Joey Meneses

Last season, Meneses matched his home run total from his surprise showing in 2022. The problem is that he needed 417 more plate appearances to get there. Eleven of those home runs came over the final three months of the season after he went deep just twice through the end of June. Meneses' 41.7 percent hard-hit rate and 89.4 mph average exit velocity were both above average, but he had an unimpressive 5.4 percent barrel rate and he continued to hit a lot of balls on the ground (48.6 percent). After the season, we found out Meneses was playing through a knee injury, which could have affected his power output. With a strikeout rate below 20 percent and decent quality of contact, Meneses is a solid bet for batting average. If he's healthy and the power bounces back, he could have some mixed league value. Worth noting is that Meneses will enter 2024 with only DH eligibility if you use a 20-game threshold.

Meneses was the International Player of the Year in 2018, batting .311/.360/.510 with Triple-A Lehigh. Meneses played in Japan for two years then returned stateside in 2021, landing in the Red Sox system. He signed a minor league deal with the Nationals for the 2022 campaign. After cleaning house at the trade deadline, Washington promoted the 30-year-old for his MLB debut. He slashed .286/.341/.489 for Triple-A Rochester. Meneses crushed 13 homers in two months, though two xHR metrics pegged him for 10. While Meneses power was in line with his minor league numbers, his .371 BABIP with the Nationals was artificially high, spurred by an unsustainable number of outfield line drives sporting a high BABIP. Even with batting average regression, Meneses warrants a look at first base in a transition year for the Nationals. His power is mixed-league worthy, but brace for the inevitable dip in batting average.