The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Ramirez rises from obscurity to All-Star
Fiery infielder is the center of attention on the field and off
Ramirez was among the most vocal of the ringleaders of the champagne-and-beer-soaked celebration.
Here’s the kind of season Jose Ramirez is having for the Indians: Even on those extraordinarily rare days when he doesn’t run out to his position or step into the batter’s box with the self-assured strut that is his trademark, Ramirez is the center of attention.
Witness the scenes in the home clubhouse at Progressive Field on Sept. 17, before and after the Indians put the wrap on a momentous, 10-game homestand with a 3-2 victory over Kansas City.
Ramirez wasn’t going to play, having been given the day off by Indians manager Terry Francona to allow more healing time for a bruised wrist.
Two hours before the first pitch, Ramirez was at his locker stall and surrounded by teammates. Their animated and sometimes overlapping conversations playing out in Spanish, English and a mash-up of the two languages enabled by the length and close quarters of big-league baseball’s marathon of a season.
Teammates had decorated the stall, hanging a “Happy Birthday” sign at its peak to mark the 25th birthday of the native of the Dominican Republic. Pitcher Danny Salazar presented him with an artfully decorated birthday
cake. Ramirez took a playful swipe at a corner of the cake with his finger, getting a dab of icing for a taste test.
It was a loud scene, dominated by Ramirez. His comebacks to wisecracks from teammates issued forth in high-pitched, rapid-fire Spanish.
After the game, the clubhouse was swaddled in plastic sheeting for the celebration of the American League Central Division pennant clinched the night before.
Ramirez was among the most vocal of the ringleaders of the champagne-andbeer-soaked celebration. Again, teammates were drawn to Ramirez. They doused him with liquids as he yelled, “Cerca, cerca,” meaning “closer,” trying to take a selfie photo with all of them in the frame.
As well as he’s liked as a person by teammates in that clubhouse, it’s what he does on the field that is allowing Ramirez to author one of the most audacious success stories in all of professional sports.
Everything he does between the first pitch and final out will make Ramirez an essential element of whatever the Indians achieve in the postseason.
The 5-foot-9, 180-pound dynamo is one of the most complete players in the game. He hits, hits for power and delivers in the clutch. Going into the road game against the Los Angeles Angels on Sept. 19, Ramirez was batting .314 with 27 home runs, 75 RBI, a team-high 98 runs scored and major-league highs of 50 doubles and 83 extrabase hits.
When he gets on base, Ramirez uses his speed and instinctive aggressiveness to create havoc for opponents.
Witness his work in the bottom of the 10th inning on Sept. 14. Lashing a linedrive single to deep center field, Ramirez turned a single into a textbook hustle double when he detected a moment’s pause in the way Kansas City center fielder Lorenzo Cain attacked the ball. Jay Bruce then doubled home Ramirez to seal a 3-2 walkoff victory that proved to be the capper on the record-making, 22game win streak.
In the field, Ramirez is a marvel.
Since he joined the Indians in 2013 as a utility player, Ramirez has played left field, shortstop, third base and, now, second base. He has been proficient with the glove no matter where Francona has used him, but second base is his natural position. He is so good there that Jason Kipnis, the two-time American League All-Star and the team’s incumbent at the position since 2012, has been moved to center field.
Francona loves how Ramirez produces and plays with tireless enthusiasm. The veteran manager’s appreciation of Ramirez is deepened by his familiarity with the story of Ramirez signing as a non-drafted free agent in November 2009 and rising from relative obscurity in the early stages of his minor-league career to make it to the big leagues.
With a late rush in fan voting, Ramirez made the 2017 American League AllStar Game as the starter at third base.
“When you start doing something, do it well, get some experience and gain confidence, look what can happen,” Francona said. “I don’t know how to quantify that. I don’t think anybody does, but it’s real. Because he got an opportunity, he took it and ran with it. And now not just our team but the organization is better off for it.
“He’s one of the better players in the game,” Francona added. “It’s not a fluke. It’s through hard work.”
Indians All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor had a bird’s-eye view of Ramirez’s emergence.
In 2012, one year after the Indians made him their first-round pick in the June 2011 draft, Lindor was on the full-season SingleA Lake County Captains. He was the top-rated prospect in the minor-league system.
Despite the presence of Lindor in the everyday lineup , the Captains scuffled to a sixth-place finish in the first half of the Midwest League season. Ramirez, then a virtual unknown who had been left behind in extended spring training, was promoted to the Captains in late June to open the second half.
Installed at second base and as leadoff hitter, Ramirez batted .354 and teamed with Lindor to give the Captains a dynamic duo that propelled the team to earning a playoff berth in the second half. The professional fortunes of the two have been intertwined since. Ramirez actually beating Lindor to the big leagues.
During a recent meeting with reporters, Lindor smiled when asked for his thoughts on the outgoing, energetic Ramirez as a person and player.
“It’s fun watching him and watching you guys be amazed. ”
— Francisco Lindor
“That’s how he is and that’s how I am. I’m not as loud as he is,” Lindor said, drawing laughs from the reporters. “Whenever he says something and I don’t agree with it, I’ll go back and forth with him until we find a way to figure it out. That’s just his personality. He is awesome.”
Lindor good-naturedly chided reporters for what he said was the media’s initial under-estimation of Ramirez as a player.
“He’s been doing this a long time,” Lindor said. “It’s fun watching him and watching you guys be amazed. It’s like, ‘Oh my God, how come he’s doing this?’ I’m like, ‘Man, he’s been doing it for a while. You guys didn’t know.’
“Watching him come up in big at-bats and doing it, he did it last year and you guys didn’t pay any attention to it. You guys were in disbelief he’s that good,” Lindor added. “Now, all of a sudden, you guys are on the bandwagon. It’s funny. It’s cool.”
Lindor said he and his teammates get to see a side of Ramirez hidden from fans.
“There are times he says, ‘I’m going to hit a home run.’ He walks up to the plate, doesn’t even care, swings and hits a home run,” Lindor said. “Or he hits a double and you guys think he’s happy but he’s kinda mad.”
Lindor said Ramirez is driven by a mix of competitiveness and confidence that alternately awes and amuses his teammates. “He always says, ‘No one likes hitting more than me,’ ” Lindor said, smiling. “I’m like, ‘I don’t know, buddy, I don‘t know.’ But it’s cool watching it. I’m happy for Jose’s success, happy for his family.”
Off the field, in interviews and public settings, Ramirez does most of his talking through Anna Bolton, the team’s translator for players with limited commands of English.
On the field, Ramirez is proficient in baseball’s universal language. He does the talking with his bat, glove and legs.