Three series into the 2019 MLB regular season, and the New York Mets aren’t looking all that bad. The start of any season is important, but in a deep National League East division, the Mets’ March/April schedule will immediately put them to the test with 19 inter-division games (and only three against the Miami Marlins).
So far, so good as they rest on Monday with a 6-3 record prior to welcoming the Minnesota Twins to Citi Field on Tuesday. There have been a number of noticeable performances thus far, but one that really jumps out is catcher Wilson Ramos.
The backstop’s tenure with the Amazins has gotten off to a terrific start — he’s slashing .400/.419/.433, is the proud owner of a 129 wRC+, and has registered a hit in all but one of the nine games he’s suited up for. He’s also collected five runs scored and six RBI, accomplishing that without any homers.
His plate approach has drawn some attention, as Keith Hernandez talked during Saturday’s broadcast about how much Ramos seems to naturally go up the middle and to the opposite field.
Statistics will continue to stabilize over time, but one number I couldn’t ignore right now is the rate at which he’s making contact on pitches in the strike zone.
An Absurd Amount of Contact
When looking at his career as a whole — especially performances in recent years — Ramos has been consistent when it comes to making contact inside the strike zone. That number has never been lower than 86.8% in a single season, with that specific occurrence happening in 2010 (his rookie year).
Ramos saw this percentage stay above 88.0% each of the past three seasons heading into 2019, and it’s currently all the way up at 94.1% with the Mets. When looking at qualified hitters, that contact rate on strikes is among the 20 best in baseball.
His .429 BABIP will undoubtedly come down to a more normal number in the coming days and weeks, but it’s also justified when looking at the rest of Ramos’ batted-ball profile. He’s historically been heavy on ground balls and light on fly balls, and the early results from 2019 aren’t much different, evidenced by his current 60.7% ground-ball rate and 10.7% fly-ball rate.
These numbers also come with a 28.6% line-drive rate and a 42.9% hard-hit rate, both of which would be single-season career-high marks if he finds a way to sustain them for the next, like, five or so months.
With Lots of Swinging in General
Another aspect of Ramos’ game that’s been consistent is his propensity for being aggressive in the batter’s box. He’s posted a swing rate north of 50.0% in each of the past six seasons, and his 53.8% cumulative swing rate since the start of 2013 is among the 30 highest in baseball.
Ramos has also found himself among the league leaders in 2019 swing rate by offering at pitches 58.9% of the time. Although his swing rate on balls both outside and inside the strike zone don’t show a huge increase compared to last year, his overall swing rate has taken a larger jump.
| Year | O-Swing% | Z-Swing% | Swing% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 38.5% | 79.0% | 54.2% |
| 2019 | 41.3% | 77.3% | 58.9% |
However, this is likely because of a rise in how often opposing pitchers are putting balls in the strike zone. The veteran catcher has seen pitches in the strike zone at a 48.9% rate, which is a huge difference from the year before (38.9%). So he’s still swinging at strikes at around the same rate as he did in 2018, but with more opportunities in general, his overall swing rate will naturally increase.
But Not Many Strikeouts
Seeing all these strikes and making a lot more contact than normal has benefitted Ramos in his strikeout rate while also sacrificing a bit of his walk rate. He’s currently going down on strikes at a 6.5% clip, which would easily be a career-low mark if it could somehow be sustained.
Even if that doesn’t happen, Ramos has never been the kind of hitter that strikes out a bunch — he’s produced a strikeout rate of at least 20.0% just once throughout his career (20.0% in 2015).
Meanwhile, his 3.2% walk rate would be a career-worst mark if the season ended today, and it’s especially noticeable since his 7.7% mark from 2018 was a career-high for a full season’s worth of play. Having this number that low isn’t going to bother many people at the moment, though, since Ramos’ .419 on-base percentage is more than sufficient.
Hitting statistics will continue coming back down to reality soon enough, but given what Ramos has faced in his first 31 plate appearances with the Mets, he’s done a terrific job of maximizing his results without hitting for much power.
