End of Season Rankings: First Base

The 2012 fantasy baseball season has come to a close, so it is time to look back at the season past and determine which players were the most valuable at each position. This week focuses on first baseman, a popular cornerstone of fantasy offenses everywhere.

The players were ranked based on their 2012 production, using the evaluation system explained and updated on this site some time ago. To keep things manageable and avoid skewing the numbers, players were only considered if they amassed 350 plate appearances over the course of the year. The replacement level was also adjusted to account for players eligible at multiples positions. The valuations are built for $260 budgets and traditional 5×5 roto fantasy leagues.

One important thing to note is the premium (or lack thereof) placed on the position a player occupies in your lineup. While a first baseman may be able to accumulate superior overall numbers, the availability of such production lower in the rankings severely dampers the amount the player was worth.

These rankings are meant to reflect a player’s value should he have occupied this spot in your lineup for the entire year. So, a player who missed time due to injury but put up great numbers during his time on the field — like Joey Votto — would be worth less.

With all this in mind, here are your rankings.

Rnk	Name	Pos	AB	HR	R	RBI	SB	BA	$$$
1	Miguel Cabrera	1B	622	44	109	139	4	0.330	$37
2	Edwin Encarnacion	1B	542	42	93	110	13	0.280	$27
3	Prince Fielder	1B	581	30	83	108	1	0.313	$21
4	Albert Pujols	1B	607	30	85	105	8	0.285	$20
5	Buster Posey	1B	530	24	78	103	1	0.336	$20
6	Paul Goldschmidt	1B	514	20	82	82	18	0.286	$16
7	Corey Hart	1B	562	30	91	83	5	0.270	$15
8	Adam LaRoche	1B	571	33	76	100	1	0.271	$15
9	Allen Craig	1B	469	22	76	92	2	0.307	$14
10	Adrian Gonzalez	1B	629	18	75	108	2	0.299	$14
11	Joe Mauer	1B	545	10	81	85	8	0.319	$13
12	Chris Davis	1B	515	33	75	85	2	0.270	$13
13	Mark Trumbo	1B	544	32	66	95	4	0.268	$13
14	Freddie Freeman	1B	540	23	91	94	2	0.259	$12
15	Adam Dunn	1B	539	41	87	96	2	0.204	$12
16	Nick Swisher	1B	537	24	75	93	2	0.272	$11
17	Garrett Jones	1B	475	27	68	86	2	0.274	$10
18	Paul Konerko	1B	533	26	66	75	0	0.298	$10
19	Joey Votto	1B	374	14	59	56	5	0.337	$8
20	Tyler Colvin	1B	420	18	62	72	7	0.290	$7
21	Ike Davis	1B	519	32	66	90	0	0.227	$6
22	Mark Teixeira	1B	451	24	66	84	2	0.251	$6
23	Kendrys Morales	1B	484	22	61	73	0	0.273	$5
24	Howie Kendrick	1B	550	8	57	67	14	0.287	$4
25	Carlos Santana	1B	507	18	72	76	3	0.252	$4
26	Justin Morneau	1B	505	19	63	77	1	0.267	$4
27	Daniel Murphy	1B	571	6	62	65	10	0.291	$3
28	Michael Young	1B	611	8	79	67	2	0.277	$3
29	Todd Frazier	1B	422	19	55	67	3	0.273	$3
30	Michael Morse	1B	406	18	53	62	0	0.291	$2
31	Eric Hosmer	1B	535	14	65	60	16	0.232	$1
32	Dustin Ackley	1B	607	12	84	50	13	0.226	$1
33	Jordan Pacheco	1B	475	5	51	54	7	0.309	$1
34	Michael Cuddyer	1B	358	16	53	58	8	0.260	$0
35	Mark Reynolds	1B	457	23	65	69	1	0.221	$0
36	Kevin Youkilis	1B	438	19	72	60	0	0.235	$0
37	Carlos Lee	1B	550	9	53	77	3	0.264	$0
38	Jeff Keppinger	1B	385	9	46	40	1	0.325	$(1)
39	Brandon Belt	1B	411	7	47	56	12	0.275	$(1)
40	Anthony Rizzo	1B	337	15	44	48	3	0.285	$(2)
41	Yonder Alonso	1B	549	9	47	62	3	0.273	$(3)
42	Mike Napoli	1B	352	24	53	56	1	0.227	$(3)
43	Carlos Pena	1B	497	19	72	61	2	0.197	$(4)
44	Mitch Moreland	1B	327	15	41	50	1	0.275	$(4)
45	Bryan LaHair	1B	340	16	42	40	4	0.259	$(5)
46	John Mayberry	1B	441	14	53	46	1	0.245	$(5)
47	Lucas Duda	1B	401	15	43	57	1	0.239	$(6)
48	Justin Smoak	1B	483	19	49	51	1	0.217	$(7)
49	Casey Kotchman	1B	463	12	46	55	3	0.229	$(7)
50	Adam Lind	1B	321	11	28	45	0	0.255	$(10)
51	Ty Wigginton	1B	315	11	40	43	1	0.235	$(10)
52	James Loney	1B	434	6	37	41	0	0.249	$(12)
53	Casey McGehee	1B	318	9	36	41	1	0.217	$(14)

Some things to note

• Plate appearances are used as a qualifier because they are a better measure of offensive playing time. While plate appearances drive the qualifications for the rankings, at-bats are listed to help keep batting averages in context.

• The depth at first base this year was pretty sweet. Other than the lack of RBI, Paul Konerko had himself an excellent year, and he ranks all the way down at 18th.

• If you were the sort to wait on first baseman this year and grab a couple of part-timers, you probably made out okay. Anthony Rizzo and Mitch Moreland are great examples of getting production at a high rate while keeping costs low.