This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY – It’s time for the second round of All-Star Game voting.

Phase 2 of the balloting opened at noon ET Sunday, and fans have their last chances to vote for who they believe should start in this year’s Midsummer Classic. And for Guardians fans specifically, they have two finalists to vote for until Wednesday at noon ET: outfielder Steven Kwan and third baseman José Ramírez.

Although Kwan’s bat has cooled down just enough to have his average fall to .371, he still logged his 25th multihit game of the year in Saturday's 7-2 win against Kansas City. But still, it’s been Ramírez who has been the heart and soul of this lineup all season long.

As much as Ramírez has done for this offense, it still seems that his numbers have largely flown under the radar. In case you needed extra convincing that Ramírez should absolutely be the starting third baseman for the American League, let’s dive into three impressive stats that you may not have known.

He’s second in RBIs, only behind Judge

Aaron Judge was the top vote-getter in Phase 1 for the AL, and rightfully so. This means that he’s automatically a starting outfielder for the All-Star Game and will not have to participate in the second round of voting. His numbers this year have been off the charts and there was no doubt that he’d receive the most votes. However, Ramírez is right behind him in a number of categories.

Let’s focus on the RBIs. Judge is pacing all Major League hitters with 80 RBIs entering Sunday. There’s only one other player who has eclipsed 70, and that’s Ramírez at 75. In third place is Marcell Ozuna with 67, while the next-closest AL hitters are Josh Naylor and Juan Soto at 60.

There have been times when Ramírez’s bat has gone cold this season, but he’s delivered when runners have been in scoring position – more often than all but one other player in the league.

He’s fourth in homers

In 156 games last year, Ramírez hit a respectable 24 homers. Through 78 games in 2024, he’s already hit 23. Not only is this the most on his own team, but Ramírez is among some of the best power hitters in the Majors.

Judge leads the way with 30 blasts, while Gunnar Henderson and Shohei Ohtani each have 26. Then, in fourth place, is Ramírez, ahead of guys like Anthony Santander (22), Ozuna (21), Bryce Harper (20) and Soto (20).

He’s a power hitter with unbelievable discipline

With power comes a lot of swing and miss … or at least for most sluggers.

Ramírez ranks in the 96th percentile in strikeout percentage and the 93 percentile in whiff percentage, according to Baseball Savant. Entering the weekend, his 12.5 percent strikeout rate ranked fifth in the Majors, trailing Luis Arraez (5.5 percent), Mookie Betts (10.3 percent), Nico Hoerner (10.9 percent) and Jeff McNeil (11.2 percent) among qualified hitters.

Soon, Kwan will be able to qualify for all these categories and his stellar seven percent strikeout rate will sit near the top of the leaderboard. But given the power the Ramírez can bring to the table, it may be even more impressive that he’s on this list.

A head-to-head look against Westburg

Now that we have the head-turning numbers out of the way, let’s see how Ramírez stacks up against Baltimore’s Jordan Westburg, who’s the other AL third-base finalist.

In most of these categories, these two are neck and neck. Through 78 games, Ramírez has 16 doubles. Through 76 games, Westburg has 17 doubles. Although Ramírez has 23 homers to Westburg’s 13, Westburg has five triples to Ramírez’s one. Ramírez's average is .280, while Westburg’s is .285. Ramírez’s on-base percentage is .333, while Westburg's is .337.

For the most part, this seems to be an evenly matched fight. But Ramírez jumps ahead in more than just home runs. His 75 RBIs are far higher than Westburg’s 48. Ramírez’s 43 strikeouts are far lower than Westburg’s 69. Plus, Ramírez has more than doubled Westburg’s six stolen bases with 15.

Westburg and the red-hot Orioles are certainly getting some buzz. But Ramírez looks to earn his sixth All-Star nod in a season in which he’s once again using his bat, his speed, his glove and his baseball IQ to lead Cleveland to a better record than anyone predicted was possible.