Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Aramis Ramirez is making a last-minute push to earn a spot on the National League All-Star roster. Finally healthy, Ramirez's month of June shows why the veteran deserves a spot on the NL roster over New York Mets third baseman David Wright.
According to last week's numbers, Ramirez has a slight lead over Wright in the All-Star voting: 1,279,902 votes to 1,260,895 votes. Although the numbers are close, Ramirez, who came off the 15-day disabled list on June 4, has posted numbers in the month of June that show what he's capable of when healthy.
He's hitting .348 with an on-base percentage of .396, and he has six homeruns and 19 RBIs to go along with it. Last week, Ramirez was ranked fifth in hitting, tied fourth in homers and ranked fifth in RBIs, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Ramirez arguably would have a bigger lead over Wright if not for the strained left hamstring suffered in May, and in the beginning of the season Ramirez looked like he was still knocking off the rust after missing 77 games last season with two knee injuries.
"Last year I wasn't healthy at all," Ramirez said Wednesday, via The Journal Sentinel. "This year I feel a lot better physically and mentally, and you see the results. When you're healthy, you're going to perform. When you're not, it's tough. That was the case last year."
While Wright has been more consistent over the course of the season, his numbers in June pale in comparison with Ramirez's numbers: Wright is hitting .233 with two homers and 11 RBIs.
Ramirez admitted he was surprised by his sudden leap to the top of the voting for NL third basemen.
"Yeah, because I missed almost a month," he admitted. "Came back and I've done pretty well. But I wasn't expecting that. We're only, what, 10 days away until the voting is over? Win-win situation for me. If I make it, good. If not, I get to go home and enjoy myself for four days."
Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 3.
