CLEVELAND — By the end of his Cleveland tenure nearly 30 years ago, Albert Belle was listed at 6 feet 2, 225 pounds, with his biceps pushing each thread of his jersey top to the brink. During his career in Cleveland, Jim Thome was listed at 6 feet 4, 250 pounds, a mountain of strength that could launch baseballs onto Eagle Avenue, beyond the ballpark. Advertisement José Ramírez stands about 5 feet 9 (before his helmet flies off) and weighs 180 pounds.
He recently passed Belle on the club’s home run leaderboard. The only slugger left in his sights is Thome. Before long, Ramírez will stand tall in a land of giants.
Those mythical figures who powered the ’90s team to its glory years, who swatted baseballs toward the top of the left-field bleachers, their status as the franchise’s most recognizable muscle is being threatened by a pint-sized infielder. “It’s a beautiful game,” Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “It doesn’t discriminate by size.
It’s all about your ability and your work ethic and your power. José gets every ounce out of his strength, the bat speed and the ability to find the barrel. It’s incredible.
” Thome socked the most home runs in franchise history, with 337. Ramírez sits at 245, and counting. He eclipsed Belle’s mark of 242 last week to move into second place.
“Second?” Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee asked, shocked by the feat. “Oh, my God. That’s cool.
” “That’s a big name,” Vogt added, “so for him to catch (Belle), I’m not surprised, but it’s really cool.” Belle was a second-round pick out of LSU and then a prized but problematic prospect. Cleveland stuck with him because of his hitting prowess, and he ultimately rewarded the club with MVP-caliber efforts.
(Writer’s note: He deserved the 1995 AL MVP.) Thome was a 13th-round pick who made a rapid ascent to the big leagues and then spent almost a decade mashing in the middle of some potent lineups. Ramírez, meanwhile, was an afterthought of an international signing.
Cleveland handed him a $50,000 bonus. After ditching school once he became a teenager, he spent years combatting scouts’ skepticism as the runt on every diamond. He broke into the majors in 2013 not as some fearsome slugger, but as a pinch runner.
Advertisement “I remember him in 2013 in the wild-card game, facing this guy right here,” Carlos Carrasco said, pointing to the locker of Alex Cobb , who started that game for the Tampa Bay Rays . “But I never thought he was going to do everything that he’s doing right now.” That’s the Ramírez charm, though.
You can’t look at him and assume anything about his game. He annually ranks at or near the top of the leaderboard in base-running metrics, despite unspectacular speed. He can whack baseballs into the seats better than most, despite his atypical size for a slugger.
“He can affect the game in so many ways,” catcher Bo Naylor said. Ramírez has watched some video of Belle, but has never met him and doesn’t know a lot about his career, about the way Belle would step into the batter’s box and shake the soul of a pitcher with his menacing glare and imposing, hunched stance. “We need a player like that,” Ramírez said.
“We love somebody who plays the way he did.” Jose Ramirez has a two home run day and ties Albert Belle for second for most home runs in Cleveland baseball history! #ForTheLand pic.twitter.
com/bGCvoHoU5U — Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) July 30, 2024 There are some parallels. Belle was intense and meticulous about his work. He kept note cards on every pitcher and even studied umpires’ tendencies.
Ramírez is calculated and relentless about winning. Guardians veteran Austin Hedges called him the best leader by example he’s ever been around. Ramírez sits 92 homers behind Thome, and if he’s proved anything this season, it’s that he hasn’t started to slow down, even though he’ll turn 32 next month.
He’s under team control for four more seasons, and that should be plenty of time to catch Thome. That didn’t stop Ramírez, however, from insisting that reporters run to team president Chris Antonetti to relay that he wants another five years tacked onto his contract just in case. Advertisement “He can get (the record),” Carrasco said.
“In four years? Definitely. He can get it.” Ramírez downplayed his place in team history, but when he signed his contract extension hours before the 2022 season , he signed up to go down as one of Cleveland’s most prolific hitters.
“I knew there would be a good career with this organization,” Ramírez said, “and (I’d) be able to put up the numbers that I’ve put up, but for me, at the end of the night, the most important thing is trying to win. I want to go home someday and feel like I’m a winner.” Said Vogt: “He just never ceases to amaze us.
I turn to (bench coach Craig Albernaz) about 10 times a game and say, ‘This guy’s pretty good, huh?’” Such longevity with one franchise would cement his name climbing a bunch of leaderboards. That includes the home run leaderboard, on which an overlooked prospect could wind up standing tall above hulking behemoths. Before long, the 6-foot-4 Thome could be peering up at the 5-foot-9 Ramírez.
“I never would have thought this,” Carrasco said. “It’s been crazy.” (Photo of José Ramírez: Ken Blaze / USA Today).
