Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez Earns Massive Ranking For 2024
Cleveland Guardians star Jose Ramirez may very well be on pace to have the best season of his glittering MLB career.
The third baseman is slashing .280/.332/.557 with 23 home runs and 76 RBI over 346 plate appearances, putting him on pace to smash well over 40 homers this season. For reference, his career high is 39, which he achieved back in 2018.
Ramirez has also been a revelation in big moments, hitting .366 with runners in scoring position. Even better, he is batting .542 (!!!) with runners in scoring position with two outs (13-for-24), and he boasts a .326/.431/.558 slash line in high-leverage situations (51 plate appearances).
On top of all of that, the 31-year-old is playing some fine defense, boasting a 3.5 UZR/150.
Oh, and did I mention he has stolen 15 bases?
Ramirez really is doing it all this season, so it should come as no surprise that Bleacher Report has ranked him seventh in their list of the top 25 players in baseball through the first three months of 2024. Only Aaron Judge, Gunnar Henderson, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Bobby Witt Jr. and Jarren Duran are ahead of him.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about Ramirez's season is that he actually got off to a slow start, as he registered a .723 OPS in March and April. He then slashed .295/.375/.686 with 11 long balls and 33 RBI in May before logging a .904 OPS with seven dingers and 19 RBI in June.
Ramirez's breathtaking performance over the last couple of months has the Guardians in pole position in the American League standings.
Currently, Cleveland is 52-30 and owns a comfortable seven-game lead over the Minnesota Twins for first place in the AL Central. The Guardians also boast the best record in the American League in general, just ahead of the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees.
We'll see what Ramirez has in store for all of us in July and beyond.
MATTHEW SCHMIDT