Heliot Ramos hits first homer with the Yankees

No surprises here with rookie lefty Jake Bennett toeing the rubber for the opening contest of Saturday’s twin bill at Yankee Stadium. It’ll be Paul Goldschmidt and Amed Rosario getting a look at first and second base, respectively, with Heliot Ramos getting into the lineup in right field.

Heliot Ramos, meanwhile, is making his first start in six days against Red Sox left-hander Patrick Sandoval. With Cody Bellinger back, it looks like Jones and Ramos could be in a straight platoon for now, though Jones could maybe start over Trent Grisham against some lefties. Jones actually has a 1.079 OPS in 34 plate appearances in lefty-lefty matchups. He has a .648 OPS in 155 plate appearances against righties.

Ramos is just 6-for-53 with no homers in 16 games since joining the Yankees, so he’s losing time even with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton still absent. Things might change if he heats up, but he figures to play mostly versus southpaws for now, making him useless in mixed leagues.

This is now the second straight game with Caballero on the bench. Now that Heliot Ramos is in town and George Lombard Jr. has been called up, it seems that Caballero might be shifting back to being a bench player. Fantasy managers in deeper leagues can hold onto him for a little bit longer given his stolen base upside, but the time may have run out on his consistent fantasy value.

Ramos makes a ton of sense for the Yankees as a temporary stopgap while both Aaron Judge (rib) and Cody Bellinger (hamstring) are on the injured list, but he could wind up getting squeezed into a platoon role once they’re back. The 26-year-old corner outfielder has just nine round-trippers in 74 games this season after reaching the 20-homer plateau in each of the previous two years. He should benefit from leaving Oracle Park’s pitcher-friendly dimensions behind in favor of Yankee Stadium.

Left-hander Henry LaLane will be part of the return, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. This doesn’t seem great for Ramos. He might play regularly for now, but if things work out for the Yankees, he’ll finish the season starting primarily against lefties. It’ll be interesting to see if the team sends down Jasson Domínguez here (assuming he’s not in the trade) or maybe gives up on Amed Rosario. Ramos’s departure will leave the Giants even more punchless for now, but as a bad defensive corner outfielder probably best utilized as a DH, he didn’t seem like a long-term fit alongside Rafael Devers and Bryce Eldridge.

Ramos has played in just 70 games this season due to injuries and is slashing .267/.304/.436 with nine home runs, 34 RBI, and two steals. He has hit at least 20 home runs in two straight seasons but has yet to truly put together a great full season. Still, he is just 26 years old and is under team control through arbitration for three more years, so he would likely bring back a recent return if the Giants do decide to move him.

Ramos’s ninth-inning single off Andrew Vaughn gave him his third career four-hit game. After a nice first half of July, he had been cold in hitting .174 with one extra-base hit and a 15/1 K/BB in 48 plate appearances since the All-Star break. There’s at least a slim chance that he’ll be traded before the deadline, since while he fits in nicely with the Giants offensively, he doesn’t really offer anything defensively on a team that isn’t poised to have any first base/DH at-bats available for the next several years. Most likely, though, he’ll stay and finish out the year as the regular left fielder.

This would have been a three-homer game in most ballparks and sort of was in San Francisco anyway; Ramos scored on the triple to right-center when the throw got past the third baseman and went into the dugout. Statcast says the triple, hit a projected 399 feet, would have been a homer in 29 parks. Ramos later had an opposite-field homer, hit 349 feet down the right field line, and a 110-mph, 434 foot bomb to left-center. Even his groundout tonight was hit 112 mph. Just a week ago, the Giants were being slow to activate Ramos from the IL because of concerns about how he’d fit in with Casey Schmitt playing the outfield. However, those went away with Matt Chapman getting hurt, and Ramos has hit .313 with four homers, eight RBI and eight runs scored in eight games since returning.

Ramos hit a 427-foot homer off Zac Gallen, and his 373-foot triple would have been a homer in 13 ballparks. Playing time seemed like it might be a question after Ramos returned from the IL on Sunday, but with Willy Adames and Matt Chapman down and Casey Schmitt returning to the infield, he’s started all four games since returning. As long as he’s an everyday guy, he should offer a little mixed-league value.