In around three weeks, pitchers and catchers will report to spring training, but there are still a lot of free agents
available due to a sluggish offseason. Catchers, shortstops, center fielders, first basemen, and second basemen who
are still available were already examined by MLBTR. Next, we’ll examine the best DH solutions available right now.
This is obviously a subjective category. After all, any player may theoretically fill in as a designated hitter. A few older
and/or defensively challenged sluggers are available, but they are unlikely to sign with a team that doesn’t have a
significant amount of DH at-bats. This will be the main focus.
Jorge Soler: Soler should be able to negotiate a multi-year contract after choosing to forego the last year and $13
million remaining on his Marlins contract. Despite the pitcher-friendly aspect of their home field, the 32-year-old
crushed 36 home runs with the Fish in 2023, cutting his strikeout percentage to 24.3%, the second-lowest of his
career. The second-best walk rate of his career was 11.4%. In terms of strong contact, Soler continued to be among
the best in the league, registering an outstanding average exit velocity of 91.3 mph and a 48% hard-hit percentage. In
contrast to the other players on this list, Soler is in his early 30s and has a track record of hitting for extreme power
in the major leagues. Everyone was producing more electricity during
J.D. Martinez: In his last season with the Red Sox in 2022, Martinez “only” hit.274/.341/.448 with 16 home runs,
which was a “down” season by his standards. With the Dodgers in 2023, he more than quadrupled his number with
33 home runs while only having 479 plate appearances. Martinez could have started giving in to pressure for power
even more than he may have in the past. His strikeout percentage of 31.1% from the previous year was by far the
lowest of his career, while his walk rate of 7.1% was the lowest since 2014. There is no denying that JDM was a
respectable middle-of-the-order presence, even in that scenario. In total, he hit.271/.321/.572, and his average exit
velocity was quite high.
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