Sports

New updates shed light on José Ramírez and Angel Martínez's injuries

Cleveland Guardians On SI · Jul 20, 2026 22:41 · 3 min read

New Updates Shed Light on José Ramírez and Angel Martínez's Injuries — Jun 8, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians right fielder Angel Martinez (1) hits a home run during the sixth inning against the New York Yankees at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Cleveland Guardians are looking to see the return of important pieces to the offense: Angel Martinez and Jose Ramirez. Both received promising updates on Monday, July 20, ahead of the Guardians' four-game series against the Minnesota Twins.

Somehow, someway, the Cleveland Guardians are still in the run for the No. 1 spot in the American League Central standings.

And while the Chicago White Sox are slightly pulling away, owning a 52-46 overall record, reinforcements are on the way to help get the Guardians right back to where they were a few weeks ago.

After being off the diamond since Saturday, June 12, Guardians third baseman José Ramírez and outfielder Angél Martínez received promising reports that their road to recovery may be approaching it's end.

On Monday, July 20, ahead of a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins, which is going to be incredibly important for how the Central ends up shaking out in just a few months, manager Stephen Vogt confirmed that the two are looking good.

With Martinez, Vogt said: "Angel will be playing in Akron tomorrow again, so he's feeling really good, and it's exciting."

Before going down with his injury, Martínez was one of the Guardians' most explosive bats. Across 66 games and 226 at-bats, the 24-year-old is slashing .239/.276/.442 for an OPS of .718. While he certainly needs to get on base more consistently, he has made up for such struggles with 11 doubles and 11 home runs. He has also bashed in 33 runs and scored 28 himself.

Martínez seems to be much closer to returning than Ramírez, but fortunately, the 33-year-old shouldn't be terribly far behind.

Vogt shared that the team is considering him "day-to-day", as the future Hall of Famer is well aware of his body. Just yesterday, Cleveland's skipper said the process has been pretty much fully in his hands.

"Today's a recovery day, and so tomorrow's another work day," Vogt said. "So we're day to day with him. He's feeling better. He's feeling better each day. So tomorrow, I believe, is five weeks since surgery. So we're just getting to the front side of that five-to-seven-week window. That's for him to be feeling as good as he is right now, we feel really good about that."

While Ramírez may be having somewhat of a down year, before he was placed on the injured list, he was slashing .239/.339/.418 for an OPS of .757. That line is still much better than many others on the roster as the team comes out of the All-Star Break. He also has 18 doubles and 10 home runs, all while swiping a strong 24 bases.

When he trots back out onto the diamond, the lineup will be in a much better spot.

And even without two of the team's more important bats, the rest of the squad has been able to find ways to win games.

“These guys find a way,” Vogt said. “We find a way to win, find a way to string some hits together, get a couple wild pitches, whatever it takes. I think, really, the word that came to mind was ‘compete.’”

The Guardians will hopefully get Martínez back to the big leagues by the end of the week, but the focus is on preparing to take down the Minnesota Twins. The two sides will clash for a four-game set beginning on Monday, July 20, at 6:40 p.m. EST from Progressive Field.