Vladimir Guerrero Jr. listed in surprising spot in new hitter power rankings

At this point, it seems clear that the narrative surrounding a long-term contract for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will continue to hang over the Toronto Blue Jays until pen is put to paper. Whichever side you align yourself with, the story is going to attract local and national media attention regardless of how the season unfolds for the Blue Jays

On the baseball side of things, the upcoming season is an extremely important one for Vladimir Guerrero. After a strong showing last year, the Jays slugger will be looking to put together another strong season in the hopes netting a record payday.

But with Guerrero staring down the barrel of that record payday, it's now on MLB evaluators to figure out how good Guerrero is compared to his colleagues. His new placement in a power ranking of baseball's best hitters provides some insight into how he stacks up against baseball's best.

In a new iteration of MLB.com's hitter power rankings, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was voted as Major League Baseball's sixth-best hitter. As pointed out by writer Andrew Simon, Guerrero's coming off an increidble season that could have been even better if not for an underwhelming first month.

"Even his strong 2024 was slowed by a tough start, but after bottoming out with a .643 OPS through April 26, Guerrero slashed .346/.412/.588 over the rest of the season, with 27 homers and 93 RBIs in 132 games" Simon wrote.

Guerrero slashed 323/.396/.544 with 30 home runs, 103 RBIs, 98 runs scored and a .940 OPS in what was a fantastic season where he finished in sixth place for voting for the American League's Most Valuable Player award.

Finishing in sixth in the new hitter power rankings is nothing to sneeze at due of the amount of elite hitters in baseball today. Guerrero is a very solid baseball player, but there are still someone other hitters who perform at a slightly higher rate. Having said that, his placement in front of Cleveland's José Ramírez and Baltimore's Gunnar Henderson does raise a few eyebrows.

Ramírez is a phenomenal player. Nobody ever says a bad word about the guy and he signed a longterm contract in Cleveland before the 2022 season. Ramírez has been playing longer than Guerrero, but is still averaging nearly 2 bWAR higher per full season than Guerrero (5.8 vs 4.3).

Even at the ripe old age of 32, Ramirez is showing little signs of decline, as he just concluded an All-Star and Silver Slugger year along with having his third Top-5 MVP finish.

Henderson is a shining star and the prized gem of Baltimore's rebuild. Henderson will be turning 24 this season and has played two seasons with the Orioles.

In 2024, Henderson posted a ridiculous b9.1 WAR with an .893 OPS while swatting 37 home runs and stealing 21 bases. Similar to Guerrero, Henderson will be hitting free agency at a great time and should be rewarded handsomely with his next contract.

Jays fans want to see Guerrero perform well this season, and he should have plenty of motivation in his walk year. Guerrero's already been good in his career, but should be even better this year thanks to the chip on his shoulder.

That motivation should behoove Toronto to make an effort to lock him up now. While these hitter power rankings are sure to fluctuate over the course of the regular season, it's a certainty that Guerrero will remain an above-average hitter. His best season came in 2021 when he finished as a runner-up for MVP.

Will he be able to do even better than this year?