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 | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | Blue Jays | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Freddie Freeman | Dodgers | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Pete Alonso | Mets | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | Paul Goldschmidt | Cardinals | 5 | 3 |
| DH 1 | Shohei Ohtani | Angels | DH 1 | DH 1 |
| 5 | Matt Olson | Braves | 3 | 5 |
| 6 | Josh Bell | 7 | 6 | |
| 7 | Rhys Hoskins | Phillies | 6 | 8 |
| 8 | Andrew Vaughn | White Sox | n/a | 16 |
| 9 | C.J. Cron | Rockies | 9 | 7 |
| 10 | Jose Abreu | 8 | 9 | |
| DH 2 | Franmil Reyes | Guardians | DH 2 | 34 OF |
| 11 | Ty France | Mariners | 18 | 12 |
| 12 | Anthony Rizzo | Yankees* | 17 | 10 |
| 13 | Luis Arraez | Twins | n/a | 15 |
| 14 | Vinnie Pasquantino | Royals | 60 | 26 |
| 15 | DJ LeMahieu | Yankees | 13 | 14 |
| 16 | Ryan Mountcastle | Orioles | 11 | 20 |
| 17 | Jake Cronenworth | Padres | 10 | 13 |
| DH 3 | Nelson Cruz | Nationals* | DH 3 | DH 2 |
| 18 | Alex Kirilloff | Twins | 20 | 21 |
| 19 | Trey Mancini | 23 | 19 | |
| 20 | Josh Naylor | Guardians | n/a | 28 |
| 21 | Jared Walsh | Angels | 16 | 17 |
| 22 | Nathaniel Lowe | Rangers | 19 | 22 |
| 23 | Rowdy Tellez | Brewers | 26 | 25 |
| 24 | Spencer Torkelson | Tigers | 25 | 36 |
| 25 | Luke Voit | Padres | 22 | 31 |
| DH 4 | Edwin Rios | Dodgers | 41 | 67 |
| 26 | Joey Votto | Reds | 12 | 18 |
| DH 5 | Mitch Garver | Rangers | 7 C | 33 C |
| 27 | Brandon Belt | 21 | 30 | |
| 28 | Bobby Dalbec | Red Sox | 15 | 32 |
| 29 | Garrett Cooper | Marlins | n/a | 27 |
| 30 | Eric Hosmer | Padres* | 28 | 29 |
| 31 | Christian Walker | Diamondbacks | 44 | 24 |
| 32 | Connor Joe | Rockies | n/a | 33 |
| 33 | Jurickson Profar | Padres* | 45 | 34 |
| 34 | Jose Miranda | Twins | n/a | 60 |
| 35 | Nick Pratto | Royals | 36 | 65 |
| 36 | Wilmer Flores | 39 | 41 | |
| DH 6 | Matt Carpenter | NR | 57 2B | |
| 37 | Yandy Díaz | Rays | 38 | 53 |
| 38 | Jesus Aguilar | 33 | 43 | |
| 39 | Keston Hiura | Brewers | 42 | 48 |
| 40 | Triston Casas | Red Sox | 52 | 72 |
| 41 | Ji-Man Choi | Rays | 59 | 50 |
| 42 | Yuli Gurriel | 29 | 38 | |
| 43 | Franchy Cordero | Red Sox | n/a | 46 |
| 44 | Hunter Dozier | Royals | n/a | 56 |
| DH 7 | Miguel Cabrera | Tigers | 48 | 55 |
| 45 | Carlos Santana | 46 | 61 | |
| 46 | Miguel Sano | Twins* | 31 | 74 |
| 47 | Mike Moustakas | Reds | n/a | 57 |
| 48 | Darin Ruf | Giants | 32 | 47 |
| 49 | Seth Brown | Athletics | n/a | 45 |
| 50 | Dominic Smith | Mets | n/a | 66 |
| 51 | Cavan Biggio | Blue Jays | n/a | 51 |
| 52 | Owen Miller | Guardians | n/a | 52 |
| 53 | Harold Castro | Tigers | n/a | 69 |
| 54 | Frank Schwindel | Cubs | 27 | 58 |
| DH 8 | Darick Hall | Phillies | NR | NR |
| DH 9 | Seth Beer | Diamondbacks | DH 5 | DH4 |
| 55 | Colin Moran | 35 | 73 | |
| 56 | Spencer Horwitz | Blue Jays | NR | NR |
| 57 | Alfonso Rivas | Cubs | n/a | 71 |
| DH 10 | Daniel Vogelbach | Pirates | 51 | 76 |
| DH 11 | Yermin Mercedes | Giants | DH 8 | NR |
| 58 | Jordan Díaz | Athletics | NR | NR |
| 59 | Michael Chavis | Pirates | n/a | 75 |
| 60 | Evan White | 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.
