CLEVELAND — Cleveland Indians infielder Jose Ramirez was one of the hottest hitters in the American League and all of baseball from 2016 through August of 2018, but since the trading deadline passed last season, he has struggled mightily at the plate.
After back-to-back third-place finishes in the voting for the American League Most Valuable Player Award, two consecutive trips to the MLB All-Star Game and a pair of Silver Slugger awards, Ramirez is mired in a months-long slump.
Since the start of the 2019 season, Ramirez is batting just .203 with 48 hits in 236 at-bats, 23 runs scored, 21 RBI and 40 strikeouts against 31 walks drawn. Ramirez has 11 doubles and four home runs, well off the career highs he set in those respective categories: a league-best 56 doubles in 2017 and 39 home runs in 2018.
Veteran MLB writer Tom Verducci wrote a piece for SI.com (Sports Illustrated) outlining seven reasons why Ramirez is struggling, and he used advanced statistical analyses to explain the slump.
Verducci believes trouble locating fastballs, facing more defensive shifts, a lower batting average on balls in play, not hitting the ball as solidly, more pop-ups than anyone in baseball, pulling of foul balls and hitting mechanics have all contributed to Ramirez’s struggles.
While Ramirez hit .336 against fastballs before August 18, his average against the same pitches since has dipped to .190. Ramirez is hitting into a shift at a rate three times more than he did previously and his exit velocity is down nearly one mile-per-hour.
Since August 18, Ramirez has four months of under .200 hitting and the best month he has had was a .245 showing in May.
Ramirez will look to start getting things back on track when the Indians open up a brief two-game set against the Cincinnati Reds at Progressive Field Tuesday night.