BRONX, NY — At forty-four years of age, Rajai Davis, a former 14-year MLB right-handed hitting outfielder, spends his days taking care of his family while working as a Senior Director of On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball.
Fitting and enjoying his current position quite well, the MLB veteran was a member of eight different franchises over an action-packed career—spanning from 2006-2019—as an Oakland Athletic, Toronto Blue Jay, Detroit Tiger, Cleveland then Indian, San Francisco Giant, Pittsburgh Pirate, New York Met and Boston Red Sox.
Image Credit: MLB
In two of Davis’ Major League campaigns, 2016 and 2018, under the lights of Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio, he was a teammate of one of the best, most bonafide athletes in the game—Jose Ramirez.
At the time of Ramirez and Davis sharing clubhouses together across two separate stints, the now six-time American League All-Star known as ‘J-Ram’, an AL Silver Slugger in five separate seasons and face of Cleveland’s franchise, was then just beginning his reign on the big leagues.
Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Though in that short amount of time, Davis took away more than two years worth of learning lessons, knowledge and values that remain close to him to this day.
In a brief interview with Davis Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium prior to this past Wednesday’s Royals-Yankees series finale, he described Ramirez as “a family guy.”
“A guy who cares about his family and takes care of his family. He’s really a talented player, but an even nicer family guy. That’s what stands out the most for me.”
Image Credit: MLB
On the diamond, Ramirez, 32, of Bani, Dominican Republic, stands amongst the top athletes in the sport, with the numbers showing his worth year-in and year-out—finishing top-five in the AL Most Valuable Player award voting over five different seasons and top-three in AL LatinoMVP voting across several previous years.
“He doesn’t want to be on the forefront,” explained Davis when asked why it seems Ramirez doesn’t get the national and global attention he deserves.
“He’s a guy who is obviously playing in a smaller market so he is not going to get the recognition that some of the other players that do play in bigger markets get. Being the player that he is, he’s as nice off the field as he is on it. And he’s nice on the field obviously with the home runs and stealing bases. Just the grind that he has and consistency he has been able to maintain, it’s something worthy of daily attention.”
Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Appearing in 152 or more games in each given season dating back to 2016, excluding 2019 where he played in 129 games and 2020, a 60-game shortened season due to the Covid-19 Pandemic (58 contests played), the always up-beat Ramirez is a consistent name written in Cleveland’s lineup.
“He came off the scene from sitting on the bench with me to playing more and more,” Davis said of Ramirez’s massive leap in 2016. “He’s just a very confident individual who plays confident and that is something he is able to project to his teammates.”
“He brings that confidence and leadership now by being an example due to the work he puts in.”
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