Is the Guardians' Jose Ramirez an AL MVP candidate in 2022?
The answer is undoubtedly yes, at least by any objective measure, but the three-time All-Star curiously found himself snubbed by one prominent preview piece.
On Monday, the official Twitter account of MLB posted a graphic showing a handful of the AL's top stars -- including Marcus Semien, Aaron Judge, Xander Bogaerts, Mike Trout, Wander Franco, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Shohei Ohtani.
But Ramirez, who has three top-5 MVP finishes on his resume over the past five seasons, was conspicuously absent.
The affable 29-year-old superstar took to Twitter to post his hilarious response, a well-worn GIF of a confused Nick Cannon being surrounded by question marks.
Despite his recent track record, Ramirez does indeed appear to be something of a long shot to win AL MVP in 2022, ranking 10th at roughly +2250 based on an average tallied from several prominent sportsbooks, according to BetQL.
Perhaps that can be attributed to modest predictions for the Guardians, who had the fourth-longest odds of winning the AL Central on Monday, ahead of only the Royals.
Still, Ramirez came in sixth in last year's balloting while his team finished at two games under .500, so it appears he's once again being undervalued. And his MVP vote total may have been low considering he finished third in the AL in Fangraphs' WAR, behind only Guerrero and Semien.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram