Cleveland Indians: Jose Ramirez wins AL Player of the month

After winning player of the week earlier in July, the Tribe third baseman takes the cake for AL Player of the Month with more awards sure to await him.

As if there was any Cleveland Indians‘ third baseman was the AL’s best player in July. Jose Ramirez has won the AL player of the month. The nation is beginning to recognize the name of the best third baseman in baseball. This is the first player of the month award for Ramirez and it is much deserved.

Ramirez finished July with eight homers and a total of 18 extra base-hits. Just to give some perspective that is over half of his total of 29 hits. If you aren’t impressed yet he had a slash line of .322/.441/.722 with an insane OPS of 1.164.

I’d like to remind everyone that this is while Ramirez was in a “slump.” He went without a hit in three straight games twice and without a hit in four straight games once; the entire series against the Pirates.

Jose Ramirez is still currently tied for the MLB lead in homers with 32, but he’s also the leader in extra base-hits with 64. On top of that Ramirez also had 25 steals with 11 of them coming in July.

At this point there really shouldn’t be much of a dispute for the MVP award. Yes Mike Trout is having a great year with a better OPS and slightly higher WAR than Ramirez. But Jose is playing more versatile baseball. He is in the hot corner playing incredible defense and is stealing bases better than anybody in the American League.

But this is an argument for another time. Jose Ramirez is the second Cleveland Indians player to win this award in 2018. Francisco Lindor won the award back in May, and it’s worth mentioning that he is having a pretty impressive season himself.

Lindor and Ramirez have combined for 59 homers this year. That’s the most of any duo in baseball. It’s also worth mentioning Ramirez won player of the week the week before the All-Star break.

Don’t expect to see Ramirez to slow down anytime soon. His second half of 2017 was one of the best halves of any point in his career. He can only get better if he continues at this rate.