NEW YORK -- José Ramírez’s production through May fell short of the elite standard we’ve long grown accustomed to seeing from him. The caveat is the Guardians’ third baseman had some rotten luck through the first two-plus months of the season.
“If you look underneath the hood,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said over the weekend, “there's lots of positive indicators of how he's impacting the ball, the way he's managing the strike zone. Unfortunately, just a lot of his hard-hit balls right now are right at people.
“... I think we'll look up at the end of the year, and it'll be a typical José year for him.”
Ramírez opened the month of June on a high note. The 33-year-old went 3-for-5 with a career-high-tying three doubles in the Guardians’ 9-4 win over the Yankees on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. It marked only his third game with multiple extra-base hits this season.
Ramírez also hit three doubles in a game on Sept. 21, 2016 (vs. Kansas City), Sept. 3, 2017 (at Detroit), May 15, 2021 (at Seattle) and Aug. 26, 2024 (vs. Kansas City in Game 2 of a doubleheader).
“I felt good,” Ramírez said through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “I was trying to get a good pitch to hit, and luckily … the luck was on my side tonight.”
Ramírez is slashing .236/.346/.415 with 17 doubles, eight home runs and 31 RBIs in 62 games this season. He has found other ways to be productive (Ramírez’s 20 steals lead the AL), but the slug that the Guardians count on him for has not fully been there. Ramírez’s .761 OPS would be his lowest since 2015 (.631).
Ramírez, however, has hit the ball with authority and had little to show for it. He entered Tuesday with a 42.9 percent hard-hit rate and a 90.3 mph average exit velocity, both of which would be career highs. Based upon his quality of contact, he has been one the Majors’ unluckiest hitters.
Among 261 qualified hitters entering Tuesday, Ramírez had the fifth-largest difference between his batting average (.228) and expected batting average (.287). He was tied for the 32nd-largest difference between his slugging percentage (.397) and expected slugging percentage (.465).
“Hosey’s hitting the ball very, very hard. He's just hitting it right at people,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said pregame. “He's looked a lot better the last week. He did some good work with [hitting coaches] Junior [Betances] and Grant Fink on the homestand. The weather's warming up. I think we're ready to see Hosey break out.”
Ramírez has been managing the zone well this season. He entered Tuesday with a 13.1 percent strikeout rate (90th percentile in MLB) and a 14.6 percent walk rate (91st), and the results Vogt prophesied came just hours later.
Facing Yankees starter Cam Schlittler in the first inning on Tuesday, Ramírez lined out to center fielder Trent Grisham (101.2 mph exit velocity). He doubled off Schlittler in the fourth and fifth (103.1 mph and 98.4 mph exit velocities), and reliever Tim Hill (103.6 mph) in the seventh.
Ramírez scored on a Kyle Manzardo home run in the fourth. He drove in Patrick Bailey in the fifth and Brayan Rocchio in the seventh, which expanded the Guardians’ lead to 6-4. Travis Bazzana’s bases-clearing double in the eighth broke the game open. Bazzana finished with a career-high four RBIs.
Ramírez has long been the engine that drives the Guardians’ offense. Players such as Bazzana have stepped up around him this season, but Cleveland’s lineup is built around its superstar. It needs him to deliver, and Tuesday was a great sign.
It also marked yet another major performance from Ramírez at Yankee Stadium, where he has continually worn out New York pitching. He’s now hitting .402 (51-for-127) with 10 doubles, one triple, nine homers and 21 RBIs in 35 career regular-season games at this ballpark.
“He's one of the best players in the world,” said starter Joey Cantillo, who was charged with four runs on six hits and three walks in four innings. “He's been hitting the ball so hard. He’s been playing how he always plays. He just had a little tough luck recently.
“We know what he's gonna do, we know what he's capable of. A day like today where he's just all over the place doing what he does is huge. It sets the tone, especially going up against a solid team and a guy that's been throwing the ball well.”