Here is the May edition of my rest-of-season position rankings and overall top 300 for 5x5 leagues. As you might have noticed, the weekly Strike Zone is off the menu for load management reasons this year. However, I plan to continue to present monthly rankings updates in this spot.
As always, players are ranked by position and then combined into an overall top 300 list.
Click to see other May rankings:
Top 300 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C
First Baseman and Designated Hitter Rankings
| May | First basemen | Team | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | Blue Jays | 1 |
| DH 1 | Shohei Ohtani | Angels | DH 1 |
| 2 | Freddie Freeman | Dodgers | 2 |
| 3 | Matt Olson | Braves | 3 |
| DH 2 | Bryce Harper | Phillies | DH 2 |
| 4 | Pete Alonso | Mets | 4 |
| 5 | Paul Goldschmidt | Cardinals | 5 |
| 6 | Nathaniel Lowe | Rangers | 6 |
| 7 | Vinnie Pasquantino | Royals | 8 |
| 8 | C.J. Cron | Rockies | 9 |
| 9 | Ryan Mountcastle | Orioles | 10 |
| 10 | Anthony Rizzo | Yankees | 13 |
| 11 | Andrew Vaughn | White Sox | 12 |
| 12 | Luis Arraez | Marlins | 15 |
| 13 | Miguel Vargas | Dodgers | 11 |
| 14 | Alec Bohm | Phillies | n/a |
| 15 | Yandy Díaz | Rays | n/a |
| 16 | Rowdy Tellez | Brewers | 18 |
| DH 3 | J.D. Martinez | Dodgers | DH 3 |
| 17 | Josh Bell | Guardians | 14 |
| 18 | Jose Abreu | Astros | 7 |
| 19 | Ty France | Mariners | 19 |
| 20 | Jose Miranda | Twins | 16 |
| 21 | Josh Naylor | Guardians | 20 |
| 22 | Jake Cronenworth | Padres | 21 |
| 23 | Wil Myers | Reds | 17 |
| 24 | Justin Turner | Red Sox | n/a |
| 25 | DJ LeMahieu | Yankees | 24 |
| 26 | Joey Gallo | Twins | n/a |
| 27 | Christian Walker | Diamondbacks | 25 |
| 28 | Tyler Stephenson | Reds | n/a |
| 29 | Triston Casas | Red Sox | 22 |
| 30 | Joey Meneses | Nationals | 23 |
| 31 | Matt Mervis | Cubs | 40 |
| 32 | Seth Brown | Athletics | 26 |
| 33 | Spencer Torkelson | Tigers | 27 |
| 34 | Spencer Steer | Reds | n/a |
| 35 | Jared Walsh | Angels | 34 |
| 36 | LaMonte Wade Jr. | Giants | 41 |
| 37 | Harold Ramirez | Rays | 38 |
| 38 | Brandon Drury | Angels | 30 |
| 39 | Isaac Paredes | Rays | 32 |
| 40 | Gio Urshela | Angels | n/a |
| 41 | Garrett Cooper | Marlins | 33 |
| 42 | Carlos Santana | Pirates | 44 |
| 43 | Christian Bethancourt | Rays | 43 |
| 44 | Ryan Noda | Athletics | 49 |
| 45 | Trey Mancini | Cubs | 28 |
| 46 | Joey Votto | Reds | 35 |
| 47 | Eric Hosmer | Cubs | 31 |
| 48 | Luke Raley | Rays | n/a |
| 49 | Harold Castro | Rockies | 29 |
| DH 4 | Mitch Garver | Rangers | DH 7 |
| 50 | Kyle Manzardo | Rays | 55 |
| 51 | Matt Carpenter | Padres | DH 12 |
| 52 | Connor Joe | Pirates | 59 |
| 53 | Wilmer Flores | Giants | 39 |
| 54 | Nick Pratto | Royals | 56 |
| 55 | Dominic Smith | Nationals | 36 |
| 56 | Brandon Belt | Blue Jays | 37 |
| DH 5 | Nelson Cruz | Padres | DH 6 |
| 57 | Keston Hiura | Brewers | 42 |
| 58 | Darick Hall | Phillies | DH 5 |
| 59 | Mike Moustakas | Rockies | 45 |
| 60 | Jake Bauers | Yankees | NR |
| DH 6 | Mark Vientos | Mets | DH 15 |
| 61 | Luke Voit | Brewers | 47 |
| DH 7 | Kyle Lewis | Diamondbacks | DH 10 |
| 62 | Donovan Solano | Twins | 53 |
| DH 8 | Daniel Vogelbach | Mets | DH 17 |
| DH 9 | Edwin Rios | Cubs | DH 11 |
Dropping off: Bobby Dalbec (46th), Miguel Sano (48th), Ji-Man Choi (50th), Hunter Dozier (51st)
- Unless playing time is an issue, it’s pretty unlike me to simply give up on a veteran hitter after a bad month. Jose Abreu, though, had about as discouraging of an April as one could imagine. There’s been a little bad luck involved, what with him having five barrels and no homers, but his contact has just been so much weaker than usual. His average exit velocity, forever in the 92 mph range, is at 87 mph right now. If he were 30, I’d probably be inclined to bet on a rebound. At age 36, though, it just doesn’t seem as likely. As a result, I’ve dropped him from seventh to 18th here.
- The Cubs simply have too many hitters right now, with Matt Mervis, Christopher Morel and Nelson Velazquez all making strong cases for playing time. I imagine they won’t wait too much longer to replace Eric Hosmer with Mervis. It’s not that Hosmer is completely hopeless, but Mervis just doesn’t have anything left to prove in the minors. He has a .987 OPS in Triple-A this year after coming in at .977 in 57 games at the level last season.
