Ramirez Homers Off a Pitch 0.74 Feet Off the Ground, the Lowest Postseason Homer on Record

Jose Ramirez won Game 5 with a swing that started below his ankles. His fourth-inning home run off Sean Burke came on a pitch 0.74 feet above the ground, the lowest pitch anyone has homered on in a postseason game since tracking began in 2008, according to MLB Statcast via the Associated Press.

How low is 0.74 feet, in baseball terms?

About nine inches off the dirt, below the bottom of the strike zone and roughly level with a hitter’s ankles. Pitch height is measured where the ball crosses the plate, so 0.74 feet means the knuckle-curve had almost finished dropping when Ramirez reached it. Most low-pitch home runs are accidents of a swing plane meeting a sinking ball. This one was planned: Ramirez said through an interpreter that he was looking for a curveball for a strike and got his legs into the swing, the Associated Press reports. The series had already turned on Gavin Williams starting Game 5 a day after closing Game 4; Ramirez’s swing is the other half of that win, the only scoring in a 2-0 game.

Why does the tracking-era record matter?

Because it is a complete record, not a sampled one. Every pitch since 2008 has a measured height at the plate, so the claim covers 18 postseasons of home runs rather than the ones broadcasters happened to notice. Ramirez clearing that field is also a personal mark: it is the lowest pitch he has homered on in 14 big league seasons, the Associated Press reports. A hitter known for covering the whole zone, and for beating Chicago pitching dating back to the series opener Cleveland lost at home, now owns the extreme edge of it.

What was the game state when he hit it?

Scoreless, and Burke was perfect through three innings. The Chicago starter retired the first nine Cleveland hitters before Steven Kwan singled to open the fourth, the Associated Press reports. On the fifth pitch of the at-bat Ramirez lined the knuckle-curve just over the wall near the right-field line. Manager Stephen Vogt admitted he was wishing the ball away from right fielder Tristan Peters before it snuck out, and said going down to get it took power and strength. In a game where Cleveland’s pitchers struck out 21, those two runs were the whole margin.

Why did this swing land differently after his season?

Because Ramirez had spent 2026 looking diminished. A hamate injury held him to a .235 average, his lowest since 2015, and 12 home runs, his fewest since 2016, Sports Illustrated reports. He went hitless across the first two games of this series, both Cleveland losses. Then came extra-base hits in Game 3, a home run in Game 4, and the lowest-pitch home run on record in Game 5. The pattern across the last three games is the story the record sits inside: the franchise player returning to form in the exact week elimination games stacked up, the same October pattern that made the Mason Miller pitch-tipping row a series story in the other league.

What does a swing like that actually require?

Legs, not arms. A pitch nine inches off the ground cannot be reached with a normal swing path, so the hitter has to drop his hands and his back side together and drive upward through the ball, closer to a golf swing than a level cut. Ramirez’s own explanation points at exactly that, getting his legs into it. The risk is obvious: the same swing tops the ball into the dirt or misses entirely against a pitch that breaks later. That he committed to it on a 2-2 count, in an elimination game, against a starter who had not allowed a baserunner until that inning, is why the clip has travelled further than a normal go-ahead home run.

What happens next for Ramirez and Cleveland?

The ALCS at Tampa Bay from Monday, a series Cleveland reached as only the 11th team to win a best-of-five after trailing 2-0, and the fourth to do it after losing the first two at home, the Associated Press reports. Tampa Bay went 5-1 against the Guardians this season, including three shutouts. Ramirez’s pitch coverage is now a scouting problem with a new data point at the bottom of it: there is no safe low zone against him if nine inches off the ground is in range. How Tampa Bay pitches him, and whether MLB’s wider October arguments about format get a new exhibit, starts Monday night.