Covering the Bases: All-Star Edition
Notes and quotes on the Indians’ 2017 All-Stars…
FIRST: Two years ago, the door to the visitors’ clubhouse at Comerica Park swung open and Francisco Lindor arrived to the big leagues. With good news came some bad, though. His arrival left Jose Ramirez’s in limbo.
Once Lindor took over at shortstop, Ramirez looked blocked upon his demotion to Triple-A. He came up as a second baseman, which was locked down by Jason Kipnis. He moved to short, where Lindor would be entrenched for years to come. Third base? Ramirez barely had any experience at the position.
That made Sunday’s development remarkable.
In the hours before Cleveland’s game against the Tigers, manager Terry Francona rattled off the team’s All-Stars. Lindor made it as a reserve for shortstop. Michael Brantley made it as a backup for left field. Andrew Miller and Corey Kluber were named to the pitching staff.
Ramirez would start for the American League at third base.
“It’s funny to think about that he’s now an All-Star caliber third baseman,” Chris Antonetti, the Indians’ president of baseball operations, said recently. “He hadn’t play third base at all until he arrived at the Major Leagues. We’ve asked a lot of him and his career hasn’t been that smooth arc of a guy that just came to the Major Leagues, had success and ran with it.
“He had some adversity, bounced back and forth, up and down in the Minor Leagues, switched positions, multiple positions a couple times. For him to get through all that and solidify himself as one of the better third baseman in the American League, I think is a testament to his mindset and his work.”
Ramirez is the first Indians starter voted in by the fans since 2001 (Juan Gonzalez) and the youngest since 1990 (Sandy Alomar Jr.). Ramirez is the first Indians third baseman to make the All-Star team since 2000 (Travis Fryman).
It’s something incredible,” Ramirez said of being voted in by the fans. “It’s something incredible to have their support. They supported me and supported me until the end, and I’m very, very thankful for that.”
Ramirez played exactly zero innings at third base in the 2011–12 seasons — his first in the Indians’ system. In 2013, he appeared in 10 innings at third in the big leagues and 72 in the Minors. That exposure dropped to 10.1 innings total in 2014. It wasn’t until late in ’15 that Ramirez began getting regular time at the hot corner.
Don’t make the mistake of calling Ramirez a utility man, though. For years, Francona has referred to Ramirez as an everyday player, who plays multiple positions. It’s come in handy.
When Brantley was out with injury in 2016, Ramirez played left. When the Juan Uribe Experiment ended, Ramirez moved to the hot corner last year. This season, Ramirez began the year as the second baseman, while Kipnis was recovering from injury. All the while, Ramirez has worked as the backup shortstop.
What’s incredible about Ramirez — beyond the positional versatility — has been his offensive development. At the time of his demotion in 2015, Ramirez had a .478 OPS. It was hard to envision the kind of potent offensive weapon that the switch-hitter is now for Cleveland.
As of this writing, Ramirez has a .325/.379/.584 slash line with 15 homers, 26 doubles, four triples, 42 RBIs, 59 runs and nine steals in 80 games. In his past 20 games, he has hit at a .446/.489/.904 clip with nearly four times as many extra-base hits (22) as strikeouts (six).
In Sunday’s 11–8 win — after learning he made the All-Star team — Ramirez had two homers, three hits, four RBIs and four runs scored.
“It’s been fun to watch,” Francona said. “It’s both sides of the plate. He gets so dangerous when he’s on one of these [runs]. It’s not just getting singles. He’s hitting the ball a long way. There’s a reason he’s sitting behind Edwin [Encarnacion], because that’s how dangerous he is.”
Did Lindor deserve to make the All-Star team? Purely on stats, maybe not. He’ll be the first to admit he’s not having a great year so far. There has been a spike in power, but he’s batting .248. Coming off a stellar 2016 campaign, in which he won Gold and Platinum Awards, it was Lindor’s peers who punched his ticket to his second All-Star Game in a row.
“It’s extremely special,” Lindor said. “I really appreciate it. It means a lot to me. There’s not a day that doesn’t go by that I take that for granted. I respect everyone. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone in the All-Star Game over there, seeing the fans, seeing my teammates. It’s going to be a special moment.”
SECOND: Brantley seemed like a long shot for Opening Day, given the complicated nature of the injuries he was attempting to return from this year. He defied the odds, made the roster and is now, again, an All-Star.
Was there ever a time in the past two years that Brantley thought he might not make it back?
“A time? Months,” Brantley said. “Absolutely. If anybody has major surgery, they’ll tell you there’s a lot of rough nights, a lot of rough days, a lot of rough weeks, months at times. I’m coming off two shoulder surgeries. The first one didn’t work out so well, so I had to do it again.
“You’re just trying to keep a positive attitude and making sure that you’re doing the right things that are necessary, but nothing was guaranteed. It was a lot of hard work.”
Maybe Brantley wouldn’t be your pick to be among the American League’s All-Star outfielders this year. But, guess what? He was picked by the players. That alone should show you the kind of respect he has garnered around the game.
“On so many levels, its’ such a good story,” Francona said. “It was probably the one guy where, I try not to get emotional out there, because I don’t want to embarrass myself. But, because I know what he went through, and I don’t think he needs vindication or whatever, but boy, what a nice honor.
“All last year when we were in that playoff run, he was back in the training room doing his stuff. That’s not real glamorous to do. He stayed there during the winter. And now he gets to go represent the Indians as an All-Star. That’s incredible.”
How close is Brantley to being himself again? Let’s compare now to 2015.
2015: .310/.379/.480, .368 wOBA, 133 wRC+, 92.6 Con%, 3.1 SwK%
2017: .304/.367/.438, .347 wOBA, 115 wRC+, 87.4 Con%, 5.6 SwK%
There’s been a little more swing and miss, but that’s been improving as the season has worn on. Otherwise, he’s relatively close to his output from the 2015 campaign. That said, Brantley has a lot more rehab maintenance to stay on top of behind the scenes now, and there are still 3–4 months to go.
What does this All-Star appearance mean to Brantley?
“Hopefully that people know how hard I worked to get back,” he said. “It wasn’t an easy road. Two shoulder surgeries. Not knowing whether you’re going to be able to play again. To be able to represent the All-Star Game and represent the Cleveland Indians, it means a lot. A lot of hard work paid off.”
THIRD: A month ago, Carlos Carrasco looked like the leading candidate to make the AL All-Star team out of the Tribe’s rotation. Kluber closed that gap, and leapfrogged by the big right-hander, in a short amount of time.
Kluber’s historic June showing (1.29 ERA, 64 strikeouts, seven walks) helped vault him to the top section of the AL leaderboard in a variety of stats. He did that after missing a month with a back issue.
Here were his AL ranks as of Sunday:
3.02 ERA (4)
2.60 FIP (2)
2.7 fWAR (t-4)
33.4 K% (2)
27.1 K-BB% (2)
5.25 K/BB (3)
11.8 K/9 (2)
105 K (5)
1.00 WHIP (2)
.205 AVG (4)
80.1 IP (34)
“He literally pitched his way right [on the roster],” Francona said. “When you miss a month [that’s hard to do]. “But I think his body of work over years now [speaks for itself] and the way he’s been pitching lately. He’s an All-Star.”
Might Cleveland net a sixth All-Star before the process is complete? Kluber is currently lined up to pitch on Sunday for the Indians, and that could take him out of the mix for the Midsummer Classic. It would be up to Kluber and the Indians. And that could necessitate a roster replacement.
“Hopefully we can get even more,” Miller said. “It’s a credit to the kind of team I think we can be. I’m just happy for the guys who made it. I think it’ll be a lot of fun to be there with Tito and our staff.”
HOME: Ramirez’s performance over the past month or so (.400/.441/.741 over his past 34 games) made him a no-brainer for inclusion on the AL All-Star roster. Miller was the other obvious selection.
Since joining the Indians via trade last summer, Miller has turned in a 1.51 ERA with 111 strikeouts against 12 walks in 71.1 innings. Add in last season’s postseason, and Miller has a 1.49 ERA with 141 strikeouts and 17 walks in 90.2 innings in a Tribe uni.
This year, Miller has a 1.49 ERA with 65 strikeouts and 10 walks in 42.1 innings as the Indians’ relief ace.
“We feed off each other and make each other better,” Miller said of the Tribe’s bullpen. “We’re an important part of this team and that’s a lot of fun. The bullpen, sometimes you don’t feel that way. We feel like we’re a contributing part of this team and hopefully we can help us go far.”
Stay tuned for more…
— JB
