Notes:

Gearing up: Trevor Bauer probably looks at Saturday’s game as a major opportunity to advance his career. First, he pitching close to home, if you count living 90 minutes to the north as close. Distances take on different perspectives out west, right? He also has a chance to build on his solid performance against Seattle on June 6 when he struck out 10 Mariners in 7-plus innings. Tonight he gets to take on Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and a lineup that otherwise is lacking in star power. Even Pujols appears to be far from his former Hall of Fame pace, hitting .231. He does have a dozen home runs.

Surprising the stat machine: As well as he has played, we must wonder if Jose Ramirez will continue to be a starter after Michael Brantley returns. His play in the outfield has been impressive, given how little he played there in the past. Tonight he moves to shortstop, according to the early lineup report, as Francisco Lindor is given a night off. He’s also taking Lindor’s third-spot in the lineup. Honestly, did you think Ramirez would ever hit third for the Tribe? Clearly, he has earned that respect, hitting .305 with 22 runs batted in and six stolen bases. He also has 15 doubles and a .371 on-base percentage. This is only his third game at shortstop, second start. Baseball Prospectus’ Pecota system projected he would hit .258 for the season, with five home runs and 16 doubles. Pecota saw him finishing with a .303 on-base-percentage in 366 plate appearances. He already has nearly 200 plate appearances in about a third of the season. Pecota updates its projections, but Ramirez hasn’t totally impressed the inanimate algorithm. The new Pecota sees him hitting .265 the rest of the way with four more homers and 26 more RBI. Projections, especially Pecota, are consistently seen as conservative by many observers, so its caution regarding Ramirez is not surprising.

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