Vladimir Guerrero Jr named in MLB Network's Top 5 first baseman for 2025

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had an impressive bounce back season with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2024, moving back up MLB Network's rankings of the top first basemen in the game today.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reestablished himself as one of the brightest stars in baseball last season, bolstering his reputation ahead of a critical 2025 campaign.

MLB Network continued its annual "Top 10 Players Right Now" series on Tuesday, tackling first basemen in the penultimate episode.

Past performance, advanced metrics, traditional stats and input from the MLB Network research team were all taken into account, resulting in Los Angeles Dodgers star Freddie Freeman claiming the top spot for the fifth time in six years.

The Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper and the Atlanta Braves' Matt Olson followed at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, before Guerrero Jr appeared at No. 4.

Guerrero Jr came in at No. 7 at the start of 2024, so his placement was an improvement year-over-year. He was ranked No. 3 in 2023, though, and No. 2 in 2022.

Guerrero Jr finished sixth in MVP balloting last season. In 159 games last season he raked at a .323/.396/.544 clip with 30 homers and 44 doubles, 103 RBI, a .940 OPS and a 6.2 WAR.

He made his fourth consecutive All-Star appearance, won his second career Silver Slugger and his numbers weren't too far off what he'd produced when he was runner-up behind Ohtani in MVP voting in 2021.

Guerrero is set to hit free agency next winter, unless he and the Blue Jays agree to a extension before Spring Training begins.

The 25-year-old is already making $28.5 million in 2025, which is the third-highest salary ever by an arbitration-eligible player.

If an extension can't be reached and the Blue Jays don't have confidence in their ability to build a winning club for 2025, it's easy to make the argument that the club should at least see what Guerrero could bring back on the trade market.

If they find an offer that eclipses the package the Padres received for Soto last winter, it's easy to imagine that greatly accelerating the Blue Jays return to competitiveness in a post-Guerrero era.

That would certainly be preferable to missing the playoffs again in 2025 with Guerrero Jr on the roster and losing him for nothing more than a compensatory draft pick in free agency next winter, though trading Guerrero before the season begins would make a playoff run this year all the more difficult to imagine.

The Blue Jays could also give themselves more time to make a decision by supplementing the roster further throughout the winter in an effort to compete this year and then re-evaluating at the trade deadline.

With that said, Guerrero Jr would surely be far less attractive as a trade candidate with just two months of team control remaining.

His impact for an acquiring club in 2025 would be reduced if they only had him for the stretch run, and perhaps more importantly it's all but impossible to imagine him entertaining an extension with a new club that close to free agency.

The star slugger is sure to garner a significantly larger return if traded before the season begins, but that would all but close the door on playoff baseball in Toronto this year.

Here is the full list of top 10 first basemen that MLB Network compiled for 2025:

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