Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Indians
Jose Ramirez is a huge piece of the Indians’ offensive puzzle. So that’s why it’s impressive to know that Cleveland is still a few games over .500 despite their All-Star infielder hitting .195/.290/.312 with a 60 wRC+ through 176 plate appearances. His fWAR has increased each year from 2015 to 2018, which culminated with a career-high 8.0 fWAR last season.
So far in 2019, though, Ramirez has been worth a big ol’ 0.0 fWAR. His pull rate has gone down considerably (50.0% to 40.8%), but the rest of his batted-ball profile doesn’t look drastically different from his career year in 2018. In fact, there are a couple spots where it’s improved, like his hard-hit rate (36.1% to 39.2%), yet he’s the owner of just a .206 BABIP.
Ramirez has enjoyed hitting in front of the home crowd at Progressive Field (115 wRC+ in 75 plate appearances), but he’s been a shell of himself on the road (22 wRC+ in 101 plate appearances). The Indians’ offseason plan likely centered on the fact that he and Francisco Lindor would shoulder most of the offense like they did last season.
It could happen in short order once both these talented players get hot, but Cleveland is still waiting for it to take place.
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