The Best Player on the Indians Infield - It's Not Who You Think

It's been an interesting season for the Indians as they close in on their final three games and then the postseason. The team's infield has two big name star players who have both been impactful for the team in Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and this season it's Ramirez who has been the team's MVP, and might just be the MVP of the American League.

All of the talk throughout these past couple of years is about the re-signing of star shortstop Francisco Lindor. 

After next season, something is going to have to give. It’s unlikely the Indians will push forward with an extension, simply because it’s way too expensive for a small-market club. 

The team can either trade Lindor this offseason or do something before the deadline next year. If not, they’ll end up letting the switch hitter walk.

However, another player on the same side of the infield is proving worthy of the extension received. Third baseman Jose Ramirez is playing phenomenal baseball for the Tribe.

This current condensed season, Ramirez is hitting .292 with 17 home runs and 46 runs batted in. Compared those numbers to Lindor’s, which are a .265 batting average, eight home runs and 27 runs batted in.

It’s obvious which of the two had the better season (thus far).

Not many would have thought that Ramirez would be more valuable than Lindor in this 2020 playoff run. However, that’s what happened the more baseball the Indians played throughout the summer.

Ramirez is signed through the 2023 season and becomes an unrestricted free agent at the age of 31. Lindor has one more year of arbitration and will be 28 and a free agent after next season.

The point is that when Lindor ultimately does leave for a bigger market team, the Indians will still have a great player on that side of the infield in Ramirez. A player that just hit a walk-off home run against the White Sox that had fans thrilled.

In the coming years, if Ramirez can continue to play at this level and the team is able to find a solid replacement if Lindor does, in fact, sign with a different team, the Indians will actually be just fine for the future.

For now, let’s hope the one-two punch of Ramirez and Lindor jump start an offense that is going to have to find a spark come playoff time.