Major League Baseball

Cleveland Indians star Jose Ramírez quietly in the AL MVP conversation once again

Updated Sep. 23, 2021 2:02 p.m. ET

By Jordan Shusterman
FOX Sports MLB Writer

It has become a tradition at this point.

September arrives, and a couple of marquee names are duking it for the AL MVP. Aaron Judge and Jose Altuve. Mike Trout and Mookie Betts. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Shohei Ohtani. You check the leaderboards to see if any of the names has gained an edge down the stretch, and ... oh, wait a minute. Hold on. There’s that name again.

José Ramírez.

Yes, the Cleveland third baseman with three top-three MVP finishes in the past four seasons could very well be vying for a fourth, though there is surely some stiff competition for the presumptive third finalist spot behind Ohtani and Vlad Jr., with the monster seasons of guys such as Marcus Semien, Salvador Perez and Cedric Mullins.

Even if Ramírez doesn’t crack the top three this season, consider how rare it is to have three top-three MVP finishes. Here are some players who had three or fewer top-three MVP finishes in their careers:

*Miguel Cabrera (3)
*Mike Piazza (3)
*Derek Jeter (3)
*Rickey Henderson (3)
*Pete Rose (2)
*Ken Griffey Jr. (2)
*Eddie Murray (2)
*Manny Ramírez (2)
*David Ortiz (2)
*Mel Ott (1)
*Chipper Jones (1)

That seems pretty good!

All of his relatively quiet MVP-level campaigns have cemented Ramírez as one of the best players in baseball. Take a look at where he ranks league-wide in WAR since he became an every-day player in Cleveland in 2016:

Most fWAR since the start of 2016:

*Mike Trout (39.3)
*Mookie Betts (37.4)
*José Ramírez (32.4)
*Francisco Lindor (28.0)
*Jose Altuve (27.9)

For more up-to-date news on all things Indians, click here to register for alerts on the FOX Sports app!

But OK, going back that far doesn’t account for the league's recent influx of super-young talent. Where does JRam rank since the beginning of 2019, when we started seeing the likes of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr.? Still sixth, behind only Semien, Xander Bogaerts, Betts, Trout and Juan Soto.

Speaking of the next generation, I can’t help but think of Ramírez whenever I watch Rays phenom Wander Franco, who might soon join the ranks as one of the best players in the game. Franco made his much-anticipated debut this year and has looked every bit the star he was hyped up to be.

Scouts labeled Franco as special by the time he was 13 years old, which is why the Rays gave him a $3.85 million bonus as the top player in his international signing class in 2017. Since he entered pro ball, Franco has done nothing to alter his sky-high projection. A hamstring injury interrupted his historic, 39-game on-base streak, but he’ll reportedly be back soon to help the Rays make another postseason run.

What in Franco’s scouting report made evaluators so excited about him for so long? Basically, he’s a switch-hitting infielder who doesn’t wow you physically but is above-average to elite at every facet of the game.

That’s exactly what Ramírez has been for a half-decade now. If Franco, as hyped as he is, ends up being some version of Jose Ramírez, that would undeniably be an outstanding outcome. (And considering his earlier start, Franco might end up even better.)

Like Franco, Ramírez made his MLB debut before turning 21, albeit with far less fanfare. This is part of what makes his trajectory all the more special. Cleveland scout Ramon Pena knew Ramírez wasn’t as physically gifted as some of his peers, but when he watched him play, he saw intense drive and determination to be the best player on the field. Ramírez ultimately received a $50,000 bonus, a fraction of the six- and seven-figure pay days doled out to mega-hyped prospects such as Franco.

It didn’t take long for Ramírez to prove he belonged. He hit .354 in 2012 in his full-season debut with Low-A Lake County. He continued to rake that offseason as a 19-year-old in the veteran-heavy Dominican Winter League, hitting .312 for Toros del Este as the youngest every-day player in the league. He made his MLB debut on Sept. 1, 2014, just a couple of weeks before his 21st birthday.

Still, his size and lack of power — he hit just 13 home runs in 335 career MiLB games — kept him from appearing near the top of any prospect lists.

But while his true breakout didn’t come until 2016, Ramírez offered a glimpse of the superstar he was about to become at the end of the 2015 season.

Allow me to set the stage.

It’s Sept. 30, and Cleveland is playing Minnesota in the final week of the regular season. Both teams have been eliminated from postseason contention. In the second game of a double-header, with Cleveland leading 7-1 in the eighth inning, a .219 hitter comes to the plate. This hitter had lost his job at shortstop earlier in the season, optioned back to Triple-A when Cleveland decided to call up an exciting prospect named Francisco Lindor.

The .219 hitter launches one into the Cleveland night. He flips his bat. The Twins are furious. Who the hell is this guy bat-flipping while up by six in a meaningless September game? Who does he think he is?

For more up-to-date news on all things MLB, click here to register for alerts on the FOX Sports app!

Well, despite his overall numbers, that hitter was capping off a strong second half in which he posted a .962 OPS in his final 20 games. He was probably feeling pretty good about himself. If only the Twins had known then what he knew — and what we all know now: Ramírez was about to become one of the best hitters in the American League.

He never looked back. He took hold of Cleveland's second-base job in 2016 and homered in the World Series. He led MLB in doubles in 2017, with 56, and finished third in AL MVP voting behind Judge and Altuve. The next year, he hit 39 HR, stole 34 bases and finished third again, this time behind Trout and Betts.

When asked what pitch he hit for a home run, he uttered six hilarious words that have become commonplace in his postgame interviews:

In 2019, Ramírez experienced his first real struggles, with a subpar first three months, but then he went on a scorching-hot streak down the stretch, with 18 homers in his final 47 games.

He also missed a month because of a broken hamate bone, only to return in the final week and immediately hit two homers.

In last year’s shortened season, a 1.294 OPS in September vaulted Ramírez into the MVP discussion once again. That time, he came in second behind Abreu while receiving eight first-place votes.

Now at the top of his game, Ramírez exudes the same confidence he showed as an unproven no-name in 2015, except now with all the numbers to back it up. With one more steal, he’ll become the 10th player in MLB history with multiple seasons of 35-plus home runs and 25-plus stolen bases, joining a group that includes Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, Darryl Strawberry and Jeff Bagwell.

Unfortunately, the reality is that it’s going to be difficult for Ramírez to win the MVP award as long as he’s in the same league as Trout and Ohtani and Vladdy — and Cleveland remains closer to the middle of the standings than the top.

Regardless of award results, though, Cleveland fans can know one thing for certain as the franchise transitions into the new era of Guardians baseball: They have one of the best players on the planet.

Jordan Shusterman is half of @CespedesBBQ and a baseball analyst for FOX Sports. He lives in D.C. but is a huge Seattle Mariners fan and loves watching the KBO, which means he doesn't get a lot of sleep. You can follow him on Twitter @j_shusterman_.