Among a sea of information related to the restart of the MLB season, one of the rumors involves changing the NL and AL to the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues. While there are many changes associated with this idea, the biggest is easily the universal DH. For each team this has wide ranging implications for playing time and opens up a new set of fantasy relevant players. Over the next week or so I will be taking a look division by division to see the biggest winners of this potential rule change. First up is the NL East.
Braves
On the surface it is not clear what the Braves would do with their new DH spot. The ideal for fantasy owners would be Austin Riley. The slugging youngster had a hot start to his career last season showing the big time power that made him a top prospect. He succumbed to injury around the same time his numbers began to fade. Current projections had him starting the year in AAA with Johan Camargo starting at 3B. However, with the new DH Riley may be the perfect player to fill that role. He would be able to get consistent At-Bats at the Big League level and has big time upside. Those who bought in on him early will be happy.
On the flip side Camargo gets a bump in value as he has one less player pushing him for at bats. While not the most exciting of players Camargo could post a 270+ average with mid range power making him an interesting back end fantasy piece. The other DH options are Adam Duvall who is very similar to Riley in skillset with less upside and Nick Markakis who could provide a nice boost to team averages while offering little else. Riley is the hope here for many owners.
Mets
On my first look at this the Mets appeared to be a team that would see the most benefit from a move like this. However, they somehow still seem to have too many players to fill the positions. JD Davis is likely best suited for the DH role opening up a new OF spot but the best option there is Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes due to his multiple leg injuries is also ideally suited to DH. If Cespedes is not healthy then Jake Marisnick could play CF full-time allowing Davis to DH. Marisnick likely would not provide much value for fantasy maybe some fringe bench/waiver-wire fodder. The dark-horse is Dom Smith who looked great offensively last season and could thrive in the role.
Phillies
The Phillies may have the most clear cut situation is all of the NL. Jay Bruce has a clear path to full time At-Bats as a DH and could be a fantasy beast in the role. He does not have a ton of value average wise but he could hit for a ton of power and has been essentially free in drafts. Bruce very quietly hit 26 HRs last season and is only two years removed from back to back 30 HR seasons. He has been one of my favorite players since hearing the news of a potential universal DH.
Nationals
The Nationals mainly by nature of having an group of older players on their roster will most likely use the position in a rotating fashion. However, that still has some positive implications for a few of their hitters. Most likely it means that Starlin Castro and Carter Kieboom are locked into essentially full time roles. Castro has some fringe appeal but Kieboom is being disrespected in drafts due to his poor limited 2019 debut. He is a steal at current cost. The other winner is likely Howie Kendrick. The postseason star was incredible in 2019 in 400 or so at bats but the addition of the DH opens up a ton more ABs for him. He may not repeat his stellar 2019 campaign but he could provide a boost in average and some sneaky pop. While less likely to have a large impact this is a bonus to Ryan Zimmerman as well.
Marlins
Last but certainly not least is the Marlins. They much like the Phillies have what appear to be a fairly clear winner from all of this. Garrett Cooper is a really interesting hitter who did not have a position before this “announcement”. Last season in some limited playing time he hit 280 with 15 homers. A likely move to a better offensive stadium as well as an easy path to PT he could post a high average again along with 20-25 homer pop. That is an extremely valuable fantasy player and once again one that comes with very little cost. I’ll be buying in on Cooper as well.
As you can clearly see, the addition of a universal DH impacts the values of a number of different players across each NL roster. The players who see a jump in PAs solely due to becoming the DH but also the players who they could have been sharing at bats with before. The NL East boasts two of the most slam dunk beneficiaries of the whole process but there certainly are other extremely interesting names across the board.
Leave a Reply
Friends don't let friends talk to themselves.
You must be logged in to post a comment.