I'm almost positive that MC only supports play stats and ratings from iPods.
I haven't checked if the functionality actually works, but the "Get Play Stats from Handheld on Connect" setting is available for my Android phone, so theoretically if I use an App on my phone to rate songs, MC should pick up the ratings on the next handheld sync. If the App also updates the play count, then MC would pick that up as well. I can't test this as my Sony Music player doesn't support rating or play count updates.
I think an Android phone is probably the best replacement for an iPod Classic. At least Android is supported and will be into the future, there are lots of players available for it one or more of which may update play stats, and capacity is really no issue these days as SD Cards get bigger and bigger.
Android is where I would be looking. Just do your research on what will and what won't work first.
Other than an Android phone, or an Android powered device, Pono is dead but there are some high end, expensive music players still out there, last time I looked.
Note: The Handheld Sync functionality is now working in MC24 64bit, but there are still a few anomalies in how it works. But if you were happy with the functionality with an iPod Classic, you should be happy with it for an Android device. I think. Each device type functions just a little bit differently.