The Cleveland Indians are entertaining the idea of moving third baseman Jose Ramirez back to his native position.
Despite playing 48 games in the outfield in 2016, Ramirez appeared in 117 games at third base, though he’s naturally a middle infielder.
“He was so good at third base both offensively and defensively. But he’s a natural second baseman, and can play shortstop and the outfield,” Indians general Mike Chernoff said, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag. “It gives us a lot of options, and opens up a lot of possibilities.”
Offensively, Ramirez made it impossible for manager Terry Francona to keep him out of the lineup. In his third year as a full-time major leaguer, the 24-year-old batted .312/.363/.462 with 11 home runs and 46 doubles in 152 games.
Of course, playing shortstop is out of the question with Francisco Lindor in the picture, though it’s not completely out of the question to play second base with Jason Kipnis at the position.
Carlos Santana is growing more and more into an every-day designated hitter, and moving Kipnis to first base could ease his workload and allow him to focus more on hitting, though he’s never played a corner position in his career.
