Since pleading for the promotion of Francisco Lindor doesn’t appear to be getting him to the Majors any quicker, it may be time to see what we really have now instead of focusing on the future. Jose Ramirez has had things tough so far this year, possibly at an even greater level than Jhonny Peralta did when he took over for Omar Vizquel in 2003 and again in 2005. While Peralta’s comparison to the greatest living short stop was unfair, Ramirez’s comparison to the idea of the greatest short stop ever is even less endearing. Most Indians fans haven’t even seen Lindor play live or on tv, yet because of possibly the highest expectations of any Indians minor leaguer since Manny Ramirez, they are holding Ramirez to the highest possible standard. One of an imaginary short stop with infinite range and a perfect arm. Taking a moment away from that future (one that Lindor will likely not live up to either), it is time to take a deeper look into what Ramirez is capable of.
[mlbvideo id=”99715683″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]There is no question that Ramirez is capable of making impressive plays. The video above shows his reaction to a ball that deflected off Marc Rzepczynski’s foot and another below shows him diving for a ball at the end of his range, then making a quick throw to first. Plays like these show the issues of dealing with fielding percentage alone as these are not considered worth anything greater than a routine ground ball. In addition, errors don’t include a fielder’s choice where an out isn’t made, like at least one aggressive play Ramirez has made this year where he threw to third, but didn’t get the runner.
[mlbvideo id=”94585383″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]That being said, errors are still important as the most egregious of mistakes and, while he has made more than anyone on the Indians, compared to other short stops, he is right in line. Thirteen AL short stops have played at least 150 innings in the field and Ramirez ranks seventh among them with just four errors. Leading the group is Asdrubal Cabrera with none (and no one would state that he is a better short stop than Ramirez) and last is the Twins exciting short stop Danny Santana with nine. In fact, four of the seven most error prone short stops this year are known as defensive specialists including Elvis Andrus and Didi Gregorius.
While still not a perfectly representative statistic for defense, luckily, there exists a site called fangraphs. As discussed in the off-season, fangraphs breaks down every part of a player’s defensive ability on many different levels including how they fared on individual plays and more all encompassing stats. A favorite stat of this site, UZR, is actually a break down of three other stats for infielders including runs saved above average by double plays, errors and range.
For Ramirez, his double play ability is considered about league average, but this is difficult to judge, especially considering his partner. From personal viewing, Jason Kipnis (I went in depth on Kipnis’ defense earlier this year) is one of the slowest turners of the double play at second and there have been many throws from Ramirez to second that could have went for two had someone quicker, like Ronnie Belliard (who had incredibly fast hands around the base), been playing second.
Errors have already been mentioned and it shouldn’t be surprising that Ramirez is just slightly (less than one run) below league average in giving up runs from errors. He has made some mistakes and has been too aggressive at times if anything, but that’s really what the Indians want from him. It is that aggressiveness and motivation that makes him as valuable player as he is. The Indians will accept a few errors as what comes with them is an increase in range.
Range was what lead Ramirez to be so highly ranked coming out of the 2014 season. In just under 500 innings, Ramirez saved about six runs over the average short stop just due to his range, leading to his total UZR of seven and his UZR/150 of 18.9. This year, however, he has taken a step back while still being above average. To this point in 2015, he has saved about a half a run above average due to his range combining with the other numbers to equal a -0.6 UZR equating to a -2.2 UZR/150. Most likely, his actual range and defensive ability lies somewhere between his 2014 and 2015 results and that makes him a very good infielder.
| 2014 | Remote | Unlikely | Even | Likely | Routine |
| Ramirez | 0 / 4 | 2 / 4 | 1 / 3 | 2 / 5 | 48 / 52 |
Fangraph’s final breakdown of a player’s defense can be seen in the chart above where plays are broken down by their difficulty level. For Ramirez, he has made a couple of unlikely plays (generally made between 10% and 40% of the time) and one of three even plays (should be completed 40% to 60%), making him better than the average middle infielder on those difficult to reach plays. On close plays hoever, like the one pictured in the lead photo, he has not been as solid. Players should make between 90% and 100% of routine plays and Ramirez has made just 92%, making him essentially the opposite of the player we found Kipnis to be in the earlier report. While Kipnis is almost perfect on easy plays and has very limited range, Ramirez can get close to almost everything, but can’t complete them all.
The Indians could be a lot worse off than Ramirez. While the fantasy of the perfect short stop has placed him under a microscope, Ramirez is still better than the average short stop, which is a lot to expect from a player who will likely end up being a utility infielder and just happened to be around when the Indians needed him most to fill in between Cabrera and Lindor.
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