Hanley Ramirez looked in April like someone poised to hit 4,000 home runs and rack up 10,000 RBIs within a menacing Boston Red Sox offense. Now, he looks like someone who might never homer again.
Ramirez entered Thursday with only one RBI in 22 games this month, leaving outsiders to wonder whether his left shoulder is fully healed. The three-time All-Star isn’t pinning any blame on the shoulder injury he suffered a few weeks ago, though. Instead, he’s focused on how opposing pitchers have approached him in May.
“I mean, I’ve got a strike zone. Most of the pitches they’ve thrown me inside are balls. I’m not supposed to pull that,” Ramirez told reporters in Minnesota after Wednesday’s loss to the Twins. “I hit it back up the middle, that’s my approach. Back up the middle.
“If you start opening your front shoulder and keep chasing, I’m not changing my approach. So it is what it is. I’m not getting any mistakes right now. They’re just pounding the black of the plate.”
Ramirez hit .293 with 10 homers, 22 RBIs and a 1.000 OPS in April. He drove the ball with incredible force throughout the opening month and appeared to be on the fast track to an American League All-Star selection. Comparisons to Manny Ramirez — in terms of both his swing and his right-handed presence behind David Ortiz — were rampant.
But Ramirez fell off the table as soon as the calendar flipped to May. He jammed his shoulder May 4 during a violent collision with the left field wall located in foul territory at Fenway Park, forcing him to miss three games, and he hasn’t been able to square up balls the same ever since.
“Yeah, yeah. No mistakes,” Ramirez told reporters Wednesday of whether pitchers are attacking him differently than they did in April. “On the black, everything. They watched me the first month. They don’t want me to hurt them. Just keep fighting every at-bat and every game, you know? I’m not going to quit. Keep going out there and compete.”
As Ramirez noted, it’s a long season and things could turn around for the 11-year veteran with one swing. But Ramirez definitely needs to make necessary adjustments sooner than later, as Boston’s offense continues to struggle and his lack of production in the middle of the order has been detrimental.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
