The 2026 season for Jose Ramirez will either be a blip set off by an unfortunate injury or the beginning of a decline for an aging superstar.
Jose’s final numbers for 2026 were a fairly shocking .235/.320/.368 earning him a 92 wRC+ and only 2.2 fWAR (leaving him 0.3 shy of 60 career fWAR with 65 probably making him a Hall-of-Fame shoo-in). Of course, these numbers belie the underlying issue of Jose’s wrist injury. Prior to June 13th, Jose had a 110 wRC+ with a .354 xwOBA, indicating that, aside from
some bad luck outs, he would have likely been a 120 wRC+ hitter set for another 4-win season. Following his return from the injury, Jose put up a dreadful 66 wRC+ with a .229/.296/.302 slashline. Obviously, if that’s who he is as a player, the Guardians will struggle to pay him the remainder of his contract.
So, our hopes rely on Jose’s wrist pain and his attempts to get back into his usual hitting form being the reason for a disastrous second half. And, believers in Jose can take some solace in his playoff performance; buoyed by an electric games 3-5 of the ALDS, Jose put up a 119 wRC+ with a .264/.353/.453 slashline. If that’s who Jose is for the next 2-3 years, that’s more than manageable.
I think we can be cautiously optimistic that a full offseason (and maybe more, depending on the lockout) to rest his wrist will give Jose a fighting chance at becoming a force in the middle of the Guardians’ lineup again. Every single one of his underlying metrics – squared up rate, ideal attack angle, chase rate, and air-pull rate – make it look like he is still the hitter he has always been, just needs to get healthy and get some more balls to fall in/find the seats. For example, I was pretty convinced I’d see a big drop in pulled-fly ball rate, but he was at 30.7% in 2025 and 29.5% in 2026. His career chase rate is 26%, and last year it was 28% (definitely trying to do too much in the second half). His swinging-strike-rate was 6% and it’s 5.8% for his career. He is very much the same hitter he’s always been by the underlying metrics. I’d like to see him fine that lost 1% pulled-air, sure, but if anyone can find a way to pull fly balls from anywhere they are pitched, it’s Jose Ramirez:
Jose also managed to steal 37 bases in 33 fewer games than he stole 44 the year before (despite getting on base at a much reduced rate) and wreck havoc whenever he made it to first base. I don’t expect that to change any time soon for the smartest baserunner in MLB.
Jose was worth 2 Defensive Runs Saved and 2 Outs Above Average, but dropped to -2 for Fielding Run Value. I think we can, generally speaking, assume his defense at third will remain above average, but it is something to monitor as the years go by.
Although I hope 2026 turns out to be Jose’s worst season (at least until the VERY end of his career), I think one of my highlights of watching my favorite Cleveland player ever will be the way he absolutely refused to let them lose the ALDS to the White Sox. Chicago decided to pitch to Jose over Chase DeLauter and Jose responded by posting a 1.187 OPS. Folks, we had a chance of seeing our guys humilated by an upstart division rival for the second year in a row and our future Hall of Famer/Face of the Franchise/Angel Wearing Number 11 said, “Not on my watch.” I will never forget that, and it’s a reminder that this is what Jose is capable of doing at any time, so let’s give him a chance to do it in some playoff series again in 2027 and beyond.
