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Early 2025 Fantasy Baseball First Baseman and DH Rankings

An All-Star break tradition, here are my mostly-for-fun 2025 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 contract options for next year have an asterisk included with their team names.

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Click to see other other preliminary 2025 rankings:

Top 300 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | DH

Early 2025 First Baseman and Designated Hitter rankings

2025First basemen/DHsTeam2024July
1 DHShohei OhtaniDodgers1 DH1 DH
1Freddie FreemanDodgers11
2Vladimir Guerrero Jr.Blue Jays33
3Bryce HarperPhillies42
4Matt OlsonBraves24
5Pete Alonso56
6Josh NaylorGuardians75
2 DHMarcell OzunaBraves*3 DH2 DH
7Spencer SteerReds1110
8Vinnie PasquantinoRoyals1211
3 DHKyle SchwarberPhillies23 OF16 OF
9Alec BohmPhillies179
10Christian Walker137
11Triston CasasRed Sox817
12Cody BellingerCubs*68
13Ryan MountcastleOrioles2015
14Yandy DiazRays1618
15Paul Goldschmidt912
16Christian Encarnacion-StrandReds10NR
17Jeimer CandelarioReds1514
18Salvador PerezRoyals2516
4 DHEloy JimenezWhite Sox*2 DH4 DH
19Luis ArraezPadres10 2B19
20Jake CronenworthPadres3321
5 DHJ.D. Martinez5 DH3 DH
21Rhys HoskinsBrewers*2120
22Michael BuschCubs23 3B26
23Spencer TorkelsonTigers1434
24Andrew VaughnWhite Sox1928
25Jake BurgerMarlins15 3B27
6 DHGiancarlo StantonYankees61 OF61 OF
26Tyler SoderstromAthletics12 DH39
7 DHJorge SolerGiants54 OF52 OF
27Josh Bell2629
28Nathaniel LoweRangers2424
8 DHKyle ManzardoGuardians38 1B57 1B
9 DHMasataka YoshidaRed Sox39 OF91 OF
29Ben RiceYankees59 C45
10 DHJoc PedersonDiamondbacks*78 OF79 OF
30Tyler BlackBrewers48 3B56
31Ryan O’HearnOrioles*3525
32Justin Turner2223
33DJ LeMahieuYankees3131
34Nolan SchanuelAngels3237
11 DHJonathan ArandaRays10 DHNR DH
35Anthony RizzoYankees*2350
36LaMonte Wade Jr.Giants3940
37Kris BryantRockies45 OF43
38Spencer HorwitzBlue Jays13 DH30
39Carlos Santana4135
40Michael TogliaRockies5942
41Deyvison De Los SantosDiamondbacks108 3B67 3B
42Luke RaleyMariners3736
43Gavin SheetsWhite Sox5744
44Ty FranceMariners2932
45J.D. Davis39 3B33
12 DHAndrew McCutchen8 DH10 DH
46Mauricio DubonAstros46 2B47
13 DHHarold RamirezNationals9 DH159 OF
47Rowdy Tellez3448
48Connor JoePirates5546
49Xavier IsaacRaysNRNR
50Tyler LocklearMariners76NR

  • There aren’t much in the way of changes at the top here. Pete Alonso’s free agent status has him a little higher in the top 300 than he might otherwise be. His road OPS is 76 points higher than his home OPS in his career, and it’s possible he’ll find himself somewhere better for offense than Citi Field next season.
  • 23rd for Spencer Torkelson? Maybe? I imagine the power will come back, but we’re talking about a bad defensive first baseman who has hit .235/.348/.441 in 109 career games in Triple-A and .218/.296/.386 in 323 games in the majors. It’s awfully difficult to project him as a star at this point. On the other hand, we already saw him hit 31 homers and drive in 94 runs at age 23; as long as he can hit .230, he should be adequate.
  • The DH field next season could be as crowded as it’s been in several years. One rather surprising name is Kyle Mazardo’s. Even though Josh Naylor is nothing special on defense, the Guardians didn’t have Manzardo start one game at first base during his six weeks with the club. I’m expecting Manzardo to be a starter against righties next year, but that the Guardians think so little of his defense gives me pause.