Jose Ramirez becomes first Cleveland hitter with multiple 30 homer, 30 steal seasons

CLEVELAND — Officially, Jose Ramirez has done something no other Cleveland hitter has in the franchise's 124-year history.

Ramirez reached the 30-homer, 30-steal plateau with a stolen base in Thursday's game against the New York Yankees. It's the second time he's accomplished that feat, making him the first Cleveland player in club history with multiple 30/30 seasons.

Only two other Cleveland players have put together a 30/30 season: Grady Sizemore in 2008 and Joe Carter in 1987. Ramirez is now one of 15 players in baseball history with multiple 30/30 seasons. Only he and Ronald Acuna Jr. are active players who have pulled that off more than once.

"It's just a really cool accolade for Josey," said manager Stephen Vogt. "And to have two of them, it's super impressive. It's fun to watch. And the thing I love about Josey is every single home run, every single stolen base, is calculated. It's because of his hard work, because of the prep that he does, and his ability. … It's not just by accident."

Ramirez, also hitting .273 with 101 RBIs, is 10th among all position players with 4.7 fWAR this season.

Guardians standings after recent road trip

While Ramirez wrote his name into the team's history books, the 2024 Guardians didn't exactly have the most enjoyable road trip.

Across three games in Milwaukee and three against the Yankees in New York, the Guardians went just 1-5, which has brought the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals closer in the American League Central race. Entering Friday's slate of games across the league, both the Twins and Royals had each trimmed the Guardians' lead to just two games, setting up a close three-team race over the final five-plus weeks of the season.

"We had a tough road trip. That's true," Vogt said. "That's the only thing that's true about our season right now is we had a tough road trip. But we're in a great position. This is a very good baseball team, and we're one great game away from getting right back on track."

The Guardians' power surge with a lineup that has far exceeded expectations is perhaps the No. 1 reason why Cleveland remains in first place in the AL Central. But that offense has begun to hit some speed bumps. Over their six-game roadtrip, the Guardians scored one or fewer runs four times.

But as Vogt said Friday before the Guardians' game against the Texas Rangers, it doesn't mean the Guardians are panicking.

"It's hard to hit a baseball and right now we've had a hard time getting stuff going and producing runs, but that doesn't mean we need to change our approach," Vogt said. "We've had a great approach all year. Our guys have been swinging the bats well all year. We're not going to let one week dictate us changing things. We want to continue with our process because our process has worked."

Across a grinding, 162-game season, there's also an element of human nature that comes into play. Skids can't be predicted, but they must be expected. The Guardians haven't dealt with too many such streaks this season, but lately it's been trial by fire.

"You just push through it. I mean, there's no magic pill, there's no magic formula," Vogt said. "Everybody around the league right now is tired. There isn't one team out there saying, 'Oh, we feel good.' So we're not exempt from that either. So it's, 'I've got to dig deep. This is why I worked hard all winter. This is why I worked hard all year. This is why I keep myself in shape. This is why I keep pushing through.'"

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis .

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jose Ramirez becomes first Cleveland hitter with multiple 30 homer, 30 steal seasons