2025 NL East Positional Rankings: Designated Hitter
With plenty of fresh and old faces in the NL East, the division boasts two of the best designated hitters in baseball, Marcell Ozuna and Kyle Schwarber. The Mets should have a solid platoon, the Nats signed a solid veteran in free agency and the Marlins will hope to put something solid together on the fly.
Let’s see where each NL East team’s designated hitter ranks within the division for the 2025 season.
No. 5: Miami Committee
The Marlins will have to use spring training to figure out who to go with at DH. It could go like it did a year ago when no one got more than 50 starts in the role, with five players making 19 or more. The loser of the first base competition between Matt Mervis (three homers, 116 career at-bats) and Jonah Bride (11 homers, 232 ABs in 2024) could see time at DH. Other potential nominees include Kyle Stowers (three homers, 192 ABs) and Griffin Conine (three homers, 82 ABs), the son of long-time Marlin and one-time Met Jeff Conine. Deyvison De Los Santos, who hit 40 home runs between Double-A and Triple-A to lead the minors last year, is also a candidate, though he is expected to start the season in the minors.
No. 4: Josh Bell, WSH
The addition of Gold Glove Nathaniel Lowe at first base moved Josh Bell to DH in Washington. The 32-year-old switch-hitter smacked 19 home runs and drove in 71 for the Marlins and Diamondbacks last year. He slashed .249/.319/.405. Bell has hit 20 or more home runs four times; his best season came in 2019 when he hit 37 homers to go with a .936 OPS in Pittsburgh.
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No. 3: Jesse Winker/Starling Marte, NYM
The left-handed hitting Jesse Winker is expected to get most of the turns at DH, and he slashed .258/.366/.422 with 13 homers against right-handers last season in 341 at-bats. Starling Marte vs. lefties in 2024: .310/.384/.460 with two homers in 100 ABs. It will be interesting to see if manager Carlos Mendoza treats this as a strict platoon or plays the hot hand and where he inserts the DH in the batting order. Winker, 31, stole 14 bases in 2024, and Marte, 36, stole 16, so the Mets may be one of the few teams to get some base stealing out of the spot.
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No. 2: Kyle Schwarber, PHI
Schwarber, 31, hit 38 home runs and drove in 104 runs last year, his fourth consecutive year topping 30 home runs. He slashed .248/.366/.485, led the league in walks with 106 and scored 110 runs. Striking out is part of the Schwarber experience, though he did manage to avoid leading the league in that category for the first time in three years. (He fanned 197 times, third in the league behind Elly De La Cruz and Ezequiel Tovar). He should continue to be a force at the top of a potent Phillies lineup that was third in the National League in runs scored in 2024.
No. 1: Marcell Ozuna, ATL
Like Schwarber, Ozuna drove in 104 runs last year, but he hit one more homer and put up a more impressive slash line of .302/.378/.546. The 34-year-old made his third All-Star team and finished fourth in MVP voting. He started all 162 games at DH, which helped him to a career-high 688 plate appearances. He hit 31 doubles and 96 runs scored. His 39 homers were second in the NL to Shohei Ohtani, and his RBI total tied him with Schwarber for fourth in the league.
Other NL East Rankings
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