Cleveland Baseball Insider

This Is Where MLB Network Has Jose Ramirez Ranked Among Second Basemen

MLB Network ranks Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez as the second-best third baseman in baseball.

Tommy Wild

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Out of all of the positions in Major League Baseball, third base arguably has the most star power on it. There's no shortage of talent from Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado, Rafael Devers, and Cleveland's own Jose Ramirez.

MLB Network went through and voted on who they think the best this baseman is heading into the 2023 season and these are the rankings they came up with:

There are certainly some other question marks where they ranked some of the players on the list, or don't have some players ranked at all. However, let's just look at this from a Guardians perspective.

Ramirez coming in as the second-best third baseman is quite respectable when looking at the other names on that list. He's one of the most consistent hitters in baseball and is also an underrated defender as well.

Last season, Ramirez slashed .280/.355/.514 with 29 home runs and a career-high 126 RBI. He finished fourth in the MVP voting and was one of the main reasons that the Guardians surprised so many people and took the American League Central crown.

Jose was also dealing with a torn ligament in his thumb for half of last season and was still able to produce at an All-Star level. That's a great sign that he could come out and take the MVP in 2023. This is a prediction the MLB Network has already foreshadowed themselves. 

Machado's stats are very comparable to Ramirez's. However, there is one area that the Padres' third baseman has Jose beat and that's in the power department. Manny slugged a .531 compared to Jose's .514 and Machado also hit more home runs than Ramirez did.

I would still argue that Jose Ramirez is the best third baseman in baseball, but I also recognize a case for Machado too.

Cleveland fans may recognize another name on their top 10 list as well. Formed Cleveland prospect Yandy Diaz comes in at number nine. 

Diaz started his career with the then-Indians before being traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for Jake Bauers. That trade clearly wasn't one of the best deals the Cleveland front office has worked out, but it's good to see Yandy playing well. 

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Tommy Wild
TOMMY WILD

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