If you have been paying attention to baseball for the past few months, you may have noticed that Hanley Ramirez is now worth his $88 million contract. He played a crucial role in the Red Sox’s four-game sweep of the Yankees last weekend, going an electric 9 for 16, driving in 9 runs and hitting four home runs. Following Ramirez’s go-ahead home run late in last Sunday’s game, he ran out of the dugout for a curtain call to the Fenway faithful.
But how did we get to this point? A year ago, Ramirez was rehabbing a shoulder injury following an abysmal first season back with the Red Sox, which saw almost every Bostonian turn against the left fielder. In 430 plate appearances, he batted .249/.291/.426.
Then spring training rolled around, and Ramirez looked like a new player. He had gotten in shape, switched to a more natural position and improved his attitude. He looked more comfortable playing first base, and his shoulder injury seemed to be an issue of the past.
After an inauspicious start to the season, Ramirez has batted .293/.367/.569 for an OPS of .936 with 25 home runs since June 1 -- this coming from a player most fans in Boston would have traded for a bucket of baseballs last offseason. This year, Ramirez returned with a change in his swing and his approach at the plate. Earlier this month, he told the Boston Globe that his swing is “shorter -- it’s shorter and powerful.” He’s also been looking for more fastballs to hit this year, as he has hit well over half of his home runs on that pitch.
Another noticeable difference is Ramirez’s percentage of hard hit balls, up from 31.1% last year to 38.8% this year. This change can be seen in his average exit velocity on batted balls, especially on pitches over the outer third of the plate (97.7 mph), where he has hit 16 of his 29 home runs this season.Ramirez’s BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play) has also played a role in his comeback. In 2015, Ramirez had a BABIP of .257, the lowest of his career and well below the .300 league average -- this despite having an average exit velocity higher than league average. This demonstrated that although Ramirez was mashing the ball, it just wasn’t finding any holes. Ramirez is getting luckier this year. He continues to hit the ball hard, and this season his BABIP is .326, much closer to his career .327 BABIP.
A plausible explanation for why Ramirez is hitting again is that his healthy shoulder, adjusted swing and his tendency to look for fastballs have led to harder hit balls, which, due to some luck, are now falling in more often than last year. What we’re seeing this year is a Hanley Ramirez playing much closer to his true talent level. The Red Sox will need him to stay hot if they are going to make a deep playoff run.
