It has been a rough start for Jose Ramirez, but the Cleveland Indians third baseman is starting to turn things around at the plate.
The first month of the season was not kind to Jose Ramirez. Ramirez struggled mightily at the plate and perhaps was trying to do too much. Possibly trying to make up for the absences of Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis. However after the rough start, Jose Ramirez is starting to look like Jose Ramirez again.
Over the past seven games Ramirez is slashing .296/367/.370. While the slugging percentage is not quite where it needs to be, the batting average and on-base percentage are higher than his career averages of .281 and .353 respectively.
Only two of Ramirez’ hits have gone for extra-bases, both were doubles coming this past weekend against Seattle. Ramirez’ last home run came on April 24th at home against Miami. Perhaps this impressive seven game stretch could lead to more home runs from the Cleveland third baseman.
The only concerning factor is the number of strikeouts. Ramirez has struck out seven times during this stretch, which is one third of his season total of 21. For comparison, Ramirez only struck out 14 times in the previous 25 games combined. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Ramirez has walked three times in the past seven days. This is just below his walk rate for the season, but it seems that this is trending in the right direction as his walk rate over the past 15 games is higher than his season average.
Jose Ramirez is far from being back to his usual self, but he is at least showing signs of his former MVP candidate form. Cleveland will need Ramirez to continue to trend in the right direction if they want to win the American League Central division again.
