The Cleveland Guardians are a forward-thinking organization.
They are up-to-date with recent trends and approaches that will put them even a bit closer to winning games, and they aren’t afraid of change.
In baseball, an old adage says that you should always have your best player hitting third in the lineup.
That’s where Jose Ramirez has hit most of the time during his brilliant career.
In 2024, J-Ram was the third hitter in the Guardians’ lineup 152 times.
Only six times he hit from the second hole.
His manager Stephen Vogt, however, likes him hitting second right after leadoff star Steven Kwan.
“José has hit third his whole career,” Vogt told MLB.com. “[Hitting second] is different, and there is a different mentality. But the beauty of José is he just wants to win. That’s what he told me. He said, ‘I’ll hit anywhere you want.’
“And so, I was like, ‘Let’s try second for spring. Let’s just see if you can get comfortable there.’”
There are plenty of benefits and advantages to having Ramirez hit third.
He would be closer to Kwan, who boasts a career .359 OBP and was at .368 in 2024, thus maximizing his RBI opportunities.
However, the main reason is that Cleveland just wants to extract every possible at-bat from their top two hitters, and moving Ramirez up one spot will give him more plate appearances over the course of the year.
In MLB, every hitter has his preferred lineup spot.
There are a handful of batters who will produce anywhere, though.
Ramirez is one of them.
The future Hall of Fame candidate posted a .872 OPS last year, with 39 home runs, 41 stolen bases, 39 doubles, 114 runs, and 118 RBI.
He is set for another run at that 40-40 club.
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