Who will be taking on the DH responsibilities in 2025?
In a rarity for the contemporary game, the 2024 D-Backs arguably possessed one of the National League’s best offenses (first in runs, second in hits, and second in OPS). And yet, painfully, they missed out on the playoffs as a result of unexpected weakness and instability from their starting rotation and bullpen. While many of the pitching staff will be returning for 2025 – hopefully with better results – the team is set to lose the offensive talents of Christian Walker, Joc Pederson, and Randal Grichuk. Those three combined for 295 hits, 61 homers, and 7.7 bWAR, which works out to a whopping 20% of the team’s hits, 29% of their home runs, and 23% of the position player’s bWAR. That level of production will be difficult to recreate, even with some encouraging signs coming from Pavin Smith who is set to take over at first base for Walker and promising development of prospects like Blaze Alexander and Adrian Del Castillo. Still, in addition to prioritizing who will be stepping into Walker’s oversized shoes, Mike Hazen and his staff will need to figure out who will be taking the majority of the DH at-bats in 2025.
Last season, Pederson essentially acted as the full-time DH with 120 total games there while Ketel Marte, Grichuk, and Alexander rounded out the remainder with 22, 41, and 15 games respectively. That’s relatively rare across the league as there were only four other players that had more appearances at DH in the majors last year and only nine total that had more than 100 games at the position. I suspect part of that rarity comes from the “load management” phenomenon that has swept across the big leagues as teams attempt to protect the longevity and health of their players to a new extent. That phenomenon is especially prevalent for players whose everyday role might be more taxing – especially catchers where even young catching stars like Adley Rutschman are asked to DH nearly a quarter of the season.
Internal Candidates
In the same way that Pavin is currently set to succeed Walker at first base, it would not shock me if Hazen opts to at least start the season with some of the team’s prospects taking some of the DH at-bats. It’s not difficult to envision a scenario in which Marte is moved into more of a split role at DH to give players like Alexander or top prospect Jordan Lawlar reps at shortstop or second base. In my opinion, there is not much that Lawlar has to prove at this point with Reno and could easily be a mid- or late-season call up depending on his health and the evaluation from the front office. There’s also the strong possibility that the team will opt into a catching tandem with Gabriel Moreno and Del Castillo with one DHing on days the other is catching to keep both of their bats in the lineup. Del Castillo clearly showed some significant offensive promise in his cup of coffee last year and in my mind has earned a longer evaluation period at the big league level as the backup catcher to Moreno. Additionally, while both Lourdes Gurriel Jr and Eugenio Suarez were mainstays in the field last year, they both took steps backward in their defensive performances in 2024 and are on the wrong side of 30, increasing the likelihood that they could be called upon to DH more moving forward to limit their defensive liabilities while keeping their offensive contributions in the lineup.
Free Agents
In case Hazen doesn’t feel comfortable with one or some of the combinations he already has in-house, there are some options on the open market, but like the first baseman free agent pool, the DH options are pretty slim. As Manny Randhawa pointed out in today’s D-Backs Beat newsletter, there are a couple familiar faces available in free agency: JD Martinez and Paul Goldschmidt. There are certainly reasons to believe both players still have some metaphorical gas left in their tank, but I am more inclined to at least begin the year rolling the dice with some of the youngsters and reevaluating as the season progresses. I think a Goldschmidt reunion deserves it’s own deep dive, but I’ll say that as nostalgic and heartwarming as it would be for him to retire as a D-Back, the disheartening decline in Goldschmidt’s offensive numbers over the last two years makes me very reluctant to surrender over $10 million for a single year. Even still, I would not rule out the possibility of Hazen re-signing Goldschmidt for a final ride into the Sonoran sunset if he were amenable to the reunion and were willing to sign a more team-friendly contract.
Conclusion
Again, I suspect the most likely scenario will be some kind of rotation between Del Castillo, Marte, and whoever needs a rest day from fielding while keeping their bat in the lineup. Obviously, bringing back at least one if not two of the three players from the top of the piece would make the situation much simpler, but I’m making the assumption for now at least that it’s unlikely to happen. In many ways, I am more inclined to let the pre-existing players have their shot and allow Hazen and his staff adjust as necessary rather than a far flung signing that might limit their options elsewhere.