Cleveland Guardians slugger Jose Ramirez has come close to winning the American League MVP award a couple of times in his career.
He finished third in both 2017 and 2018, and second in 2020.
He seems determined to make another run in 2022, although he will have competition: Aaron Judge is having the season of his life, and Mike Trout came back with a bang, for example.
Ramirez, however, is already securing an important lead in one of the categories that some of the old-school voters prefer: RBI.
It’s actually one of the stats that count for the hitting Triple Crown.
Today, we know that RBI is not the best stat to measure offensive talent, since it depends on many factors that often escape from the hitters’ hands, but RBI kings are still respected in the game.
“Your MLB RBI leader,” Bally Sports Cleveland tweeted, with a graphic showing Ramirez’s 41 RBI through May 23.
Your MLB RBI leader 🐐 pic.twitter.com/H5KQnMTtZi
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) May 24, 2022
A Record RBI Pace
Ramirez has collected his 41 RBI in 38 games.
If he keeps up this pace, he will finish the season with more than 162 RBI.
That is highly unlikely to happen, especially since top-of-the-order hitters in front of him have cooled off some after incredible starts of the season.
However, Ramirez could comfortably finish with a career-best RBI mark.
His high to this point were the 105 runs he drove in in 2018.
At this point, if he stays healthy, he should blow past that mark with no issues.
Will this be the year in which Ramirez finally earns that elusive MVP award?
He is slashing .287/.383/.601 with 23 runs, 10 homers, 41 RBI, and four steals.
He could be a dark -orse candidate, but he will need to step up his game even more, with all the competition he has.
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