Jose's Almost Invisible Excellent Adventure.
Full name Jose Ramirez. Still don't know?
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We do arbitrary numbers in baseball on a seemingly full-time basis, and many of us have, understandably, grown weary of the super-qualified, thin-sliced versions. If Stan Mash leads MLB in home runs against left-handed pitching in July, it’s not nothing, but I’m not certain that it’s something, either. It could be just a stat.
But 20/20, that’s pretty cool. We all understand the achievement of hitting 20 home runs and stealing 20 bases in the same season. It’s hard to do. Don’t get me wrong: It does get done, just not very often, and for the same player to hit the 20/20 mark multiple times in his career is a relatively rare thing.
This, too, is just a stat. It’s a good stat, though.
So anyway — do you know who Jose Ramirez is?
Ramirez plays for the Cleveland Guardians, which might explain why his name only sounds familiar. He’s not the guy you see on national MLB broadcasts. He’s not the first thought when baseball fans of ordinary goodwill start ticking off lists of superstars.
On Monday night in Cleveland, though, something happened that we ought to note. With a first-inning home run off Baltimore starter Tomoyuki Sugano, Ramirez locked in a 20/20 season in just 96 games, a remarkably quick achievement.
Better: This is the seventh time that Jose Ramirez has had a 20/20 season.
Best: Here is the list of MLB players who are the all time leaders in 20/20 seasons: