Clearly undeterred by his teammates mocking his 32nd birthday on Saturday with balloons adorned with the number 50, New York Mets backstop Wilson Ramos has been playing more like a comeback kid as of late than a catcher on the wrong side of 30.
One of general manager Brodie Van Wagenen’s jewel signings during his first offseason at the helm in Queens, Ramos agreed to a two-year, $19 million contract to come to New York and provide some pop in the middle of the lineup while acting as a good-enough defensive receiver.
After hitting .306/.358/.487 with 15 homers, 22 doubles, a .361 wOBA, and 131 wRC+ between Tampa Bay and Philadelphia in 2018, this seemed like a worthwhile venture for a team without much offense to speak of from the catcher’s position.
However, over Ramos’ first month in blue and orange, red flags were already being waved. Through his first 99 plate appearances, the Venezuelan native hit .247/.313/.303 with one homer, a 15.4% strikeout rate, and a 66 wRC+. Not great.
Things improved significantly over the next eight weeks for Ramos (.284/.361/.480, eight homers, 123 wRC+ over 166 PA from May 1 through June 30), but his strikeouts were still an issue (16.3% strikeout rate).
Not to mention, the pace at which he was grounding out had reached terribly concerning levels. From Opening Day through June 1, Ramos’ 63.0% groundball rate was the highest in the majors by over five percentage points (Daniel Robertson, Tampa Bay; 57.4% GB rate).
Over the month of July, Ramos’ offensive production bottomed out, with the 32-year-old slashing just .203/.282/.261 with a 48 wRC+ over 78 plate appearances.
The silver lining — and, possibly, the end of the trail of bread crumbs leading back to where Ramos flipped a switch on his season — was Ramos’ greatly improved 53.8% groundball rate and 6.4% strikeout rate over the course of the month.
Another important mile-marker in Ramos’ progression this season: Since June 15, his 8.9% strikeout rate is the best among qualified National League hitters.
Go ahead, read that again. Wild, right? It’s almost as if, if we looked closely enough, we could see what was coming next for the Mets’ backstop.
Ever since the trade deadline passed, the calendar turned to August, and the New York Mets transformed into the hottest baseball team on the planet, Wilson Ramos has personified this team’s current level of confidence at the plate.
Over 49 plate appearances since July 31, Ramos is hitting .341/.370/.591 with three homers, two doubles, a .398 wOBA, 152 wRC+, and a 7.3% strikeout rate. Now that’s the type of production we were hoping for out of the man they call Buffalo.
Ramos’ defense still leaves quite a bit to be desired (-8 DRS, -7.1 framing runs above average both rank last among qualified NL catchers), but if his bat plays as it has over the last two weeks, that will most likely continue to be an afterthought.
Is Wilson Ramos’ torrid resurgence at the plate sustainable? Likely not at this high level. But, nevertheless, it’s still great to see; especially at a time like this.
