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Ranking MLB's Biggest Villains From Annoying to Infamous
Want to know why MLB is on a winning streak with viewership, attendance and so many other measurables? Well, for one thing, it's a golden age of superstars, and most of them command respect and admiration.
By comic-book logic, though, every good hero needs a good villain. While there aren't as many of those roaming around Gotham…er, your local ballpark as there used to be, they're still out there. Plotting. Scheming. Doing villain stuff.
So in keeping with the comic book theme, we've rounded up MLB's Sinister Six of bad guys and ranked them by just how bad they are.
These are the players modern baseball fans love to hate for the way they comport themselves. We're talking strictly as professionals here, so don't expect legal matters [gestures toward Emmanuel Clase] to creep into the conversation.
But first, some honorable mentions.
Everyone Needs to Move On
1 of 8
Jose Altuve, Houston Astros
Yeah, yeah. The banging scheme and alleged buzzer and all that. But all that was a long time ago, and it's all overblown as far as Altuve is concerned. The buzzer thing was a bunch of malarky and he mostly sat out the sign-stealing scheme.
Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies
Harper was deemed too cocky for his own good when he broke into MLB, and the word "overrated" stuck to him for a long time. Now he's a two-time MVP, future Hall of Famer and one with a lower profile these days.
Jurickson Profar, Atlanta Braves
This dude has been suspended for performance-enhancing drugs twice in two years. That's clown stuff. But he can't hurt anyone right now, and we can be real that journeymen like this getting caught with PEDs doesn't qualify as a "Say it ain't so, Joe" tragedy.
Anthony Rendon, Los Angeles Angels
Rendon's take on how unimportant baseball is to him was honest, if nothing else. But on top of all the other ways he rubbed people the wrong way, it didn't make him easier to root for. It's a net positive for MLB that he's functionally retired.
Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres
Uh oh. It's another PED suspendee, and this one was too reckless for his own good before that happened. But this was all years ago, and the Tatis who emerged from the wreckage is A) still a star and B) far from the center of the radar.
Everyone Needs to Chill
2 of 8
Randy Arozarena, Seattle Mariners
When it seemed as though everyone loved Cal Raleigh, Arozarena chewed his Mariners teammate out in profane fashion during the World Baseball Classic. It was out of nowhere, yet simultaneously in keeping with Arozarena's whole "DGAF" vibe.
Still, even the Raleigh thing turned out to be a nothingburger. And while not everyone is going to be on Arozarena's wavelength, the dude is harmless and generally fun to watch.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., New York Yankees
OK, maybe it was a bit much to give Chisholm the MLB The Show cover before he had truly achieved stardom. And yes, that he's somehow both extremely confident and overly sensitive makes for some confusing energy.
All the same, we come down on the side that Chisholm gets more hate than he deserves. Given their history of being straightlaced to an off-putting degree, it's also a net positive for baseball that someone like him plays for the Yankees.
Jacob Misiorowski, Milwaukee Brewers
Last year, Misiorowski committed stolen All-Star valor when he was named to the NL All-Star squad after just five starts. He also pitches with heightened emotions, which some see as an unforgivable sin.
But those people in the latter camp? Yeah, they need to get a life. It's also not as if "Miz" stomped and whined his way into an All-Star selection last year, and he's at least living up to the billing (2.84 ERA, 14.0 K/9) so far in 2026.
Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs and Cam Schlittler, New York Yankees
Why the two-for-one special? Well, even though PCA is from the Los Angeles area and Schlittler is from the Boston area, neither seems to have any special feelings for the baseball fans from where they used to call home.
Context matters, though. PCA is hardly the first to call out Dodgers fans for not caring about games. And when people are harassing your family, it's absolutely fair game to call them out on their bull-you-know-what.
6. Juan Soto, New York Mets
3 of 8
Charged With: Being a Massive Sellout
Look, sometimes selling out just means doing good business. And yes, this remark is directed at Seattle fans who are still miffed that Alex Rodriguez dared to take $252 million from the Texas Rangers back in 2000.
But Juan Soto leaving the Yankees for the Mets? Yeah, it's just a tad different.
He didn't leave over tens of millions of dollars. He left over $5 million and a luxury suite. And unlike Shohei Ohtani, he didn't defer a ton of money to make it easier for the Mets to build around him. He wanted his $765 million with no deferrals or any other strings attached, as if the bottom line was all that mattered.
Threat Level: 0/5
A sellout? In this economy? Psh, like anyone cares anymore. And besides, this feels like purely New York's problem and nobody else's.
Yankees fans clearly aren't happy with Soto for leaving, but that's something to be taken up with notorious penny-pincher Hal Steinbrenner. And if Mets fans are worried the team's $765 million bet on Soto is going bust, well, that's what happens when you go above Ohtani rates for a guy who, while great, is not Ohtani.
All this crud is palace intrigue and nothing more. Soto himself is doing nothing wrong. He's just hitting, as he always does.
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5. Rafael Devers, San Francisco Giants
4 of 8
Charged With: Being a Terrible Team Player
Rafael Devers is a Giant, yes. But even close to a year later, the dominant story of his career is how he burned bridges in Boston before he even left town.
After the Red Sox signed Gold Glove winner Alex Bregman, Devers made it clear that it was very much against his will that he was moving to DH. He then flat-out refused to play first base, leading the Red Sox to dump him on the Giants and hope he would be their problem.
And he has been. Even setting aside a 1.0 rWAR to show for 127 games as a Giant, he's made headlines by spurning team legends and the media alike. And all this with seven years and $225 million left on his contract.
Threat Level: 1/5
Let's cut Devers some slack here. What went down with the Red Sox was as much on the hopelessly tone-deaf Craig Breslow as it was on Devers. And the Will Clark thing, at least, was overblown.
One is nonetheless skeptical that Devers will get a warm welcome when he returns to Fenway Park in August. And whatever goodwill he had with the Giants upon arriving in San Francisco gets more and more spent as his numbers creep lower.
It's a bit soon to refer to Devers as a full-on pariah. But he is running headlong into his "stealing money" era, which is uncool even when the victim is worth $6 billion.
4. Manny Machado, San Diego Padres
5 of 8
Charged With: Being a Dirty Player and All-Round Menace
It was easier to make this charge stick back in the 2010s, when Manny Machado had such hits as:
Of course, this was all a long time ago. And by all accounts, Machado has gotten a lot more mature with age. Growth like that is not always visible, but it was on full display when he took Fernando Tatis Jr. to task for not playing baseball the right way back in 2021.
Threat Level: 2/5
Ah, but people aren't quick to forget stuff like that. And when the person in question can't bring himself to quit doing questionable things, people are liable to think they haven't changed.
It wasn't even two years ago that Machado threw a ball at the Dodgers' dugout that Dave Roberts thought was meant for him. At best, it was bush league. At worst, it for sure would have been dirty if he'd actually hit his former skipper.
All this puts Machado's reputation in an odd limbo. You can't assume he's going to do something shady, but you can't turn your back on him either.
3. Willson Contreras, Boston Red Sox
6 of 8
Charged With: Being a Serial Red Ass
You're not going to find "red ass" in any dictionary. It doesn't even have an official definition in the glossary of baseball terms, though Marc Carig of The Athletic gave it a good shot in 2019 as "a description of sudden rage."
In any case, this is the Willson Contreras experience in a nutshell.
No hitter likes to get hit by pitches, but going apoplectic when he gets hit is basically shtick for him at this point. Other excuses he has to go all the way off include calls he doesn't like and celebrations he thinks go too far.
Threat Level: 3/5
There's a line between merely having the ass and throwing down and kicking some ass, and Contreras hasn't crossed it… yet.
Seriously, don't put it past him. It was only a couple weeks ago that Contreras swore he would "take one of them out" if another Milwaukee Brewers pitcher ever hit him again. Unless his career ends this year, he'll get that chance eventually.
In the meantime, a more pressing question might be whether Contreras will cause a ruckus in his own clubhouse. It's not our business to label him a clubhouse cancer, but even softly tossing teammates under the bus to the media (and the Boston media, no less) is usually not a good idea.
2. Dalton Rushing, Los Angeles Dodgers
7 of 8
Charged With: Having Absolutely Zero Chill
Only 72 games into your big league career, and people already think you're a villain? Honestly, you have to hand it to Dalton Rushing for that.
He's done a little bit of everything to get this rep to a point where he already has a greatest hits catalog of aggressive moments. Most of it has consisted of running his mouth, though he also has one unambiguously dirty takeout slide on his ledger.
It's already damage control time for Rushing and the Dodgers. Freddie Freeman did his best to spin it to Fabian Ardaya and Katie Woo of The Athletic, saying: "He cares so much about wanting to be good, so you can't fault someone for that."
Threat Level: 4/5
Geez, I don't know, Freddie. Can't you fault someone for wanting to win when they go about it like this?
At the least, takeout slides like the one that landed Rushing in hot water in San Francisco are meant to be illegal, and for good reason. Those things can cause serious injuries, even career-ending ones.
While not everything Rushing has allegedly said can be confirmed, there's enough smoke to suggest his verbal tirades go beyond merely getting the red ass. Whether it's with other players or umpires, he (again, allegedly) goes well past expressing frustration and gets downright personal.
That his teammates are already having to answer for him shows this stuff has broken containment. That's how clocks on patience start ticking.
1. Framber Valdez, Detroit Tigers
8 of 8
Charged With: Throwing at Literally Everyone
He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. He doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop ever. Not until you are wearing a fastball.
Yeah, that's the original Terminator from 1984. And also Framber Valdez in 2026.
The guy threw at Trevor Story this week just because the two batters before him had both gone yard.* And last year, he pretended to get crossed up and threw a fastball at his own catcher following a grand slam.**
*Allegedly
**Also allegedly
Threat Level: 5/5
OK, fine. We can't prove that Valdez did those things on purpose. But all the evidence points to it. He didn't look like he cared about the pitch that hit his catcher, and the fastball that got Story is his one and only four-seamer of 2026. He's currently serving a five-game suspension for it.
If these acts were intentional, then we're dealing with a level of hotheadedness that was supposed to have been eradicated from pitchers. Pitchers today are largely wary of throwing at people on purpose, seemingly aware of both the foolishness of it and of the dangers inherent in wielding mid-90s velocity.
Valdez? Apparently not. If you're his manager, it means you might have to take the fall for him. If you're anyone else, it means you'd better be on guard.
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
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