February Rankings – First Basemen
We’re going position by position this week and next with our initial roll out of rankings. We will update these in March based on Spring Training activity and injuries.
We’re using Yahoo! eligibility requirements which is 5 starts or 10 appearances. These rankings assume the standard 5×5 categories and a re-draft league. If we forgot someone, please let us know in the comments and we’ll make sure he’s added for the updates. If you have questions for a specific ranker on something he did, let us know in the comments. We can also be reached via Twitter:
There will be differences, sharp differences, within the rankings. The rankers have different philosophies when it comes to ranking, some of which you’re no doubt familiar with through previous iterations. Of course the idea that we’d all think the same would be silly because then what would be the point of including multiple rankers?! Think someone should be higher or lower? Make a case. Let us know why you think that. The chart is sortable. If a ranker didn’t rank someone that the others did, he was given that ranker’s last rank +1.
| # | NAME | Paul S | Brad | Mike | Jeff | Al | Justin | AVG | Adj. AVG | Split |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Goldschmidt | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1 |
| 2 | Kris Bryant | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3 |
| 3 | Anthony Rizzo | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 2 |
| 4 | Miguel Cabrera | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 2 |
| 5 | Joey Votto | 5 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 6.5 | 5.3 | 8 |
| 6 | Freddie Freeman | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 3 |
| 7 | Edwin Encarnacion | 6 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 4 |
| 8 | Daniel Murphy | 8 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 6 |
| 9 | Jose Abreu | 10 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 9.8 | 10.0 | 5 |
| 10 | Hanley Ramirez | 9 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 10.8 | 10.8 | 4 |
| 11 | Chris Davis | 17 | 13 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 20 | 13.2 | 12.8 | 12 |
| 12 | Wil Myers | 11 | 9 | 21 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 13.7 | 13.0 | 12 |
| 13 | Mark Trumbo | 16 | 19 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 17 | 14.0 | 14.8 | 13 |
| 14 | Todd Frazier | 15 | 17 | 10 | 10 | 19 | 14 | 14.2 | 14.0 | 9 |
| 15 | Buster Posey | 13 | 15 | 14 | 28 | 11 | 7 | 14.7 | 13.3 | 21 |
| 16 | Matt Carpenter | 12 | 11 | 15 | 25 | 17 | 16 | 16.0 | 15.0 | 14 |
| 17 | Carlos Santana | 18 | 16 | 23 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 17.0 | 16.5 | 10 |
| 18 | Eric Hosmer | 20 | 21 | 20 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 19.0 | 19.0 | 4 |
| 19 | Jonathan Lucroy | 14 | 14 | 30 | 35 | 14 | 15 | 20.3 | 18.3 | 21 |
| 20 | Albert Pujols | 23 | 24 | 17 | 18 | 21 | 21 | 20.7 | 20.8 | 7 |
| 21 | Adrian Gonzalez | 21 | 18 | 22 | 27 | 23 | 22 | 22.2 | 22.0 | 9 |
| 22 | Adam Duvall | 28 | 28 | 13 | 20 | 24 | 31 | 24.0 | 25.0 | 18 |
| 23 | Brandon Belt | 27 | 27 | 19 | 30 | 20 | 23 | 24.3 | 24.3 | 11 |
| 24 | Victor Martinez | 22 | 23 | 24 | 19 | 29 | 33 | 25.0 | 24.5 | 14 |
| 25 | Kendrys Morales | 19 | 20 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 34 | 25.0 | 24.3 | 15 |
| 26 | Matt Holliday | 24 | 29 | 27 | 22 | 25 | 27 | 25.7 | 25.8 | 7 |
| 27 | Brad Miller | 26 | 25 | 28 | 21 | 27 | 29 | 26.0 | 26.5 | 8 |
| 28 | Tommy Joseph | 30 | 30 | 26 | 15 | 30 | 41 | 28.7 | 29.0 | 26 |
| 29 | Mike Napoli | 29 | 31 | 38 | 29 | 22 | 24 | 28.8 | 28.3 | 16 |
| 30 | Eric Thames | 25 | 22 | 18 | 51 | 23 | 37 | 29.3 | 26.8 | 33 |
| 31 | Lucas Duda | 33 | 33 | 43 | 24 | 35 | 26 | 32.3 | 31.8 | 19 |
| 32 | Chris Carter | 31 | 32 | 55 | 23 | 41 | 25 | 34.5 | 32.3 | 32 |
| 33 | Javier Baez | 34 | 26 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 19 | 34.7 | 36.3 | 25 |
| 34 | Justin Bour | 32 | 41 | 32 | 37 | 31 | 36 | 34.8 | 34.3 | 10 |
| 35 | Jedd Gyorko | 38 | 37 | 46 | 39 | 34 | 30 | 37.3 | 37.0 | 16 |
| 36 | Mitch Moreland | 39 | 40 | 34 | 36 | 36 | 40 | 37.5 | 37.8 | 6 |
| 37 | Brandon Moss | 37 | 43 | 40 | 32 | 42 | 38 | 38.7 | 39.3 | 11 |
| 38 | Yulieski Gurriel | 36 | 44 | 33 | 31 | 46 | 44 | 39.0 | 39.3 | 15 |
| 39 | Hernan Perez | 46 | 35 | 45 | 49 | 32 | 28 | 39.2 | 39.5 | 21 |
| 40 | C.J. Cron | 35 | 36 | 44 | 51 | 37 | 35 | 39.7 | 38.0 | 16 |
| 41 | Josh Bell | 43 | 50 | 31 | 45 | 45 | 32 | 41.0 | 41.3 | 19 |
| 42 | Howie Kendrick | 47 | 34 | 29 | 38 | 49 | 53 | 41.7 | 42.0 | 24 |
| 43 | Travis Shaw | 44 | 49 | 36 | 42 | 38 | 46 | 42.5 | 42.5 | 13 |
| 44 | Ryan Zimmerman | 41 | 42 | 52 | 33 | 39 | 50 | 42.8 | 43.0 | 19 |
| 45 | Kennys Vargas | 40 | 58 | 39 | 34 | 51 | 39 | 43.5 | 42.3 | 24 |
| 46 | Steve Pearce | 42 | 38 | 50 | 51 | 43 | 42 | 44.3 | 44.3 | 13 |
| 47 | Joe Mauer | 53 | 56 | 35 | 50 | 48 | 48 | 48.3 | 49.8 | 21 |
| 48 | Adam Lind | 48 | 45 | 51 | 41 | 51 | 54 | 48.3 | 48.8 | 13 |
| 49 | Danny Valencia | 45 | 46 | 58 | 47 | 50 | 45 | 48.5 | 47.0 | 13 |
| 50 | A.J. Reed | 56 | 47 | 62 | 51 | 33 | 52 | 50.2 | 51.5 | 29 |
Is the formatting/site really weird for anyone else?
Yes. Tried to call it up a second time and no difference
I think there’s an unclosed HTML tag which is causing this to bleed into everything else.
Greg Bird?
the wird
Bird is a total miss and I know why – we made our pool of players based on AB from last year and then added as necessary. Obviously he didn’t bat at all and we forgot to add. Addendum tomorrow
I assume same goes for guys like Vogelbach and Bellinger?
Very much appreciate that these are coming out faster than the way too early rankings. Thanks!
(Eno made me do that)
Oh well that makes sense. Glad that guy resigned from RotoG. Good luck at a website that people only visit one month out of the year!
(Kidding, keep giving us pitching knowledge and writing about beer)
Frazier/Hanley/Abreu over Votto? I get that it probably got spit out from a projection system, but I’m not sure that info helps anybody.
I am really curious about this Votto explanation. Frazier > Votto seems crazy but maybe I am missing something!
Bellinger?
These are 12 team mixed rankings.
And now that AGon is dinged up, Bellinger is starting to approach the radar screen. Still looks like it should be Utley and others before Bellinger enters the picture.
Jeff – why so low on Votto and high on Trumbo?
I want to buy in on Tommy Joseph, cant wait to hear Jeff’s explanation on having him 11 spots higher than everyone else.
Steamer LOVES Tommy Joseph… but not as much as Thames (who will not have initial 1B eligibility.
Jeff Has Thames ranked 51st here (unranked), but in his article Auction League “No Scrubs”, laments not going the extra dollar to $18 on him and called him a $25 value. He did spend $14 on Duda who he ranks 24th. Am I missing something here?
Considered as an OF instead of 1B, perhaps?
Thames wasn’t originally in the spreadsheet. I added him late. Jeff probably didn’t notice.
Anyone else see Hosmer’s every other year thing? >105 wRC+ in odd years and <105wRC+ in even years.
Love the list. Btw, Luis Valbuena will get the majority of reps at first base for the Angels, not Pujols or Cron.
Really, then where are Pujols and Cron both going to play? They’re both better hitters than Valbuena, and the Angels only have one DH spot per game. Valbuena won’t get much playing time at 1B once Pujols returns from his surgery.
This is according to Billy Eppler and all the beat writers covering the team, not my opinion.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/deal-742042-angels-completed.html
Votto at 13 is pretty insane.
Brad…Bryant ranked #1 over Rizzo; and of course Goldschmidt!? So, I’m to assume that playing time at the position has no bearing on your rankings… be it 5, 10 or 20 game cutoff. I’m thinking you have these ranked just to be different, yes?
I’ll look forward to your ranking of catchers… Posey or Lucroy.
If you look for my Way Too Early rankings series, you’ll find your answer 🙂
As for Bryant, I’m taking him one spot before Goldschmidt. Rizzo’s a few spots back from there.
Trumbo only has OF eligibility in Yahoo.
Same with Adam Duvall and Javier Baez. Is this just an anticipation they’ll gain eligibility there? I have a hard time believing Baez will get 1B eligibility this season.
Bell is going to make you guys look very silly. I haven’t seen such an advanced approach in young hitter in quite a while.
Why are Mike and Jeff so low on Lucroy? I get he’s primarily a catcher. But it’s not like either Mike or Jeff didn’t rank Lucroy because he’s primarily a catcher. When comparing to Lucroy to others on this list, I find it very odd he’s below guys like Howie Kendrick, Thames, Zimmerman, Moss, Vargas, Chris Carter, Duvall.
Speaking for myself only, I hate ranking Cs at 1B bc I think it’s absolutely a losing strategy to start Cs at other positions so I don’t even get too bent on their slotting.
At any rate, my guess to their rankings is that they’re number based and he was pretty meh in ’15.
I agree that ranking C at 1B isn’t that valuable. I know I’m being picky with Lucroy here. It just stuck out to me how low Lucroy was ranked compared to other players, in general. I appreciate our feedback!
I totally hear you, it stood out to me, too. But it’s gotta be the 2015 season weighing him down, IMO!