Aaron Boone doesn’t believe Jose Ramirez is ‘underappreciated’

Aaron Boone doesn’t believe Jose Ramirez is ‘underappreciated’

Ahead of Game 1 of the ALCS between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians, Yankees manager Aaron Boone had high praise for Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez, even though the seventh-year skipper was adamant that Ramirez is no longer an “underrated” player.

‘He’s the complete package,” Boone said on Sunday, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “If I hear another how underappreciated, underrated he is from somebody on a network or something, I want to rip my arms off and throw it at the TV. He’s not underappreciated. He is not underrated. He’s a great on track Hall of Fame player, and everybody knows it, including everyone sitting out here.’

Yankees manager Aaron Boone on Guardians 3B Jose Ramirez:
‘He's the complete package. I get on people all the time. If I hear another how underappreciated, underrated he is from somebody on a network or something, I want to rip my arms off and throw it at the TV. He's not…

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 13, 2024

Ramirez, 32, has been the straw that’s stirred the drink for Cleveland at the dish for the last several years.

He’s finished top-10 in AL MVP voting in five of the last six seasons–including four top-5 nods in 2017, 2018, 2020 (COVID-shortened) and 2022–and is well on his way to another near MVP finish again in 2024. He slashed .279/.335/.537 (.872 OPS) throughout the regular season, setting a new career-high in stolen bases (41) while tying a career-high in home runs (39). He added 39 doubles, two triples and 118 RBIs across 158 games for Cleveland this season.

Since the start of the 2017 season, he’s sported a .888 OPS and a 137 wRC+, the 14th-best mark in baseball over that span amongst qualified hitters. Better yet, he’s been a model of consistency offensively as a switch-hitter, despite spending half of his games in one of the league’s tougher ballparks for hitters.

2024 ALCS Preview: New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians

Ramirez won’t be underappreciated or under-the-radar for New York, being the Guardians’ biggest threat.

The Yankees’ pitching staff must find a way to neutralize Ramirez if they want to go to their first World Series since 2009, even though there are a few other threats–Josh Naylor, Steven Kwan and Jhonkensy Noel (Big Christmas)–in the lineup, to name a few.

He’s 3-for-23 (.130) in six games against the Yankees this year, but you and I both know that won’t mean a dang thing this series. He’s as pure of a hitter as there is in the sport, and will have his first crack against southpaw Carlos Rodon when they square off Monday night.

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