing

Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, who had been abducted Wednesday night near his home in Venezuela, was rescued Friday night in a commando operation by Venezuelan police. Ramos made some statements to Venezuelan state TV by phone after the rescue:

"The truth is I'm still very nervous, but thanks to God everything turned out well," Ramos told Venezuelan state television, speaking by telephone after arriving at a police station in his hometown of Valencia early Saturday.

He thanked the police and National Guard commandos who rescued him, saying "the boys did a great job."

The article went on to say that five men were arrested in the raid, including a Colombian "linked to paramilitary groups and to kidnapping groups."

Ramos commented further:

"I don't know who those people were. I know they're Colombians by their accent," Ramos said. "Three guys grabbed me there in front of my house, they took me to another SUV and from there they took me into the mountains," in central Carabobo state.

He said his abductors spoke little to him. "They simply told me to cooperate, that they were going to ask for a ton of cash for me."

"They put me in a room with a bed. I was lying there," he said. "It was hard for me to think about, if I was going to get out alive first of all ... about how my family, my mother were."

Venezuela has been the site of many kidnappings in recent years, including relatives of major league players (in 2008, the brother of Henry Blanco was kidnapped and killed); there are 81 active major league players who were born in Venezuela and many of them return there in the winter, either to play or just to be with family members. It could be that in the future, MLB will have to take some action to help protect these players. In the meantime, everyone involved is glad that Wilson Ramos was rescued and is safe and uninjured, though he also said, "As soon as I feel all right, I'm going to start playing. They didn't physically harm me, but psychologically I underwent very great harm."

Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was found safe on Friday night after authorities launched a rescue operation in a mountainous area near his Venezuelan home, according to reports. Ramos was kidnapped from his home on Wednesday at gunpoint as he gathered with family. Following his kidnapping, no ransom demands were made, though authorities had said Ramos was alive on Thursday.

Ramos wasn't just found, though: he was rescued by Venezuelan authorities.

Information Minister Andres Izarra initially reported the rescue via Twitter, saying Ramos was "found alive by security forces in mountainous zone," in the area of Montalban in central Carabobo state.

Izarra said it was "a rescue operation by air," which was authorized earlier in the day by President Hugo Chavez. "Ramos free!," said one message on Izarra's account.

It would appear no ransom was ever paid, and Ramos was freed from his captures by way of force instead.

The news of Ramos' safe rescue was met with jubilation on Friday night by fans in Washington and Venezuela. Ramos was scheduled to be checked out by a medical team before being reunited with his family on Friday or Saturday.

Wilson Ramos, catcher for the Washington Nationals, has been found in Venezuela after being abducted at gunpoint from his mother's home on Wednesday. From Rafael Rojas:

Wilson Ramos has appeared, per Marfa Mata, his press assistant - Developing

Most of the reports throughout the day had to do with the efforts that Venezuelan authorities were taking in the search of Ramos, but there wasn't a lot of news, positive or otherwise. His rescue or appearance, though, became official on Friday night.

VZ Information Minister tweets Ramos has been found safely by authorities at mountains at Carabobo state

Scot Drucker, a right-handed pitcher who is pitching in Venezuelan winter ball, tweeted a scene from the Tigres de Aragua game after the announcement was made:

Crowd is cheering #Wilson non stop. Game comes to a pause to a stand ovation as the #TigresDeAragua hug and thank everyone for the support

Expect the scene to come on YouTube soon and make you choke up a bit.

There isn't much news -- at least that's being released to the public -- in the Wilson Ramos abduction case. It's approaching two days after his initial kidnapping at gunpoint, but the Washington Post says there's still room for optimism:

There is some good news (or at least the hope is that it's good news) that investigators told the family a few hours ago that "the investigations are very advanced and not to worry because 'We're going to finish this as soon as possible.'"

While that's understandably cryptic, it sounds promising. Rafael Rojas, who has been one of the lead reporters on this story, confirms the progress, and notes that the Venezuelan authorities are using all of their resources:

Several reports of aerial ops going on for the Ramos case. Police are really going all-out on this.

Still no concrete news, but what's coming out is a little positive. In the meantime, there is a candlelight vigil for Ramos scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET at Nationals Park.

For the first time since the horrific story broke, there's a slice of good news in the Wilson Ramos kidnapping. From Rafael Rojas:

VZ Intelligence police confirm Wilson Ramos is still alive

That was the sum of the update, so there's no word on whether there has been a ransom demand or anything of that nature. Rojas is a Venezuelan baseball writer -- you can listen to him here on a podcast with Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein -- and he's been the main source for a lot of the Ramos developments.

The Venezuelan winter leagues have long been a popular offseason destination for teams and players from all over, but it looks like the Ramos abduction might change that. From Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News:

After Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was kidnapped at gunpoint in Venezuela on Wednesday night, the Rangers have begun considering the possibility of taking extra safety steps for their players in the winter league there.

Everyone's first concern is with Ramos, but teams are also reevaluating how they approach their winter ball strategies in the future.

The car used to abduct Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was found on Thursday, and there has still been no attempt to contact Ramos's family or police. From Mark Zuckerman of CSN Washington.com:

The Venezuelan minister of interior and justice said the car believed to have been used to abduct Wilson Ramos last night has been found, according to multiple reports from Venezuela. Tareck El Aissami said the car was located in the town of Bejuma, about an hour's drive west of Ramos' home outside the city of Valencia.

Ramos was kidnapped at gunpoint on Wednesday from his home in Venezuela, which has the highest kidnapping rate in the world. It's also one of baseball's most reliable talent factories, with over 80 players from Venezuela currently in the majors, including Carlos Zambrano, Miguel Cabrera, and Pablo Sandoval. Venezuela also has a thriving winter-ball league, which serves as an added attraction for players who want to return home in the offseason.

As you have likely heard by now, Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was kidnapped Wednesday night in his home country of Venezuela. Mark Zuckerman of Nats Insider reports that there's no new information on his whereabouts or status at this writing, a very scary situation for his family and friends:

"We are still waiting for any news about Wilson Ramos," Kathe Vilera, spokeswoman for Ramos' Venezuelan team (Tigres de Aragua) tweeted this morning. "All the authorities are working in the case."

According to Vilera, Ramos' kidnappers have not been in communication with his family or authorities.

Several of Ramos' teammates tweeted their concern.

There's reaction from others around baseball and the sports world from Jim Iovino at NBC Washington.

Perhaps the best perspective on this can be provided by Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen, also a native of Venezuela. He tweeted several times about it; I don't read Spanish very well so I ran the tweets through Google Translate, which gives rough translations. I won't post those here, but the gist of them was that Guillen said that men like him, who are natives of Venezuela, want to be there to help, but it becomes more difficult every day with no peace nor security, and elections are coming up soon. Here's Ozzie's Twitter feed, in case you speak Spanish and want his words in the original Spanish.

Stay with this StoryStream for updated information and for reaction from Nationals fans, please visit Federal Baseball.