After May 4, José Ramírez, who is supposed to be the star of the Cleveland Guardians, was hitting a meager .227/.273/.394. It was his 32nd game of the season so yes, some fans were starting to get worried. However, if we have learned something all these years is that you have to be patient with stars. And J-Ram, whether some people see it or not, is a legitimate one.
The Guardians organization has lots of traits and deserve merit for being competitive all these years since the 2010s. One of their virtues, precisely, is patience. They weren’t going to bench or even move Ramírez back in the order. They chose to let things run their natural course and boy, did life reward them.
As of Wednesday morning, the slugger is slashing an impressive .272/.328/.558 with 16 home runs and a .885 OPS, leading the league with 56 RBI. Considering he posted a .831 OPS last year and his career mark is .855, we can say it all together: the guy is officially back to terrorizing opposing pitchers.
Wait, you didn’t think he would slump for the entire campaign, did you?
Ramírez is fighting neck to neck with New York Yankees star Aaron Judge for the “hottest hitter in baseball” label. The Guardians star has played 22 games since May 5 and has homered 11 times: a home run every other game is crazy.
Over that span, the potential AL MVP candidate is hitting an incredible .341/.411/.812 and has carried the Guards in his back. Cleveland has won 16 of those 22 games, building a comfortable lead in the AL Central in the process.
The best thing of all this is that we can expect Ramírez to keep this level for at least a few more years. At 31 years old, he is still in the prime of his physical abilities and is more experienced than ever before.
With Ramírez locked in at the plate, the Guardians have become really hard to beat. They already were earlier in the season when J-Ram was not-so-hot and the pitching and Josh Naylor were doing the heavy lifting. Now, the pitching remains steady (particularly the bullpen), Naylor broke a 10-game slump with a two-homer game on Tuesday night, and Ramírez is arguably the most productive batter in baseball. Yeah, life is good in Cleveland.
As for Ramírez, he is currently projecting to finish the year with more than 160 RBI. The last time someone drove in more than 60 runs in a single season was in 2001, when Sammy Sosa did it for the Chicago Cubs. A year earlier, in 1999, Manny Ramírez did it (with 165) for the last time in Guardians history.
Expecting him to do it would be asking for too much, but one thing is clear: Ramírez is back, the Guardians are elite, and they are maybe one top starter away from being true World Series contenders a year after losing 86 games.
