Jose Ramirez is on the verge of his 14th season with the Cleveland Guardians. For most of that time, he has been one of the best players in baseball, and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.
Coming off back-to-back 30-30 seasons and his latest top-three finish in the voting for AL MVP, Ramirez is expected to pick up right where he left off, as long as a minor spring training injury doesn’t get in the way. The third baseman will be aiming for another All-Star appearance and a return trip to the playoffs.
With that in mind, Ramirez has earned a major nod from Bleacher Report, which put him at No. 10 in their ranking of the top 25 MLB players for 2026.
“Despite not having a ton of other impact offensive players around him in Cleveland, Jose Ramirez continues to march towards the Hall of Fame. The six-time Silver Slugger Award winner signed a new seven-year, $175 million contract this offseason that will keep him with the Guardians through the 2032 season, which means there’s a pretty good shot he’ll spend his entire illustrious career in Cleveland,” Tim Kelly wrote.
A seven-time All-Star and six-time Silver Slugger winner, Ramirez has never been awarded AL MVP despite being one of the most popular vote-getters in history. Last season, he was third behind Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh, after finishing fifth in 2024.
His attempt to finally capture the honor could be compromised a bit by an injury he suffered in a spring training game against the Athletics. When stealing third base, he jammed his shoulder, but manager Stephen Vogt has deemed it as nothing serious.
However, a shoulder injury could be detrimental to a batter, specifically when it comes to power, which could turn out to be a struggle as Ramirez undoubtedly will try to play through it. If he also limits his stolen base attempts, it could cost him another 30-30 season, which, if accomplished, would make him the only player other than Barry Bonds to reach that mark in three straight years.
More optimistically, Ramirez has played in at least 152 games in each of the past five seasons. In that time, he has never hit fewer than 24 home runs or stolen fewer than 20 bases, and the Guardians have made the playoffs three times.
So, based on that consistency alone, Ramirez is again likely to find himself right where Bleacher Report expects, which is among the top players in the game.
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