'He’s a legend': J-Ram makes Guardians history on his bobblehead night

CLEVELAND -- José Ramírez sat at the third-base end of the Guardians’ dugout, staring into the eyes of the man who just set the tone in the first inning against the Twins by hitting a two-run homer to right field. Yes, he was looking at himself.

Propped up on the side railing in his usual spot in the dugout, Ramírez firmly held his own bobblehead in his hands after his 12-pitch plate appearance ended in a long ball, admiring the details of Saturday’s promotional giveaway in the same way that fans unconditionally admire him.

And he certainly gave a sold-out crowd at Progressive Field reasons to admire him even more on Saturday with a three-hit and three-RBI performance in the Guardians’ 11-4 victory over the Twins. Cleveland now sits 12 games over .500 for the first time since it finished the 2022 season with a 92-70 record.

“I mean, again, [I’m] running out of things to say about José,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.

It all started with the first-inning homer. It was almost as if everyone in the building knew what was about to happen as Ramírez saw pitch after pitch. After three balls, a swinging strike and seven foul balls, Ramírez was waiting for the 12th pitch of his at-bat against Twins starter Bailey Ober. He already had two 10-plus-pitch plate appearances that ended in homers this year. It was inevitable that he’d add one more. And … he did.

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The 12th pitch landed in the front row of the right-field stands as Ramírez thrust his fist above his head. There have been six plate appearances of at least 10 pitches in the Majors that have ended in a homer this year. Half of them belong to Ramírez. Those three are tied for the most such homers in a season since pitch counts have been tracked (1988) with Paul Goldschmidt (2013) and José Abreu (2019).

“It seems like once you start throwing eight, nine pitches to him, you might want to go for chase and maybe not go in the zone there,” Guardians starting pitcher Logan Allen joked.

That one simple swing of the bat had even more history behind it. He’s now had six homers in his career come in plate appearances of at least 10 pitches. Only one other Cleveland player has even two such homers since ’88 (Casey Blake). There are just two other MLB players who have more than six such homers: Todd Helton (eight) and Paul Konerko (seven).

“It seems like everyone is calling his home run every single time in the dugout,” Guardians center fielder Tyler Freeman said. “It’s so fun to play behind him. When he gets it going early on, it just lights a fire for us. And you saw it today.”

Ramírez also moved himself into sole possession of fourth place on the Guardians’ all-time home run leaderboard with his 227th blast, surpassing Hall of Famer Earl Averill.

And that was just the first inning -- a frame that ran Ober’s pitch count up to 38.

“You’re talking about driving the starter’s pitch count to over 20 pitches three hitters into the game,” Vogt said. “He’s seeing every single pitch. The guys in the dugout are seeing every single pitch. That at-bat does so much for a team. Then an exclamation point with another Josey homer.”

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Objectively, this has been a much quieter start to a season than Ramírez usually has. His average, OPS and walk rate are down. His chase rate is up and he’s been getting under the ball more than we’re used to seeing. And yet, he’s still one of the best in the game.

In the third inning, he ripped an RBI double down the right-field line that opened up the floodgates for the Guardians’ offense. It not only marked his third RBI of the night, but it also tied him with Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna for the most RBIs in the Majors (41).

This is the reason the fans have admired him for his entire career and why they packed Progressive Field for a chance to be one of the 12,500 to receive his City Connect uniform bobblehead.

It was a giveaway that even Ramírez approved of. After he held it in the dugout, he gave it a quick kiss and lined it up on the railing for the rest of the game.

“He’s a legend. He’s a goat. He’s our guy,” Allen said. “He’s the reason we are as good as we are. It’s great to see him do that, especially on his bobblehead night, right?”