Ramos credits health as biggest factor for chart-topping season

Daniel Murphy has been the best hitter in the National League all season. Murphy took home July Player of the Month thanks to his .372 average with 12 doubles, six homers, 26 RBIs and a 1.144 OPS in the seventh month of the year. Murphy was also NL Player of the Month in May.

But neck and neck with Murphy atop the NL in batting average all season has been catcher Wilson Ramos (.358 to .331).

Ramos' splits in July have been good as well. The Venezuelan catcher hit .291 with four doubles, three homers, 10 RBIs and a .793 OPS in 23 games (21 starts) in July.

If you go back to June, Ramos' numbers match Murphy for July: .364 average, with six doubles, six homers, 19 RBIs and a 1.053 OPS.

"I'm very pleased (with) the way I've been hitting." Ramos said to reporters through interpreter Octavio Martinez Tuesday in Phoenix. "I've worked a lot to try to stay patient and focused at the plate, especially with runners in scoring position. And it seems like this year it's been helping out. I've been trying to concentrate with runners in scoring position on hitting the ball up the middle, and it's been working out very well for me this season.

"I'd like to continue and help the team any way possible. That's been one of my big things, my concentration level with runners in scoring position and where I'm trying to hit the ball."

On Tuesday, Ramos went 2-for-5 with a homer, a run scored and three RBIs in the Nationals' 10-4 win over the Diamondbacks. The 16 homers match his career high from 2013. He has had at least 15 homers in four of his last six seasons.

"I'm telling you, Ramos has been a godsend," said manager Dusty Baker to the media after Tuesday's game in Arizona. "He feels good about himself and I can't imagine not having Ramos because he's figured it out. And it's taken some time. It takes some time sometimes.

"Not everybody figures it out at the same rate or the same pace. And so I'm hoping that we try to do something with Ramos here. I'm hoping we do something with big Ramos here to retain him soon."

Baker brought it up. Ramos is a free agent in 2017. He is signed through 2016 at $5.35 million. He turns 29 next Wednesday. Ramos has been rejuvenated by LASIK eye surgery. His offense is much better and his defense has improved with fewer dropped balls from the outfield. He has committed only three errors and his fielding percentage is .996.

Ramos is tough, taking a foul tip Tuesday hit so hard, it broke his gold chain.

"Yes, it broke it," Ramos said via Martinez to reporters. "And that's one of the reasons I stayed on the ground so long. I was trying to pull it off of me. Obviously it hurt, I felt like it cut me a little bit. It was stinging. But the main reason was I was trying to take it off my neck because I realized I had broken it."

Ramos does all this as the team's catcher, involved in every pitch and guiding every pitcher through the ups and downs of each start, crouching down for each 97 mph fastball and blocking breaking pitches that dive into the dirt.

Nationals starter Tanner Roark says the pitchers realize what Ramos has to go through in every game.

"Oh, we notice," Roark said to reporters. "He gets it at least once hard every single game and he's a warrior, he's a big buffalo. That's why they call him Buffalo.

"He's out there and he's grinding and he's doing his job, and everybody notices it and everybody knows how hard he's playing. Just pick him up whenever he gets a good one across the arm or whatever, but he's a warrior."

There is no catcher in the Nats system who is playing at the level of Ramos right now. Pedro Severino and Spencer Kieboom, even Randy Raudy, Tres Barrera or Jakson Reetz, are all good or have the potential to be good.

But Ramos is in a different league, literally. And maybe at no time in his career has Ramos' offense and defense both been at an All-Star caliber at the same time.

"He's focusing on both aspects of the game," Roark said. "Especially catching, which is the biggest part for pitchers, his defense and his pitch calling has worked very, very well. Keep using it and you see the pitch that you have in mind and then he puts it down and its like, 'OK lets do this thing.' It gives you more confidence out there on the mound."

In the end, Ramos believes that being able to play almost every day has been the key to his consistency at the plate.

"The biggest thing is I've been able to stay healthy, and that's helped this season and the numbers I've been able to put up," Ramos said through Martinez. "I think that was the biggest different from previous years. I'm able to stay on the field, help the team any way I can. I'd like to continue any way to help the team moving forward."