Ramírez, Clase recognized with All-MLB First Team nods

CLEVELAND — Once again, José Ramírez and Emmanuel Clase have taken home All-MLB honors. But this time, they raised the bar.

The All-MLB First and Second Teams presented by MGM Rewards were announced on MLB Network on Thursday evening, with Ramírez being named the First Team third baseman and Clase joining Ryan Helsley as the First Team relievers. Last year, both Ramírez and Clase were named to the Second Team.

“José and Clase, they’re our best two players,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said during the American League Division Series. “They have been all year.”

The results wouldn’t be too surprising for Guardians fans. But if you missed the voting period, here’s how it worked: 69 position players and 46 pitchers were divided into their respective positions to be placed on a ballot for fans to vote for the All-MLB First and Second Teams.

Ramírez was a finalist as a third baseman, Clase as a reliever, Josh Naylor as a first baseman, Andrés Giménez as a second baseman and rookie Cade Smith as a reliever. Fans were asked to only consider players’ regular-season performances when voting. Half of the vote came from fan picks and the other 50 percent came from a panel of experts.

This marks the third consecutive year that Clase was named to the All-MLB team. After a stellar 42-save, 1.36 ERA season in 2022, he was a First Teamer. Because his number of blown saves escalated in ’23, he slipped to the Second Team. But his utter dominance during the regular season in ’24 made him a no-doubt choice for First Team once again.

In his third straight All-Star season, Clase owned a 0.61 ERA (that’s just five earned runs in 74 1/3 innings) with an American League best 47 saves and only three blown saves during the regular season. His efforts earned him the AL Reliever of the Year Award, as well as the rare distinction of being a finalist for the AL Cy Young Award as a relief pitcher.

“The thing I love about Emmanuel is he doesn’t care if they score. He just wants to get the win,” Vogt said. “He doesn’t care when he pitches, he just wants to pitch. … Emmanuel has been lock down all year. He’s been nearly perfect.”

For Ramírez, a chase for a 40-40-40 season helped him stand out from all the rest. He came up one double and one homer short of the historic mark and didn’t even have a full chance to reach it, considering Game 162 was canceled due to poor weather. But still, a .279 average, .872 OPS, 39 doubles, 39 homers, 118 RBIs, 41 steals, 54 walks and just 82 strikeouts was more than enough for him to be named the best third baseman in the game.

“It’s impossible to overstate what José means to not just our team but our organization,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said. “He’s a consistent MVP caliber performer, but beyond that, he’s an MVP caliber leader.”

All-MLB honors began in 2019 in an effort to recognize the best player or players at each position across the Majors over the previous season. Since it was established, Cleveland has had five players named to either First Team or Second Team, with some collecting multiple titles.

First TeamShane Bieber, 2020Emmanuel Clase, 2022 and ’24José Ramírez, 2024

Second TeamJosé Ramírez, 2020Brad Hand, 2020Andrés Giménez, 2022José Ramírez, 2023Emmanuel Clase, 2023

It was a long wait for Ramírez to finally claim his First Team spot, but the Guardians had no doubt he’d get there.“He’s a dream as a manager,” Vogt said. “What José Ramírez did for us this year was the most fun thing to watch that I’ve ever experienced in 162 games. He’s a special, elite talent and the whole league knows it. Everybody just cherishes what José Ramírez brings to Cleveland and the game of baseball as a whole.”