CLEVELAND — The Guardians drew a collective sigh of relief when star third baseman Jose Ramirez returned to the lineup after missing more than a month with a hamate bone injury. But in the few weeks since that time, they’ve been waiting for his production to return with him.
Ramirez injured his hamate bone June 13 in a game in which the Guardians lost three players to injury within the span of about an hour. It required surgery, and he was out for roughly five weeks.
Ramirez returned to the Guardians lineup on July 22, and put together a 2-for-5 day with two RBIs. It was a promising start as Cleveland, with a lineup that badly needed reinforcements, continued to chase the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central race.
But the MVP-candidate Ramirez hasn’t quite shown up post-surgery.
Jose Ramirez stats
In 18 games since coming back from the procedure (entering Aug. 15), Ramirez was hitting just .197 with a .530 OPS. Perhaps a more troubling sign is he hadn’t recorded an extra-base hit over that time. For comparison, in the 18 full games before injuring his hamate bone, Ramirez had hit .243 with a .691 OPS and eight extra-base hits.
Ramirez was out of the lineup for the Guardians’ 7-5 loss to the San Diego Padres on Aug. 14 after playing all three games in Detroit, as the Guardians continue to manage the injury and his workload.
“Jose's progressing really well. It's a matter of keeping him progressing and, much to his dismay because he wants to be in there every day, we have to do what's right,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Jose's working every day. Our medical staff's doing a great job, but we have to be smart about this. And of course we want him in there every day, but it's just not possible right now.”
Jose Ramirez injury update
It’s unclear just how much the hamate bone is impacting Ramirez’s swing. He’s sustained this injury before and returned during the season, just as he did this year. But the lack of production has raised some questions.
He’s still drawing plenty of walks (four in three games in Detroit). But he also went 0-for-9 in those games. It isn’t a large sample size, and for most players it’s little more than a blip during a long season.
But considering Ramirez’s recent injury, and his extreme importance to the Guardians’ offensive success, it’s something Cleveland can’t ignore, either.
There’s also a question as to how much it might impact him over the final six weeks of the regular season, during which the Guardians need to erase a five-game deficit entering Aug. 15, when they dipped to fourth in the division. They had an aggressive trade deadline, but they also won just two of the first 10 games after that point.
“I think it probably has everything to do with that,” Vogt said, referencing the hamate bone injury impacting Ramirez’s production. “He’s coming back from surgery, and you see this across the league with guys that have this procedure done, it takes some time to get all the inflammation out and to get back feeling 100 percent.
"But the thing about Hosey is that even though there may not be the power, he's still impacting games and getting on base. And it seems like every time he gets on base, he scores.”
Ryan Lewis covers the Guardians for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians' Jose Ramirez struggling to find form after hamate bone injury