Philly Front Office

The Phillies are facing the Guardians this week and that gives me the opportunity to praise their often under the radar superstar Jose Ramirez. You may not know it, but he is a likely first ballot Hall of Famer and the member of some very exclusive clubs.

Friday, May 22 at 6:40p – Cristopher Sanchez vs Gavin Williams (R)
Saturday, May 23 at 4:05p – Zack Wheeler vs Slade Cecconi (R)
Sunday, May 24 at 1:35p – Andrew Painter vs Parker Messick (L)

Citizen’s Bank Park – Philadelphia, PA

Over in Philadelphia and the NL East, we simply do not pay much attention to Cleveland baseball. Not since Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, and Kenny Lofton were roaming Jacobs Field at least. That’s a shame because we have missed out on one of the better careers in Major League Baseball, Jose Ramirez.

Making the rounds this week is his approach to joining very rare company in the 300/300 club. Only 8 players in history have that many home runs and stolen bases:

Name	Home Runs	Stolen Bases
Barry Bonds	762	514
Willie Mays	660	338
Andre Dawson	438	314
Bobby Bonds	332	461
Reggie Sanders	305	304
Steve Finley	304	320
Alex Rodriguez	696	329
Carlos Beltran	435	312

Jose Ramirez is currently sitting on 293 HRs with 307 SBs. While we can pretty safely say he won’t be inducted during the Phillies series, it’s coming pretty soon. The crazy part of this is that he began the season at 286 and 287. Despite not hitting so well to start the season, Ramirez is getting on base at a better than career average .361. Once he gets there, he is stealing at will. His 20 SBs lead the AL. By the end of the year, he’ll probably still get to around his regular 30 HRs and maybe a higher than usual 50 SBs.

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Ramirez will be 34 by the end of the season but plans to stick around with Cleveland for the long haul. He signed a 7/$175m deal in the offseason that will keep him in the Forest City until he turns 40. Since he isn’t slowing down in the least, how high up can his totals go?

Now this isn’t scientific in the least, but let’s try to see where he is going to end up, by decreasing his production by 10% for the life of his contract:

2026	30	45
2027	27	41
2028	24	36
2029	22	33
2030	20	30
2031	18	27
2032	16	24
Previous Total	286	287
Estimated Total	443	523

Well, damn! Sure, the SB numbers might not be that high for that long, but he’s actually been getting better in that category. His best two seasons so far were 2024 and 2025 with 2026 ahead of pace. While a trip to the 500/500 club isn’t took likely, 400/400 is probably in the bag. Ramirez would only need to average around 16 of each to get to 400/400. As you can see above, there’s only one member of those clubs, Barry Bonds.

Those aren’t the only clubs to which he is a prospective member. Someone with this much success for this long tends to rack up a bunch of hits too. Well, Ramirez is at 1713 with 45 already this season. Even in a down hitting year, you have to think he has at least 100 more in him. That would leave less than 200 to 2000 next year. That club is down to 6 after losing Reggie Sanders and Bobby Bonds from above. Naturally, the question now moves to 3000. Is it possible? Probably not. With 6 years left on his deal, he would need a cool 200 each season. His previous high is 186. The 2020 Covid season really hurts him here, losing about 100 hits. It would still be hard, but at least possible. Mays and A-Rod are the only ones in that group.

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The power numbers will be tough, but even at 33, Ramirez still has a chance to join the 40/40 club every year. He came 1 HR short in 2024 of joining the club that only has 6 members.

With only a few exceptions, we simply do not get power speed combos from players anymore, at least not this far into their careers. Mike Trout seemed like a shoe in early in his career, but after stealing his 200th base to end the 2019 season, he only has 19 over the next 7 years. He’s not going to get there. Ken Griffey Jr was about as 5-tool as they come, but after stealing 167 bases in his first 10 seasons, he only swiped 17 more over the next 11. Hell, the Phillies as a team with 140+ years of history only have two players with 300 career HRs and 4 with 300 career SBs. Trea Turner is the only one with even a shot (and it’s not realistic).

One last thing, did I forget to mention that he is only 5’8″ tall? Yup, the guy who hits more HRs and steal more bases than most is not some thin, long-legged slugger with a perfect swing, but a short pudgy guy who knows exactly what he’s doing. Ironically, the next guy to likely join the club is built the same way, Jose Altuve.

Greatness comes in all shapes and sizes, so let’s appreciate it when he comes through Philadelphia this weekend…as long as he’s not joining any clubs on our watch.

Photo: (Ron Schwane | AP)

Stats: Baseball Reference