Hanley Ramirez, missing Dodgers superstar, has lost most of the season thus far, but not his confidence.

“I’m one of the best players in the game,” Ramirez said. “I always stay positive.”


Ramirez tweeted Wednesday he will start his rehab assignment from a strained hamstring Thursday with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga in Bakersfield.

And start it ready to hit.


“I’m born to hit, you know? It’s a gift,” he said. “You have to just keep working.”

If the weekend goes as planned, Ramirez would be back in the Dodgers’ lineup at shortstop Monday when the Padres come to Dodger Stadium.


[Updated at 8:01 p.m., May 29: Ramirez tweeted at game time Wednesday that his rehab start had been pushed back a day to Friday. His work apparently did go well, the Dodgers were just being cautious. That could push his return back to Tuesday.]

Ramirez injured his thumb in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic and needed surgery. He returned to play four games before injuring his hamstring.


“We did everything right,” he said. “We’d been working on my legs, stretching, everything. When something’s going to happen, it happens.”

Ramirez is eager to resume his season, still confident the last-place Dodgers can get their season going in the right direction.


“I’m truly happy to be in L.A.,” he said. “This team is unbelievable. I just got to stay healthy and I think I can do a lot of things for this team.”

Ramirez can also talk to Matt Kemp about coming back from shoulder surgery. He had his second shoulder surgery on Sept. 15, and thinks the struggling Kemp is actually doing very well.


“He’s doing awesome,” Ramirez said. “I was hitting .190.

“My surgery was bigger. They had to go into my bicep. It was different. It’s been two years and I don’t feel 100%. You don’t feel as strong. You have to keep working to get a little stronger. It’s not going to happen overnight. But that’s what people of Los Angeles think. He’s doing everything, he’s working hard, his rehab, getting treatment. But it is what it is.”


Ramirez was hitting .198 last May 4 for the Marlins, though he had hit four home runs. Later traded to the Dodgers, he finished the season hitting a combined 24 home runs with 92 RBI.

He has heard the hometown fans boo Kemp, and that’s something he’s also familiar with.


“I went through that too in Miami,” Ramirez said. “I’d talk to myself, ‘See, you have to start hitting.’ It made me stronger and work harder. I think after I got to the Los Angeles Dodgers I become a better ballplayer. I don’t know why. I think just the energy and how people treat you, your teammates. I become a better person too.

“We respect each other. We’re just here for one reason, to win every day. To win a championship. Everybody is happy.”


Ramirez, however, cautions Kemp not to expect too much, particularly too soon.

“It’s not going to be the same, but I don’t try to keep that in my mind,” he said. “I just try to keep working and see what I am and just go from there. What I need to do to produce with the kind of swing I have right now. Definitely you’re not going to have the same swing and the same reaction to the ball.”