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2023 First Baseman and DH Rankings
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- Paul GoldschmidtLiveTodayTomorrowvs--|
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Up this week are my mostly-for-fun 2023 player rankings. I’ve done my best to list players where they’ll be 20-game eligible next year, and the free agents-to-be are listed without teams. Players with options for next year are still listed with their current teams if those options have a legitimate chance of being exercised. Those players are noted with asterisks.
Click to see other other preliminary 2023 rankings:
Top 300 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | DH
First Baseman and Designated Hitter rankings
2023 | First basemen | Team | 2022 | July |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Blue Jays | 1 | 1 | |
2 | 2 | 2 | ||
3 | Mets | 4 | 4 | |
4 | Cardinals | 5 | 3 | |
DH 1 | Angels | DH 1 | DH 1 | |
5 | Braves | 3 | 5 | |
6 | 7 | 6 | ||
7 | Phillies | 6 | 8 | |
8 | n/a | 16 | ||
9 | Rockies | 9 | 7 | |
10 | 8 | 9 | ||
DH 2 | Guardians | DH 2 | 34 OF | |
11 | Mariners | 18 | 12 | |
12 | 17 | 10 | ||
13 | Twins | n/a | 15 | |
14 | Royals | 60 | 26 | |
15 | Yankees | 13 | 14 | |
16 | Orioles | 11 | 20 | |
17 | Padres | 10 | 13 | |
DH 3 | Nationals* | DH 3 | DH 2 | |
18 | Twins | 20 | 21 | |
19 | 23 | 19 | ||
20 | Guardians | n/a | 28 | |
21 | Angels | 16 | 17 | |
22 | Rangers | 19 | 22 | |
23 | Brewers | 26 | 25 | |
24 | Tigers | 25 | 36 | |
25 | Padres | 22 | 31 | |
DH 4 | Dodgers | 41 | 67 | |
26 | Reds | 12 | 18 | |
DH 5 | Rangers | 7 C | 33 C | |
27 | 21 | 30 | ||
28 | 15 | 32 | ||
29 | Marlins | n/a | 27 | |
30 | Padres* | 28 | 29 | |
31 | 44 | 24 | ||
32 | Rockies | n/a | 33 | |
33 | Padres* | 45 | 34 | |
34 | Twins | n/a | 60 | |
35 | Royals | 36 | 65 | |
36 | 39 | 41 | ||
DH 6 | NR | 57 2B | ||
37 | Rays | 38 | 53 | |
38 | 33 | 43 | ||
39 | Brewers | 42 | 48 | |
40 | Red Sox | 52 | 72 | |
41 | Rays | 59 | 50 | |
42 | 29 | 38 | ||
43 | Red Sox | n/a | 46 | |
44 | Royals | n/a | 56 | |
DH 7 | Tigers | 48 | 55 | |
45 | 46 | 61 | ||
46 | Twins* | 31 | 74 | |
47 | Reds | n/a | 57 | |
48 | Giants | 32 | 47 | |
49 | Athletics | n/a | 45 | |
50 | Mets | n/a | 66 | |
51 | Blue Jays | n/a | 51 | |
52 | Guardians | n/a | 52 | |
53 | Tigers | n/a | 69 | |
54 | Cubs | 27 | 58 | |
DH 8 | Phillies | NR | NR | |
DH 9 | Diamondbacks | DH 5 | DH4 | |
55 | 35 | 73 | ||
56 | Spencer Horwitz | Blue Jays | NR | NR |
57 | Cubs | n/a | 71 | |
DH 10 | Pirates | 51 | 76 | |
DH 11 | Giants | DH 8 | NR | |
58 | Athletics | NR | NR | |
59 | Pirates | n/a | 75 | |
60 | Mariners | NR | NR |
I have 11 designated hitters listed here, though not all will necessarily be locked into that spot. Franmil Reyes has made 11 outfielder appearances this season and he has a decent chance of gaining 20-game eligibility. Matt Carpenter might also wind up making enough starts at a position to avoid the DH fate, though that would probably necessitate an IL stint for one of the infielders ahead of him in New York.
Vinnie Pasquantino is off to a .203/.313/.347 start in 20 major league games, but his exit velocity numbers are far, far better. In fact, he has the fourth-best average exit velocity (95 mph) and 37th-best barrel rate (13.8%) of the 418 major leaguers with at least 50 batted-ball events. He’s a strong 14th here for 2023.
The Tigers just sent down Spencer Torkelson, something they would have been justified in doing a couple of months ago. I don’t think there are any fatal flaws here, though his star potential seems blunted at the moment. For what it’s worth, Statcast gave him an xBA of .235 and xSLG of .392, which were nice improvements on his actual marks of .197 and .295. His contact numbers and exit velocities were both pretty good for a 22-year-old with only one season of minor league experience. I don’t think he’ll bust out as a fantasy stud next year, but I’m guessing that he will have a little mixed-league value.
