May 1B and DH Rankings
Welcome to the May first baseman and designated hitter rankings update. Players are ranked for the rest of the season based on a 5x5 scoring format. Included along with the position rankings is an updated top 300. Players are listed wherever they’re most valuable, so if you don’t see that third baseman you’re looking for, he’s probably listed at second or short.
Click to see other May rankings:
Top 300 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | DH
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First Baseman and Designated Hitter Rankings
May | First Base | Team | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Miguel Cabrera | Tigers | 1 |
2 | Jose Abreu | White Sox | 2 |
3 | Paul Goldschmidt | Diamondbacks | 4 |
4 | Edwin Encarnacion | Blue Jays | 3 |
5 | Anthony Rizzo | Cubs | 7 |
6 | Joey Votto | Reds | 11 |
7 | Adrian Gonzalez | Dodgers | 8 |
8 | Prince Fielder | Rangers | 5 |
9 | Albert Pujols | Angels | 6 |
10 | Eric Hosmer | Royals | 12 |
11 | Freddie Freeman | Braves | 9 |
12 | Lucas Duda | Mets | 14 |
1 DH | David Ortiz | Red Sox | 1 DH |
13 | Matt Adams | Cardinals | 13 |
14 | Victor Martinez | Tigers | 10 |
15 | Chris Carter | Astros | 2 DH |
16 | Joe Mauer | Twins | 16 |
17 | Adam LaRoche | White Sox | 17 |
18 | Brandon Belt | Giants | 15 |
19 | Justin Morneau | Rockies | 18 |
20 | Adam Lind | Brewers | 20 |
21 | Brandon Moss | Indians | 19 |
22 | Kendrys Morales | Royals | 24 |
23 | Mark Teixeira | Yankees | 28 |
24 | Billy Butler | Athletics | 21 |
25 | Mike Napoli | Red Sox | 22 |
26 | Logan Morrison | Mariners | 23 |
27 | Yonder Alonso | Padres | 30 |
28 | James Loney | Rays | 26 |
29 | Ike Davis | Athletics | 31 |
30 | Mark Canha | Athletics | 39 |
31 | Ryan Howard | Phillies | 25 |
32 | Steve Pearce | Orioles | 29 |
33 | Kyle Blanks | Rangers | 37 |
34 | Justin Smoak | Blue Jays | 32 |
35 | Nick Swisher | Indians | 33 |
36 | C.J. Cron | Angels | 34 |
2 DH | Kennys Vargas | Twins | 3 DH |
37 | Mitch Moreland | Rangers | 35 |
38 | Jon Singleton | Astros | 36 |
3 DH | Jesus Montero | Mariners | 7 DH |
39 | Garrett Jones | Yankees | 38 |
40 | Darin Ruf | Phillies | 42 |
Dropping off: Christian Walker (40th)
o The DHs are mixed in with the first basemen to better illustrate where they rank. Of course, Carter now qualifies at first, so he’s here naturally.
o If I was right about Rizzo not meeting some of those lofty offensive projections others gave him this year (a big if), I still might well be wrong about his fantasy value as a result of him suddenly becoming a basestealer. With six in April, he’s already topped my preseason projection of four steals.
o I’m not feeling great about the 15-25 area of the rankings. I pretty much opted to stick with the preseason alignment rather than blow things up, but there’s certainly a case for placing Morales and Teixeira higher. I’m just not ready to bail on Belt and Morneau as mixed-league CI guys because of bad Aprils. I don’t trust Teixeira to stay healthy or to mix in singles and doubles with his homers. I buy a little more into Morales’s quick start, but the entire Royals lineup is still going to cool off.
o It’s possible I have Victor about 10 spots too high as well. I’m hoping his power comes back the further removed he is from knee surgery, but there’s no evidence yet that it’s going to happen.
o It looks like Pearce is about to get second-base eligibility, which isn’t anything I anticipated ever writing. I was sour on his bat going in, and I’m not any higher on it now. However, he could quickly go back to being a fringe mixed-league guy as a middle infielder.
