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

Early 2025 First Baseman and Designated Hitter rankings

2025	First basemen/DHs	Team	2024	July
1 DH	Shohei Ohtani	Dodgers	1 DH	1 DH
1	Freddie Freeman	Dodgers	1	1
2	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	Blue Jays	3	3
3	Bryce Harper	Phillies	4	2
4	Matt Olson	Braves	2	4
5	Pete Alonso		5	6
6	Josh Naylor	Guardians	7	5
2 DH	Marcell Ozuna	Braves*	3 DH	2 DH
7	Spencer Steer	Reds	11	10
8	Vinnie Pasquantino	Royals	12	11
3 DH	Kyle Schwarber	Phillies	23 OF	16 OF
9	Alec Bohm	Phillies	17	9
10	Christian Walker		13	7
11	Triston Casas	Red Sox	8	17
12	Cody Bellinger	Cubs*	6	8
13	Ryan Mountcastle	Orioles	20	15
14	Yandy Diaz	Rays	16	18
15	Paul Goldschmidt		9	12
16	Christian Encarnacion-Strand	Reds	10	NR
17	Jeimer Candelario	Reds	15	14
18	Salvador Perez	Royals	25	16
4 DH	Eloy Jimenez	White Sox*	2 DH	4 DH
19	Luis Arraez	Padres	10 2B	19
20	Jake Cronenworth	Padres	33	21
5 DH	J.D. Martinez		5 DH	3 DH
21	Rhys Hoskins	Brewers*	21	20
22	Michael Busch	Cubs	23 3B	26
23	Spencer Torkelson	Tigers	14	34
24	Andrew Vaughn	White Sox	19	28
25	Jake Burger	Marlins	15 3B	27
6 DH	Giancarlo Stanton	Yankees	61 OF	61 OF
26	Tyler Soderstrom	Athletics	12 DH	39
7 DH	Jorge Soler	Giants	54 OF	52 OF
27	Josh Bell		26	29
28	Nathaniel Lowe	Rangers	24	24
8 DH	Kyle Manzardo	Guardians	38 1B	57 1B
9 DH	Masataka Yoshida	Red Sox	39 OF	91 OF
29	Ben Rice	Yankees	59 C	45
10 DH	Joc Pederson	Diamondbacks*	78 OF	79 OF
30	Tyler Black	Brewers	48 3B	56
31	Ryan O’Hearn	Orioles*	35	25
32	Justin Turner		22	23
33	DJ LeMahieu	Yankees	31	31
34	Nolan Schanuel	Angels	32	37
11 DH	Jonathan Aranda	Rays	10 DH	NR DH
35	Anthony Rizzo	Yankees*	23	50
36	LaMonte Wade Jr.	Giants	39	40
37	Kris Bryant	Rockies	45 OF	43
38	Spencer Horwitz	Blue Jays	13 DH	30
39	Carlos Santana		41	35
40	Michael Toglia	Rockies	59	42
41	Deyvison De Los Santos	Diamondbacks	108 3B	67 3B
42	Luke Raley	Mariners	37	36
43	Gavin Sheets	White Sox	57	44
44	Ty France	Mariners	29	32
45	J.D. Davis		39 3B	33
12 DH	Andrew McCutchen		8 DH	10 DH
46	Mauricio Dubon	Astros	46 2B	47
13 DH	Harold Ramirez	Nationals	9 DH	159 OF
47	Rowdy Tellez		34	48
48	Connor Joe	Pirates	55	46
49	Xavier Isaac	Rays	NR	NR
50	Tyler Locklear	Mariners	76	NR

• 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.