Guardians announce José Ramírez is skipping the All-Star Game to focus on recovery

At times this year, it’s felt like José Ramírez has carried the Guardians’ offense single handedly on his back. 

He’s now going to use the All-Star break to take some time to recover from that taxing exercise. 

On Wednesday, Ramírez announced that he’s going to be skipping this year’s All-Star Game to focus on recovering for the second half stretch run. While it’s going to be a bit disappointing to see him not show out on the game’s biggest stage, it’s another team-first move by Ramírez as the Guardians try to claw their way back into the postseason picture.

José Ramírez is making the right move by skipping the All-Star Game 

As The Athletic’s Zack Mesiel pointed out, Ramírez has already played through a variety of injuries this year.

That hasn’t stopped him from finding success, however, as he’s posted a .299/.364/.503 slashline with 16 home runs, 44 RBI, 24 steals and 17 doubles. 

This year marks his fifth straight season being an All-Star. 

Of the injuries Mesiel mentioned, his sore wrist is currently the biggest one. He was plunked on his right wrist about two weeks ago by Toronto starting pitcher Kevin Gausman, and it seems like the injury is still bothering him, even if he says that it’s not. 

Ramírez was hitting .317 prior to being plunked, but has hit just .158 in the 10 games he’s played in since — a span that coincides with Cleveland’s offense bottoming out. 

He’ll be replaced by Houston's Isaac Paredes, who was an American League All-Star last year before being traded to the Cubs. He entered play on Wednesday hitting .255 with 19 home runs and 49 RBI.

The starting third base nod will now be given to either him or old friend Junior Caminero. 

Ramírez sitting out means that, as of now, Steven Kwan will be the lone Guardian actually playing in the All-Star Game.

Cade Smith has an outside shot as pitchers begin to back out due to their throwing schedule, but it looks like there could be a good chance that Kwan is the team’s lone representative in the actual game. 

Ramírez has looked healthier over the past 48 hours, which unsurprisingly has coincided with the Guardians ripping off two straight wins. The Guardians will be banking on that continuing in the second half, especially now that he’s going to have nearly a week to rest.