Jose Ramirez rises:
Short for a baseball player and overlooked, Cleveland’s third baseman has mounted an improbable two-year run that has positioned his name among the game’s elite.
CLEVELAND – When the Indians made their run to the World Series in 2016, many players wore T-shirts under their jerseys with a picture of Jose Ramirez and the words “Yes Way, Jose” emblazoned on them.
Of course, it was a cute play on the expression “No Way, Jose.” The T-shirts also show the affection his teammates have for the third baseman.
“I couldn’t imagine a better teammate,” shortstop Francisco Lindor says. “He’s always smiling, always happy, and he loves playing the game. And he’s a great player, too, one of the best in the game.”
Ramirez finished third in the American League MVP voting last season behind the Astros’ Jose Altuve and the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and is a strong candidate to win the award this season. Part of the reason for the rise to becoming one of the top players in the major leagues comes from being told, “No Way, Jose” many times while growing up and coming up through the minor leagues.
The 25-year-old Ramirez stands just 5-9, though he weighs a solid 165 pounds. While growing up in Bani, Dominican Republic, he was often told by coaches and scouts that he was too short to ever make it to the major leagues.
However, buoyed by the words of his father, Jose Baez Ramirez, Ramirez never bought into the idea that his height could stop him from achieving his dream. Every day when Ramirez’s father would take him to practice on his motorcycle, he would tell his son to always believe in himself.
“It’s important because he’s putting a lot of positive things in your head,” Ramirez says through interpreter Will Clements. “My father helped me a lot, talking to me (to ignore people who said) I wasn’t going to sign because of my size, because I was small, or anything like that. He always told me, since I was young, to keep moving forward.”
The Indians signed Ramirez as an amateur free agent on Nov. 26, 2009. He was 17, which is considered an older prospect among Latin American players who are usually signed when they reach the minimum age of 16.
After playing in the Dominican Summer League in 2010, Ramirez made his debut in the United States in the rookie-level Arizona League the following season. From there, his career took off and he was brought to the major leagues from Class AA Akron (Ohio) late in the 2013 season.
Ramirez then split the 2014 and 2015 seasons between Cleveland and Class AAA Columbus (Ohio) before sticking in the major leagues for good in 2016.
Throughout his time in the minors, Ramirez was never considered a top prospect. Most analysts and scouts projected him, at best, as a utility player in the major leagues.
However, Ramirez has far exceeded those expectations.
He played in 152 games in both 2016 and 2017, hitting .312 with 11 home runs, 76 RBI and 22 stolen bases in ’16, the year the Indians lost to the Cubs in seven games in the World Series. He improved to .318 with a major league-leading 56 doubles, 29 homers, 81 RBI and 17 steals last season.
“I wasn’t a prospect, and I wasn’t ranked,” Ramirez says. “So I always had to be someone who was working hard in the season and in the offseason. And so, you know, it’s not always the prospects that are able to get to this level. But thankfully I was able get there. So, yeah, proba-