Cleveland Guardians 3B José Ramírez a 2022 All-Star ballot finalist

Guardians third baseman José Ramírez has moved on in the AL All-Star ballot voting as a finalist.

With Phase 1 of the 2022 All-Star ballot voting complete, we now move on to Phase 2 among the finalists at each position. For the Cleveland Guardians, that means it’s a two-man race between José Ramírez and Boston’s Rafael Devers for the AL’s starting nod at third base.

Ramírez had the most votes at the position during Phase 1 of the voting, but it was a neck-and-neck race between him and Devers. Ramírez started the All-Star Game in 2017 and ’18, while Devers made (and started) his first All-Star Game last season (Ramírez made last year’s team as well).

This year, the case could truly be made for either one of these tremendous players starting the All-Star Game. Ramírez, of course, leads the American League in RBIs with 63, and is hitting an excellent .296/.381/.596 with 16 home runs, 25 doubles (and currently, the same amount of strikeouts), 12 stolen bases, and a 177 OPS+.

Devers leads all of baseball with 99 hits and the AL with 26 doubles, slashing an eye-popping .326/.384/.586 with 17 home runs, 45 RBIs and a 165 OPS+.

In terms of fWAR, it couldn’t be tighter, with Devers at a 4.1 and Ramírez sitting with an even 4.

So really, the voting will ultimately come down mostly to personal preference and whatever statistics you subjectively utilize to compare and rank players.

Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez finished third in the voting to Houston’s Jose Altuve and Toronto’s Santiago Espinal, but it seems almost inconceivable that he won’t be an All-Star as a reserve.

Phase 2 of the voting process begins at noon ET on July 5 and will continue until 2 p.m. ET on July 8, with the results being revealed later that night.