Heliot Ramos' redemption is here as Yankees finally get to use him the way they planned

Was Heliot Ramos too tantalized by the short porch to swing properly during his first days in pinstripes? Was he unmoored and unmotivated, losing his hustle in a low moment in Toronto? Or was he merely temporarily miscast, forced into the lineup against a cavalcade of right-handers due to Cody Bellinger's injury and a ridiculous schedule disparity?

Whether Ramos is an everyday player for the idealized version of these Yankees is a question for another day. What we do know is he was acquired to tee off against left-handed pitching, then was shoved into the lineup without consideration for handedness, facing a righty starter in his first three starts with the Yankees, then Chris Sale, then nine more righty starters and two bullpen games. It sounds like I am making that up. I am not.

Most of the time, arbitrary endpoints sound like a cop out. In this case, Ramos was sent across the country, then sentenced to almost three weeks of less-than-comfortable at-bats. A 2-for-31 start is a disaster, any way you slice it, but he wasn't exactly set up for success.

Since Cody Bellinger's return, he has been. And now that Aaron Judge is back as well, Ramos had the pleasure of being his first-ever caddy and putting an exclamation point on his recent resurgence, going the opposite way on a Brennan Bernardino offspeed pitch for exactly the type of game-breaking home run he'll be asked to provide in October.

Yankees seeing Heliot Ramos' true peak vs. left-handed pitching since mid-August

Over his last 15 games, Ramos has posted a .383 OBP, .474 slugging percentage, and .857 OPS. That's more like it.

Using Aug. 19 as a somewhat arbitrary (but fun!) line in the sand, the day Ramos whacked a hit and scored a run in Baltimore, he's been a far more useful player, sneaking his OPS above .900 and tattooing arguably the biggest home run of the season to date, the three-run shot against Ranger Suárez that turned Ceddanne Rafaela's non-catch from a Red Sox talking point to a deluge-of-tears generator.

The Sox tried to lefty the Yankees to death in that four-game set, and Ramos went 3-for-12 with that titanic blast — pulled, not oppo — to turn the tides in both the series and his Yankees career.

His moment in the sun on Tuesday, providing necessary insurance in a game the Yankees absolutely, positively could not afford to lose, was another feather in his cap. When Ramos went yard against the Sox, it was shocking — a well-timed rebuke to the foolish fans who claimed Brian Cashman's smartest move would be to "cut his losses" and DFA his controllable trade deadline acquisition after three bad weeks against mostly right-handed pitching. His home run against the Rockies? That felt much more natural, and represents how he'll likely be used down the stretch and into the playoffs.

You know. Almost like that's how Cashman intended it all along.

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