Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez missed out on winning a Gold Glove Award in 2025, but was it the right decision?
Jose Ramirez has been named an All-Star multiple times throughout his career, has multiple Silver Sluggers on his resume, and has even been named to multiple All-MLB teams.
Even with all of those accolades, there’s still one achievement that the Cleveland Guardians superstar is waiting to win, and that’s a Gold Glove award for his defensive efforts at third base.
Ramirez was named a finalist for the award in 2025, but unfortunately, he will have to wait another year to win it, as Kansas City Royals’ Maikel Garcia took home the award for American League third baseman.
As sports fans, it’s easy to look at an outcome and argue that the player they've watched all year is more deserving of an award than a player on a rival team.
While it could be easy to say the same thing about this situation, even for how good of a defensive season Ramirez has at third base, Garcia is more than deserving of winning the Gold Glove for the position.
Sep 21, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Cleveland Guardians third base Jose Ramirez (11) fields a ball hit by Minnesota Twins second base Luke Keaschall (not shown) in the second inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn ImagesTo start, in one of the most valuable defensive stats, defensive runs saved, Garcia was miles ahead of Ramirez. The Royals' third baseman registered 13 DRS, while Ramirez was even with zero DRS.
Other models favor Ramirez’s defense more. For example, Baseball Savant ranks him in the 93rd percentile in outs above average and the 82nd percentile in fielding runs value. Still, the model paints Garcia in a better light, ranked in the 97th percentile in OAA and the 97th percentile in fielding run value.
Ramirez had a great defensive season, but Garcia’s was simply better.
With Ramirez turning 33 years old a month ago, there’s a valid question of whether he will ever win a Gold Glove.
Father Time is undefeated, and one of the skills that starts to fade for players is their defense. Ramirez had a great year at the hot corner, but at some point, it’s incredible that his defensive ability will not be the same.
Hopefully, Ramirez will get to say at some point during his playing career that he is a Gold Glove winner, but for now, that must wait.