2024 First Baseman and DH Rankings

An All-Star break tradition, here are my mostly-for-fun 2024 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.

Click to see other other preliminary 2024 rankings:
Top 300 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | DH

First Baseman and Designated Hitter rankings

2024	First Basemen	Team	2023	July
1 DH	Shohei Ohtani		1 DH	1 DH
1	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	Blue Jays	1	2
2	Freddie Freeman	Dodgers	2	1
3	Matt Olson	Braves	3	3
4	Bryce Harper	Phillies	2 DH	2 DH
5	Pete Alonso	Mets	4	4
6	Paul Goldschmidt	Cardinals	5	5
7	Nathaniel Lowe	Rangers	6	6
2 DH	Byron Buxton	Twins	16 OF	27 OF
8	Yandy Diaz	Rays	26 3B	7
9	Ryan Mountcastle	Orioles	10	13
10	Nolan Jones	Rockies	78 OF	18
11	Andrew Vaughn	White Sox	12	15
3 DH	J.D. Martinez		3 DH	3 DH
12	Spencer Steer	Reds	33 3B	11
13	Anthony Rizzo	Yankees	13	10
14	Vinnie Pasquantino	Royals	8	NR
15	Josh Naylor	Guardians	20	19
16	Cody Bellinger		79 OF	17
17	Alec Bohm	Phillies	13 3B	20
18	Rhys Hoskins		NR	NR
19	Ty France	Mariners	19	21
20	Josh Bell	Guardians*	14	24
21	Isaac Paredes	Rays	32	16
22	Christian Walker	Diamondbacks	25	9
23	Christian Encarnacion-Strand	Reds	55 3B	41 3B
24	Triston Casas	Red Sox	22	32
4 DH	Marcell Ozuna	Braves	50 OF	59 OF
25	Rowdy Tellez	Brewers	18	22
26	Spencer Torkelson	Tigers	27	41
27	Jose Abreu	Astros	7	26
28	C.J. Cron		9	12
29	Justin Turner	Red Sox*	20 3B	23
30	Alex Kirilloff	Twins	64 OF	30
31	Jake Cronenworth	Padres	21	28
5 DH	Joc Pederson		67 OF	66 OF
32	Matt Mervis	Cubs	40	45
6 DH	Mark Vientos	Mets	15 DH	51
33	Brandon Drury	Angels	30	29
34	Brendan Donovan	Cardinals	24 2B	36
7 DH	Andrew McCutchen		123 OF	68 OF
35	Nick Pratto	Royals	56	35
36	LaMonte Wade Jr.	Giants	41	34
37	Luke Raley	Rays	178 OF	31
38	DJ LeMahieu	Yankees	24	33
39	Ryan Noda	Athletics	49	43
40	Jonathan Aranda	Rays	34 2B	60 2B
8 DH	Harold Ramirez	Rays	38	42
9 DH	Joey Meneses	Nationals	23	38
41	Joey Gallo		88 OF	39
42	Garrett Cooper		33	46
43	Darick Hall	Phillies	5 DH	44
44	Joey Votto	Reds*	35	27
45	Jared Walsh	Angels	34	57
10 DH	Jesse Winker		70 OF	129 OF
46	Mark Canha	Mets*	118 OF	60
47	Kyle Manzardo	Rays	55	67
11 DH	Franmil Reyes	Nationals	4 DH	153 OF
48	Elehuris Montero	Rockies	36 3B	69
49	Brandon Belt		37	52
50	Carlos Santana	Pirates	44	53
51	Keston Hiura	Brewers	42	NR
52	Ryan O’Hearn	Orioles	20 DH	NR
53	Gio Urshela		32 3B	NR
54	Donovan Solano		53	63
55	Michael Toglia	Rockies	196 OF	NR
56	Mike Moustakas		45	49
57	Trey Mancini	Cubs*	28	55
58	Jake Bauers	Yankees	NR	56
59	Wilmer Flores	Giants	39	66
60	Dominic Smith	Nationals	36	62
61	Owen Miller	Brewers	NR	64
62	Gabriel Arias	Guardians	n/a	NR
63	Bobby Dalbec	Red Sox	46	NR
12 DH	Matt Carpenter	Padres*	12 DH	59
13 DH	Edwin Rios	Cubs	11 DH	NR
14 DH	Kyle Lewis	Diamondbacks	10 DH	NR

• Cody Bellinger is likely to sign as an outfielder, so the free agent market at first base is lacking. Rhys Hoskins looks like the top option, even after missing the entire year due to a torn ACL. I’m guessing C.J. Cron won’t be back in Colorado, hence his major drop in the rankings, but it is the Rockies ... one can never tell for sure.
• I’m not quite sure what to do with Ryan Mountcastle here. It would be nice if his mediocre numbers could be purely attributed to the decision to move the left field fence way back at Camden Yards, but he actually still has better numbers at home than on the road the last two seasons. So, that’s not good. Statcast, though, still thinks he’s crushing it. Last year, Statcast gave him a .509 xSLG, compared to his .423 actual slugging percentage. This year, Statcast has him at .531, compared to .424 in truth. In 2021, Mountcastle had 45 barrels and 33 homers in 144 games. In 206 games since, he has 89 barrels, yet the same 33 homers*. Anyway, I still think Mountcastle can be pretty valuable in Baltimore, though I’d probably be more optimistic in the event that he gets moved (given his recent issues with vertigo, I’m less optimistic as far as the rest of this season).

*For comparison’s sake, the average player has 56% as many homers as barrels the last two years. If Mountcastle were average in that regard, he’d have 50 homers, rather than 33, since the start of last year.

• DH-only seems poised to be a little more crowded than it has been the last couple of years, especially if Byron Buxton fails to return to the outfield at any point. Most likely, some late-season callups will wind up there, too. There’s a chance that Joc Pederson will avoid the designation; he’s currently at nine games in the outfield. I’m assuming Bryce Harper will play enough first base in the second half to avoid being DH-only again. Eloy Jimenez should as well; he’s played 13 games in the outfield so far.