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Fantasy Baseball: Early roto DH-only rankings
- Updated: January 23, 2018
Given that no longer is just the accepted norm for your utility player to be likely to be a first baseman I decided to go away from the idea of mixing these rankings in with first base. Instead I thought it would be good to put out a very brief roto DH-only rankings. Now there are only 9 players who even fit this category and of them one is a free agent. However, dependent on how your league treats one of these guys will make a huge difference to how his hitting affects your team.
You can read more about my thoughts on Shohei Ohtani from the day he signed with the Angels here and hear more of both mine and Kyle Robert’s thoughts by listening to the 60 feet 6 inches podcast.
Anyway back to the rankings. There are some usual candidates here and a couple of new faces. Nelson Cruz was perhaps the biggest shock at the time of realizing he will start the year DH-only, by ESPN eligibility I should add, but also given his age he was a fairly logical option. The trouble is I am not entirely sure when he might gain other eligibility and that distinguishes him from others on this list. For example Hanley Remirez looks likely to play first base and so by week 3 he could be manning that slot for you. Shohei Ohtani plays for the Angels who have the immovable Albert Pujols at DH so if he is going to hit then he will likely need a position. As and when Matt Holiday is signed he may also gain OF eligibility fairly rapidly but I wouldn’t count on it.
Without further ado let’s take a look at the ESPN eligibility defined roto DH-only rankings:
| Tier | Name | Team |
| 1 | Shohei Ohtani (if a dual player) | LAA |
| 1 | Nelson Cruz | SEA |
| 2 | Albert Pujols | LAA |
| 2 | Hanley Ramirez | BOS |
| 2 | Kendrys Morales | TOR |
| 3 | Victor Martinez | DET |
| 3 | Brandon Moss | KC |
| 4 | Matt Holiday | FA |
| 4 | Shohei Ohtani (hitter only) | LAA |
David Cray
January 23, 2018 at 11:16 pm
It’s dual not duel.
Pujols has already said he would play first if Ohtani was the DH.
Ben Rolfe
January 24, 2018 at 1:07 pm
The question will be how long can he play first without getting injured? Is Ohtani a good enough hitter to make it worth moving Pujols and risking him getting injured