2011 First Base Rankings: June

We’ve been rolling out our updated position rankings this week, and now it’s time to hit the first baseman. Here are our preseason and May rankings for reference. There hasn’t been a ton of movement, especially not higher up on the list, but every little bit counts.

Tier One
Miguel Cabrera
Adrian Gonzalez
Joey Votto
Albert Pujols

The top tier is reserved for the best of the best, which is why Gonzalez joins the three holdovers. He gives you AVG in addition to bulk HR and RBI totals, though his dinky walk rate (~7.0%) leaves something to be desired in OBP leagues. Pujols is barely outhitting Matt LaPorta a third of the way into the season, and I don’t mean that as a compliment to LaPorta. He gets another month in the top tier just because of his track record before I’ll consider dropping him. But yeah, Pujols owners have every reason to be disappointed.

Tier Two
Mark Teixeira
Lance Berkman
Prince Fielder
Paul Konerko
Ryan Howard
Gaby Sanchez

Sanchez jumps into a big boy category because of his AVG, OBP, and RBI goodness, though he’s not going to give you the same amount of power as the others. Berkman’s renaissance has continued into June, and the others are pretty self explanatory. Elite HR and RBI, not so much on AVG (except for Konerko, so far).

Tier Three
Billy Butler
Kevin Youkilis
Justin Smoak
Ike Davis
Eric Hosmer
Adam Lind
Mitch Moreland
Todd Helton
Brett Wallace

Helton’s quietly having a very nice dead cat bounce year, though you’re not going to get much pop out of him. You can do a lot worse in OBP leagues though. Wallace is slowly and gracefully coming back to Earth following his BABIP-fueled surge, but his teammates are so bad that RBI production is kept to a minimum. Both Lind and Davis are on the disabled list and aren’t expected back for a while, but I’m not going to drop them in the rankings because of that.

Tier Four
Justin Morneau
Juan Miranda
Mike Morse
Adam Dunn
Matt LaPorta
Mark Trumbo
Freddie Freeman
Luke Scott

Many projected a return to the days of 40+ homers for Dunn with the move to Chicago, but he’s been nothing short of a disaster. He’s still 0-for-2011 against lefties, and is on pace for a whopping 15 homers. Brutal. Miranda has been on a nice run since getting the job essentially full-time, and Trumbo now has the same kind of job security. Freeman’s shown flashes, but that’s not good enough for a higher ranking in my book.

Tier Five
Aubrey Huff
Daniel Murphy
James Loney
Carlos Pena
Derrek Lee
Brad Hawpe
Daric Barton
Garrett Jones
Michael Cuddyer
Carlos Lee
Lyle Overbay
Brandon Belt
Russell Branyan
Eric Hinske
Adam Kennedy

Now we’re at the island of misfit first baseman. Lots of disappointments reside here, and only a handful of those guys are at an age where you think a return to past glory is possible. Belt is theoretically on the way up with more playing time, but he hasn’t done much yet. That doesn’t mean he won’t, though.

Off The Radar
Adam LaRoche
Kila Ka’aihue
Chris Davis
Brandon Allen
Dan Johnson
Kendrys Morales
Ty Wigginton
Yonder Alonso
Chris Carter
Jorge Cantu
Xavier Nady
Jay Gibbons
Travis Ishikawa

Injury, ineffectiveness, minor leagues. Pick one or any combination of those three things and you can figure out why the guys in the above category are fantasy irrelevant.