Traditionalists, look away. The DH is coming to the NL in 2020.
And beyond? Well, for now it's just a health and safety measure in a season defined by them, but it might it turn out to be like one of those pop-up tents: impossible to close once opened.
We Fantasy Baseball players of course want to know who'll be filling those DH spots for each of the 15 NL teams and whether they're worth adding to our draft targets. It's important to remember, though, that few players even in the AL become fixtures in the DH spot. Most teams rotate players in and out of it, making the true beneficiary someone else entirely.
For this exercise, then, I'm less interested in who's actually occupying the DH spot and more interested in who benefits from its availability, even if he's not actually the one who'll make use of it.
A new lineup spot creates opportunities elsewhere on the diamond, after all.
Christian Walker was of course projected to play first base all along, but there were others like Jake Lamb and Kevin Cron eyeing his at-bats. An additional lineup spot bolsters Walker's job security and assures him more regular playing time.
The big winner may actually turn out to be Cron, a 27-year-old whose limited defensive profile puts him at risk of being passed over despite a .329 batting average, 39 homers and 1.223 OPS in only 310 minor-league at-bats last year. In fact, the introduction of the DH to the NL would seem like his dream scenario, but with Lamb and Josh Rojas — a utility player who himself had a 1.023 OPS in the minors last year — also looking for at-bats, Cron still has to fight for his opportunity.
The DH spot virtually guarantees Austin Riley will have a place to play on opening day, whether it's at third base or DH. The young slugger was technically competing with Johan Camargo for the third base job back before the DH became a reality, but rave reports out of spring training 1.0 saw the scales tipping in his favor.
Maybe with the DH available for Riley, the Braves would prefer to play Camargo at third base for defensive reasons, but since Riley is clearly the organization's future there, it might make sense to give him some reps. If the Braves think so too, then Adam Duvall could get most of the playing time in left field, shifting Marcell Ozuna to DH.
Ian Happ was gaining traction as a sleeper even before the DH announcement, but I was skeptical because I didn't think superior defender Albert Almora would be totally out of the mix in center field. Hey look, there's room for both now. I don't know that Almora himself is in line for full-time at-bats because it's not clear he offers much with the bat other than a high contact rate, but now it's Steven Souza who'll be vying for his at-bats and not Happ, who could take off as a power hitter after demonstrating an improved contact rate last year.
Seeing as he wasn't invited to major-league camp, Aristides Aquino still looks unlikely to have a roster spot at the start of the year even though he was the toast of baseball last August. But the point is that there are more paths for him breaking into the lineup now and fewer players for him to leap over. More immediately, the Reds will fill their DH spot by having Jesse Winker and Phillip Ervin platoon, meaning neither will get enough at-bats to break through, but when there's a need for the next man up, Aquino is likely to rise to the occasion, having hit 47 homers between the majors and minors last year.
The Rockies have too many interesting bats even for nine spots, but that ninth one still serves to free up the logjam a little. Garrett Hampson is so versatile, capable of playing up the middle in both the infield and outfield, that the Rockies should be able to find a spot for him most every day now, particularly if he picks up where he left off late last season and becomes the speedy on-base threat he was billed to be.
Second base might be the most logical destination, freeing up one of Ryan McMahon and Daniel Murphy to play first base and the other to man DH, but then again, top prospect Brendan Rodgers also has a chance to stake his claim there. The Rockies lineup will still feature a lot of moving parts, in other words, but additional lineup spot should mean more at-bats for all of them, slugging outfielder Sam Hilliard included.
A.J. Pollock didn't give the Dodgers what they were looking for in Year 1 of his contract, but since they're still on the hook for three more, it always seemed unlikely they'd bury him on their bench. And now, they don't have to. The DH spot will likely play host to a Joc Pederson/ Chris Taylor platoon, opening up left field for Pollock's superior glove. Offensively, he's kind of a wild card at this point, but he might offer a little speed late in drafts without requiring you to sacrifice much in the other categories.
The Marlins aren't exactly overflowing with high-upside bats, but it wasn't at all clear how they'd distribute at-bats among their middling ones. Now, between Lewis Brinson, Garrett Cooper and Matt Joyce, one can man right field and one can man DH. Maybe Brinson will fall flat on his face again, leaving those spots to Cooper and Joyce, who was an elite on-base guy as a part-timer for the Braves last year. It's a little hard to believe Joyce would play against left-handers, but a straight platoon may not work since Cooper, despite batting right-handed, was also far better against righties last year.
But wait, wasn't Ryan Braun already expected to play plenty? Isn't Justin Smoak actually the big winner here? Allow me to explain. Braun's production hasn't fallen off as much as you might think, especially since he's still a viable base-stealer. What has cost him value are the routine off days to rest his balky back. If he can just settle into the DH spot, no longer having to play the field, might he throw caution to the wind and play virtually all 60 games with the Brewers fighting for a playoff spot? It would go a long way to restoring his value.
Smoak is interesting, but I have a feeling he'll end up platooning with Jedd Gyorko at first base.
J.D. Davis is the big winner here because the introduction of the DH ensures he'll be a fixture in the Mets lineup this year. We already had our suspicions, but since he's a miserable defender at third base and in left field, it was less than a foregone conclusion. Now, the Mets can just hide the glove at DH and let the bat go to work.
Of course, it's possible Davis still plays a fair amount of left field since the alternatives there are a converted first baseman (Dominic Smith) and a guy coming off multiple leg injuries (Yoenis Cespedes). It may even turn out that Smith and Cespedes get most of the time at DH, but the point is they're more likely to steal at-bats from each other or sit for a defensive specialist than Davis is.
You may have lost track of where Jay Bruce last landed given how much he has bounced around the past couple years, but he was still a big power source between the Mariners and the Phillies last year. He got off to a blistering start with the Phillies, too, before an oblique injury derailed his season. Is he actually a Fantasy asset, though? I have a sneaking suspicion catcher J.T. Realmuto will get some DH time against lefties, both to keep him fresh and to keep Bruce from having to face a lefty.
You may not have heard of Jose Osuna, but he got extensive playing time for the Pirates down the stretch last year and put up decent numbers overall. He makes hard contact and doesn't strike out often, offering a profile not too unlike former Cardinal (and current Ray) Jose Martinez. He's too impatient and puts the ball on the ground too often to develop into an actual Fantasy asset, but he may prove to be a usable emergency option.
Alternatively, the Pirates could install top prospect Ke'Bryan Hayes at third base and move Colin Moran to DH, but since they're one of the seven teams that I think has virtually no shot of making the playoffs this year, they may not want to start his service clock.
Wil Myers has seen his playing time diminish with the Padres introducing fresh blood over the past couple years, but through it all he has continued to do what he does, offering quality power and speed numbers in spite of a high strikeout rate. Now that the Padres are looking to contend, we can presume they'd want a more proven option in that DH spot rather than a wild card like Josh Naylor. Franchy Cordero isn't exactly locked into a job either, so it seems like the Padres will actually need Myers more than they have in years past, which could mean he gets back to performing at a 25-25 pace.
This one's a complete mess. It could become crystal clear if the Giants sign Yasiel Puig for their outfield, leaving the rickety Alex Dickerson and ancient Hunter Pence to platoon at DH, but for now, I'm taking the path of least resistance with Pablo Sandoval, who showed he still has a little something left in the tank as a part-timer last year.
Of course, I'm partly choosing him because he's defensively incapable of filling any of the Giants' other openings. Maybe Dickerson or Pence moves to DH regardless, and it's actually Billy Hamilton or Donovan Solano or Wilmer Flores who benefits. Of them, Hamilton might offer some cheap steals, but otherwise ... yawn.
Oh yeah. Here's one of the big ones. Top prospect Dylan Carlson was already pushing for the left field job this spring, but he had some worthy competition that made it at best a 50/50 proposition. The odds obviously go up with an additional lineup spot.
It's still not a guarantee, though, since DH seems like the perfect home for the frequently banged-up and and defensively-challenged Matt Carpenter, freeing up utility player Tommy Edman to play primarily third base. Left field, then, would still come down to the same two contenders: Carlson and the slugging Tyler O'Neill. Seeing as Dexter Fowler still occupies right field, though, the Cardinals have room for both if they prove deserving of it.
Howie Kendrick's situation is similar to Ryan Bruan's in that his age and injury history made him a playing-time liability in a full-length, DH-less season. But he was a regular starter in the postseason, even capturing NLCS MVP honors, which showed how much the Nationals valued his bat with everything on the line. In a 60-game season, everything will be from Day 1, so if skipping out on defense turns out to be all the rest Kendrick needs, watch out. His OPS among second base-eligible players ranked behind only Ketel Marte last year.
