Jose Ramirez drew a walk and scored a run Sunday afternoon, helping the Guardians to a 7-0 win over the White Sox. That was just his tenth walk of year at the quarter mark of the season. Note that Ramirez often draws over 70 walks a year. His lack of walks is a big reason both his batting average and OBP are down this year, now standing at .235/280.

FansGraphs shows that Ramirez is swinging at more pitches outside the strike zone. He’s at about 33% for this season versus 24% for his career. He’s making contact at the same rate, but that means he’s putting balls in play that don’t have much of a chance at success.

I wonder if this is an eye problem. Many great hitters have excellent vision, but vision can worsen with age. Suddenly swinging at more pitches outside the zone strikes me as an eye problem, and I wonder if anyone in the Guardians organization suggest Ramriez get his vision checked.