Jose Ramirez is one stolen base away from joining some pretty exclusive company.
The Cleveland Guardians third baseman needs just one swipe to become only the fifth player in MLB history to reach 275 home runs and 275 stolen bases through his first 13 seasons.
That’s it. One steal.
The club he’s about to join? Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonds, Andre Dawson and Carlos Beltran. Not bad for company.
Ramirez enters Saturday sitting at 276 homers and 274 steals. With 31 stolen bases already this season, it’s really just a matter of when, not if.
What makes this milestone even more impressive is how Ramirez got here. He’s putting together another stellar campaign, batting .297 with 19 doubles and 21 homers while continuing to wreak havoc on the basepaths.
But here’s the thing – this wasn’t always the Jose Ramirez we know today.
In his first 332 MLB games across four seasons, he hit just 19 total home runs. That’s right – 19 homers in almost 1,400 plate appearances.
Then something clicked.
Since that slow power start, his homer totals read like this: 29, 39, 23, 17 (in the shortened 2020 season), 36, 29, 24, 39, and 21 so far this year. That’s quite the transformation from a singles hitter to a legitimate power threat who can still fly around the bases.
The way I see it, Ramirez has already cemented himself as one of Cleveland’s all-time greats. One more stolen base will just add another line to what’s becoming a pretty special resume.
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