DENVER -- Rockies manager Clint Hurdle calls rookie reliever Ramon Ramirez "the biggest surprise" of this season. Ramirez agrees to a point, although he's not surprised at his success. He just didn't expect it so quickly.

"I had just one game in Triple-A," Ramirez said.

Ramirez (2-1) has thrown scoreless ball in 20 of his first 21 outings, struck out 27 in 26 innings, and compiled a 1.04 ERA -- good enough for second among National League relievers with more than 20 innings. His .136 batting average against leads NL pitchers with at least 20 innings.

This is the first time anything has happened quickly for Ramirez.

Texas signed Ramirez as a 16-year-old outfielder in December 1996 but released him after he batted .245 with two homers in the Dominican Summer League in 1997. It would be four years before he would hook on with the Hiroshima Carp organization in Japan.

In between, Ramirez played a few games with an amateur team in Puerto Plata, his hometown on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. But for the most part, he ran the beaches and threw, sometimes with a friend but often with a wall serving as catcher. He briefly held a job unloading trucks for a Coca Cola bottling plant.

"I didn't have a license, so I couldn't drive the truck," he said.

For most of that time, Ramirez's parents and three older sisters encouraged the dream and supported him. He and his girlfriend, Valentina Saldana -- she's now his wife -- had the first of their three children, a girl named Rosio, in 1997.

"My mom cried, saying, 'You're too young,'" Ramirez said.

Another girl, Lissbeth, came along in 1999. Ramirez's family stayed with him.

"It's difficult in the Dominican when you're young, have babies and don't have a job, but my family told me, 'We're here for you,'" Ramirez said. "My sisters would say, 'We believe you can do it. You practice. We'll help you out.' "

He caught on with Hiroshima around the time of the birth of his son, Ramon, in 2002. He spent all but two games with that club's reserve squad, but that doesn't mean he didn't work. He said he threw about 33 innings for the reserve squad, but far more away from the actual mound.

"Every day I threw, like, 100, 150 pitches in the bullpen. One time I threw 200," he said, laughing. "It was too hard."

But he was noticed. The Yankees paid $350,000 to win a bidding war for his services in 2003.

Ramirez bounced between Double-A and Triple-A -- and between the rotation and relief -- before the Yankees sent him to Colorado in last summer's deal for pitcher Shawn Chacon. The Rockies sent him to Double-A Tulsa, where he went 2-1 with a 5.33 ERA in nine games, including three starts.

"I'm always thinking to go to the big leagues," Ramirez said. "It didn't matter whether it was as a reliever or a starter. I knew I could make it, but I didn't know where."

The biggest question was Ramirez's control. The Rockies sent Ramirez to the Arizona Fall League last fall to develop the mindset and strike zone performance of an effective reliever. The numbers were mediocre -- 17 strikeouts to nine walks -- but Ramirez learned what he needed.

The club had re-signed Mike DeJean as a setup man and veteran presence, but DeJean suffered a strained right shoulder after the first week of the season. Enter Ramirez, who impressed the Rockies enough this spring (2.25 ERA and five strikeouts in four innings) to receive the call despite pitching only one scoreless inning at Colorado Springs.

The Rockies stumbled upon a reliever with a rare combination of three above-average Major League pitches: a 92-mph fastball, a hard slider and a change-up. Ramirez is unafraid to put all of them in the strike zone.

"No question about it, he's unique," said bullpen elder statesman Jose Mesa. "The way he works and the way he throws strikes, you can ask for nothing else."

Ramirez passed his first big test when he overcame his first bad big-league game. When he faced the Dodgers at Coors Field on May 15, he walked the opposing pitcher and gave up two soft hits. He wound up charged with three runs and his only loss this season. But two days later, he struck out two during a one-hit inning against the same club.

His supportive family in the Dominican knew it would happen all along.

"My family is very happy," Ramirez said. "It's unbelievable."

Smith accepts: The Rockies announced that infielder Jason Smith had accepted his assignment to Triple-A Colorado Springs and could play Thursday. The Rockies had not heard whether right-handed pitcher Sun-Woo Kim, who like Smith was designated for assignment on Saturday, will accept his Triple-A assignment or opt for free agency.