Cleveland Guardians 3B Jose Ramírez has thumb surgery to repair ligament

CLEVELAND -- - Cleveland Guardians All-Star third baseman José Ramírez underwent thumb surgery Wednesday to repair a ligament that he tore in June.

Ramírez will need up to two months to recover from the operation before he can resume baseball activities. The team expects him to be ready for the start of spring training.

Ramírez's procedure was performed by hand specialist Dr. Thomas Graham at Dayton's Kettering Health.

The 30-year-old Ramírez batted .280 with 29 home runs and 126 RBI - second-most in the AL behind Yankees slugger Aaron Judge - despite dealing with the injury. He could have had the surgery in July, but decided to delay it until after the season - and then helped the young Guardians win the AL Central.

Ramírez led the league with 44 doubles and was intentionally walked an AL-high 20 times.

The Dominican Republic native signed a seven-year, $141 million contract with Cleveland on the eve of opening day. A four-time All-Star, he has finished in the top three in MVP voting three times.

------

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP--Sports