Cleveland Guardians’ superstar Jose Ramirez entered Tuesday’s game against the Kansas City Royals with a .218 batting average and a 108 wRC+. That last metric, which tells us how good a hitter has been relative to the league average value of 100, would be his lowest since 2019.
Yes, he has made history in 2026, but his .414 slugging percentage would be his worst mark since 2015, when he hadn’t established himself as an everyday player in Cleveland. He has technically been an above-average hitter, but everyone knows he can be much, much better than that. For reference, Ramirez boasts a career 129 wRC+.
The Guardians have been inconsistent, but have managed to stay afloat even with their best player not playing his best baseball. They do need him to return to top form if they want to go all the way, though.
What’s wrong with Ramirez? Team insider Paul Hoynes weighed in and suggested he might be trying to do too much.
“I think he might feel obligated that, hey, I’m the veteran on this club, I’m the veteran in this lineup,” Hoynes said on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. “I’ve got to produce as well, you know, I’ve got to help these guys. And maybe that is applying some pressure to himself.”
It’s certainly a valid theory. Ramirez has gotten heat over the years for failing to deliver a title to the Guardians, believe it or not, so he, as the star of the team, might be trying to do too much at the plate.
Hoynes talked about Ramirez being somewhat impatient and “jumping at first pitches, popping balls up, chasing pitches off the zone — the opposite of the disciplined, dangerous hitter that has made Ramírez one of the most feared third basemen in baseball for nearly a decade.”
Before taking the field on Tuesday, Ramirez had a 32 percent chase rate, which would be the highest of his career. Opposing teams, for obvious reasons, rarely give him many pitches to hit in the same at-bat, but if he’s going to rebound to some extent at least, he needs to sharpen his eye at the plate and be more patient. A walk is a preferable outcome than a strikeout or a pop-up on a poor pitch.
Ramirez is too good to scuffle for much longer and has a long track record of success. Take, for example, last year: he posted a 107 wRC+ in the opening month, then exploded for a 199 mark in May.
He isn’t even in a slump, to be fair: just not as dominant as he usually is at the plate. That, of course, could change at any minute. And if history has taught us anything, it is that we shouldn’t doubt a superstar in his prime, and Ramirez certainly qualifies.
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