Cleveland Indians: Harold Ramirez fix for woeful offense

The Cleveland Indians have a new player and he does one thing noticeably well guys on the current roster not named Jose Ramirez and Franmil Reyes can do: Hit.

Ramirez slapped an opposite field double in the eight inning on Tuesday night to give the Tribe the lead over the Royals on Tuesday night. It was Ramirez’s second hit of the night and his fourth base knock in nine plate appearances since joining the Tribe on Monday.

Am I overly smitten with Ramirez? Perhaps, but the Indians’ offense has been so difficult to watch, he might as well be Earl Averill at this point. There’s not much of a track record on Ramirez, save for 2019 when he was with Miami. He hit in the middle of the order on that dreadful club, batting .276 with 11 homers. He still just posted a wRC+ of 93, which is below the league average (100).

Ramirez does have a history of hitting in the minors, and he played with three organizations before going the Tribe (Pittsburgh, Toronto, Miami).

About Jake Bauers: The Tribe first baseman contributed an insurance policy to Ramirez’s double, by belting a two-run homer to put the Tribe up 7-3 in the eight. To watch it on TV, it looked like Bauers had just just walked off the World Series with his intense, fired up celebration.

When you take a daily beating of people writing and talking about how bad you are, you might be a little jacked, too.

That said, let me preface this next thought. I’m rooting for Bauers. The Tribe is desperate for first base help. He was once a top prospect. He’s good with the glove. If he can realize his potential and become a mainstay there, that’s one less problem to worry about.

However, as I watched the celebration, I couldn’t help but think of what Ramirez had done minutes earlier. It was Ramirez, who’s been in an Indians uniform for all of two days, who was facing all the pressure. The Tribe had the division leaders on the ropes, with a chance to deliver the knockout punch and Ramirez delivered.

It was Bauers, gifted a job because he was out of minor league options, who cleaned up the carnage of what had to be a dejected Royals club (especially after the blown Angel Hernandez call earlier in the game). And how many times have we seen him come to the dish with a cache to impact the game, only to disappoint.

He’s batting .091 with runners in scoring position and .174 with two outs.

Piling on Bauers? I know it sounds like it. I also know advance metrics say Bauers has been striking the ball better that the traditional stats show. I also  know he’s hit one bomb in 51 plate appearances and he’s supposed to pack a punch.

I’m still skeptical, but hopefully this is the beginning of a breakout that sees him take over first for good.