Charting the numbers from Jose Ramirez’s big game against Boston

CLEVELAND, Ohio — When Cleveland signed Jose Ramirez in 2009, he was a skinny 16-year-old kid from the Dominican Republic.

Ramirez made his big league debut in September 2013, playing all over the infield and running the bases like a pack of wolves were after him. There were times manager Terry Francona would shake his head and say, “Sometimes Jose thinks he’s invisible when he’s on base.”

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He became the starting shortstop in 2014 after Asdrubal Cabrera was traded to Washington at the deadline. He opened the 2015 season at shortstop, but was merely keeping the position warm for Francisco Lindor.

Ramirez and Lonnie Chisenhall, the left side of the infield, were optioned to Class AAA Columbus on June 7 and replaced by Lindor and Gio Urshela. They made it back to Cleveland, but Chisenhall had moved from third base to left field and Ramirez was a jack of all trades.

It looked like that was going to be Ramirez’s home. A switch-hitting player with speed and versatility.

The Indians signed Juan Uribe in 2016 to play third base and had Ramirez playing left field, third base, second base and shortstop. But Ramirez kept pushing, kept hustling and, most importantly, hitting.

He was the everyday third baseman by the end of July, helping the Indians win the AL Central and make it to the World Series. Which is a long way to go to get to what Ramirez did Thursday night against the Red Sox at Progressive Field.

The switch-hitting Ramirez, in his first three at-bats, homered. It was the first three-homer game of his career and represented Nos. 199, 200 and 201 for his career with Cleveland. Not bad for a skinny kid from the Dominican Republic, who has grown into a 5-9, 200-pound power hitter.

Ramirez’s power, considering his path, may surprise some, but not Ramirez.

When asked if he thought he’d one day hit over 200 homers, Ramirez said, “I didn’t think about 200, but I just felt I was capable of doing it.”

He did not shrug his shoulders when he said that. He did not smile or do an “aw shucks’ take. He was serious.

Here are some numbers that were crunched following Ramirez’s big night.

• Ramirez ranks ninth on Cleveland’s all-time home run list.
• Andre “Thunder’ Thornton is eighth on the list with 214.
• It was the 34th three-homer game in team history.
• Joe Carter leads the way with four three-homer games.
• Ramirez’s homers, according to Statcast, traveled 392, 412 and 390 feet.
• Rocky Colavito’s four-homer game on June 10, 1959 is the only one in team history.
• The last Cleveland player to have a three-homer game was Edwin Encarnacion on May 2, 2018 against Texas.
• It was Ramirez’s 21st multi-homer game and his first since Aug. 24, 2022 against San Diego.
• The 21 multi-homer games tie him with Carter for fifth place in team history.
• Ramirez and Victor Martinez are the only Cleveland players to have three-homer games in which they homered from both sides of the plate. Ramirez hit his first two homers right-handed and his third left-handed.
• It was the seventh time Ramirez has homered from both sides of the plate in the same game.
• Ramirez went 3 for 5 with three homers and five RBI Thursday. It was the ninth five-RBI game since 2017.
• Ramirez, according to researcher Sarah Langs, is the first player to hit homers No. 199, 200 and 201 in the same game since Shawn Green on May 23, 2002.

The performance did not come as a surprise to Ramirez’s teammates.

“I think everyone in here will say the same thing,” said Aaron Civale, who went 5 2/3 innings for win on Thursday. “Jose is the best player in the game. He plays the game the best way every single night.”

Before Thursday’s game, Ramirez was joking and laughing with teammate Amed Rosario and hitting coaches Chris Valaika and Victor Rodriguez.

Center fielder Myles Straw says it’s a daily routine for Ramirez.

“That’s him every day,” said Straw. “He’s loose. He’s calm. He’s thinking about the game, but he’s not really putting pressure on himself. That what makes him so good.

“He just goes out there and says screw it. . .and just plays the game.”

Ramirez had two chances to hit No. 4, but struck out and hit into a rundown in his last two at-bats.

“Oh, yeah, I thought he was going to get four,” said Straw. “He was locked in, especially in those first three at-bats. The whole stadium felt it, we felt it. I’m sure he’s happy with three. That’s plenty.”

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