One could make the case that José Ramírez was the 2022 Guardians MVP before the season even began.
What he did during the entirety of the regular season was impressive of course — and that’s really why he’s our MVP — but by agreeing to a long-term deal to stay in Cleveland before 2022’s delayed Opening Day, he set the tone for a young team that needed all the confidence they could get. For that reason alone, he was invaluable to this team from the start.
When there wasn’t constant dread over the impending MLB lockout, rumors circulated all offseason that Ramírez’s time in Cleveland could be coming to an end.