Ramirez effective in filling in for Brantley’s offense

Everyone expected the Indians to pitch well this year, but it was fair to worry if they’d have the offense to back it up. This was a unit that was below average by Weighted Runs Created Plus in 2015, then added to its lineup only Rajai Davis, Mike Napoli, and Juan Uribe — a trio of 34- to 36-year-olds who were coming off just average offensive seasons themselves — in what was then seen as an underwhelming offseason.

And then it got worse: Michael Brantley’s shoulder issues wound up being more serious than expected, and Cleveland’s best hitter over the previous two seasons managed just 43 plate appearances before succumbing to another shoulder surgery that ended his season once and for all. Without Brantley, could an outfield of Davis, Abraham Almonte and Lonnie Chisenhall lead a playoff team?

• FanGraphs’ Jeff Sullivan looks at how Mike Zunino has rebounded for Seattle

Well, no, but they haven’t had to. That same outfield unit currently ranks third in Wins Above Replacement and sixth in wRC+. A lot of that has to do with Tyler Naquin tapping into unforeseen power and hitting like Anthony Rizzo, but even more important to the Indians’ success this season has been the fact that despite Brantley’s lost year, they haven’t actually been without him at all. Turns out the key to not missing your All-Star left fielder is to simply clone him using a 5-foot-9 utility infielder — Jose Ramirez .

Ramirez has provided the Indians with a near-exact replica of Brantley’s 2016 preseason projected numbers, and due to Ramirez’s superior baserunning and defensive abilities, he’s already outperformed Brantley’s full-season WAR projection in just 466 plate appearances. Ramirez even took the impersonation a step further by filling in as the team’s primary left fielder for much of the season — despite having played just 14 Major League innings in the outfield prior to this year — before returning to a more familiar post at third base upon Uribe’s dismissal from the team.

Brantley never struck out; Ramirez has never struck out. Brantley ran a league-best 92 percent contact rate; Ramirez this year is 11th, at 88 percent. Brantley walked enough to turn his elite batting average into an elite on-base percentage; Ramirez has done the same. Brantley suddenly began hitting for …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com