June First Baseman and DH Rankings

Here is the June edition of my rest-of-season position rankings and overall top 300 for 5x5 leagues. Sorry that I’m a couple of days late, but I had to find a new No. 1 overall player. Also, it turns out that there are only like 120 players in the majors capable of hitting right now, even though most of the best pitchers are injured.

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

First Baseman and Designated Hitter ROS Rankings

June	First basemen	Team	2024	May
1 DH	Shohei Ohtani	Dodgers	1 DH	1 DH
1	Freddie Freeman	Dodgers	1	1
2	Bryce Harper	Phillies	4	3
3	Matt Olson	Braves	2	2
4	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	Blue Jays	3	4
5	Josh Naylor	Guardians	7	6
2 DH	Marcell Ozuna	Braves	3 DH	2 DH
6	Pete Alonso	Mets	5	5
7	Christian Walker	Diamondbacks	13	9
8	Cody Bellinger	Cubs	6	8
9	Spencer Steer	Reds	11	7
10	Alec Bohm	Phillies	17	10
11	Vinnie Pasquantino	Royals	12	11
12	Isaac Paredes	Rays	18	14
13	Paul Goldschmidt	Cardinals	9	13
14	Rhys Hoskins	Brewers	21	16
15	Salvador Perez	Royals	25	18
16	Ryan Mountcastle	Orioles	20	15
17	Luis Arraez	Padres	10 2B	25
18	Yandy Diaz	Rays	16	21
19	Jeimer Candelario	Reds	15	19
3 DH	J.D. Martinez	Mets	5 DH	4 DH
20	Jake Cronenworth	Padres	33	22
21	Nathaniel Lowe	Rangers	24	23
22	Justin Turner	Blue Jays	22	20
23	Christian Encarnacion-Strand	Reds	10	12
4 DH	Eloy Jimenez	White Sox	2 DH	3 DH
24	Jake Burger	Marlins	15 3B	24
25	Kris Bryant	Rockies	45 OF	75 OF
26	Ryan O’Hearn	Orioles	35	27
27	Michael Busch	Cubs	23 3B	28
28	Anthony Rizzo	Yankees	23	26
29	Triston Casas	Red Sox	8	35
30	Josh Bell	Marlins	26	29
31	David Fry	Guardians	28 C	54
32	Andrew Vaughn	White Sox	19	31
33	Alex Kirilloff	Twins	30	30
34	Connor Joe	Pirates	55	52
35	DJ LeMahieu	Yankees	31	37
36	Ty France	Mariners	29	32
37	Gavin Sheets	White Sox	57	41
5 DH	Andrew McCutchen	Pirates	8 DH	6 DH
38	Spencer Torkelson	Tigers	14	17
39	Luke Raley	Mariners	37	49
40	Nolan Schanuel	Angels	32	44
41	Kyle Manzardo	Guardians	38	36
42	Jose Abreu	Astros	27	45
43	Brandon Drury	Angels	28	33
44	LaMonte Wade Jr.	Giants	39	42
45	Donovan Solano	Padres	49	56
46	Mark Canha	Tigers	111 OF	43
6 DH	Heston Kjerstad	Orioles	7 DH	5 DH
47	Joey Meneses	Nationals	6 DH	38
48	Garrett Cooper	Red Sox	42	39
49	Elehuris Montero	Rockies	36	46
50	Miguel Sano	Angels	58	40
51	Patrick Wisdom	Cubs	40 3B	47 3B
52	Carlos Santana	Twins	41	50
53	Jake Bauers	Brewers	56	NR
54	Tyler Soderstrom	Athletics	12 DH	NR
7 DH	Jonathan Aranda	Rays	10 DH	7 DH
55	Dominic Smith	Red Sox	61	58
56	Jon Singleton	Astros	82	53
57	Rowdy Tellez	Pirates	34	48
58	Ezequiel Duran	Rangers	35 3B	47
59	J.D. Davis	Athletics	39 3B	51
60	Joey Gallo	Nationals	43	55

Dropping off: Matt Mervis (34th), Tyler Nevin (57th), Wilmer Flores (59th), Ryan Noda (60th)

• I was a bit torn on what to do with Michael Busch. His batted-ball numbers are trending back up of late, but the Cubs just benched him against consecutive righties on Friday and Saturday, as well as versus a lefty on Sunday. With Pete Crow-Armstrong back in the majors, the Cubs can justify sitting Busch for defensive reasons. Still, I hope they don’t give up on him. His exit velocity numbers aren’t very good, but he’s also not striking out much, and the steals - he’s currently 7-for-7 on the basepaths - give him quite a leg up on other first basemen.

• Spencer Torkelson’s exceptional final two months last season bought him an extra month in the majors this year, but this week’s demotion to Triple-A was overdue. He’s now had essentially two full seasons in the majors in which he’s hit .218/.296/.386 in 1,318 plate appearances. He’s also been one of the game’s weakest first basemen defensively. To be fair, Torkelson would almost certainly have a few more homers and better overall numbers if he played half of his games in a different ballpark. Still, he’d remain a below average regular anywhere. As much as the Tigers want to see him succeed, I imagine it’ll take more than two or three weeks in the minors to earn him another chance.