RotoGraphs June Consensus Ranks: First Base

Okay, maybe I was wrong about the catchers (You can follow along using the rankings links on the right hand navigation bar). The top group definitely wasn’t performing well. I just never shop there, so maybe it was a blind spot.

But I do shop among the top first basemen. No shares of Miguel Cabrera — no number one picks, and no willingness to spend that much — and just a couple shares of Paul Goldschmidt, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Abreu and the like. Hey! Those guys are doing fine!

Not everyone is doing fine, of course. Chris Davis always struck out a ton, but it was injury that felled him. Eric Hosmer always hit too many balls on the ground, but it was this aging curve that probably should cause the most consternation. We were supposed to be worried about Matt Adams‘ strikeout rate and the fact that he was being shifted, and then he totally changed his approach and lost all the power but gained batting average.

A few nice surprises have probably covered you at the position, even if you happened to pick a loser. Victor Martinez has shown great power for a man his age with his history. Brandon Moss has upped his contact rate and is playing every day. Justin Morneau is healthy!

Again, this is for 5×5 roto, and though Jeff Zimmerman mostly uses the rest of season projections, it’s not just a computer ranking. We’ve left off the color coding in favor of a simple up or down arrow — those arrows are only next to big movers. The table is designed to be sortable in case you prefer one of the rankings.

RG	Player	Jeff	Zach	Mike	Eno
1	Miguel Cabrera	1	1	1	1
2	Paul Goldschmidt	2	3	2	2
3	Edwin Encarnacion	3	2	4	3
4	Jose Abreu	4	4	6	4
5	Freddie Freeman	5	6	5	5
6	Chris Davis	6	7	3	6
7	Albert Pujols	7	9	8	8
8	Adrian Gonzalez	9	10	7	9
9	Anthony Rizzo	8	12	10	7
10	Joey Votto	10	8	11	10
11	Victor Martinez	11	5	19	11
12	Brandon Moss	14	11	9	14
13	Michael Cuddyer	13	14	14	12
14	Buster Posey	15	13	13	13
15	Eric Hosmer	12	19	12	15
16	Joe Mauer	18	16	18	19
17	Allen Craig	17	20	15	20
18	Justin Morneau	16	15	26	16
19	Adam Lind	19	21	27	18
20	Matt Adams	26	28	16	17
21	Michael Morse	24	17	23	27
22	Jonathan Lucroy	35	18	17	24
23	Adam LaRoche	20	22	33	22
24	Mark Trumbo	21	34	20	23
25	Mike Napoli	30	24	22	26
26	Mark Teixeira	29	31	21	25
27	Jon Singleton	27	23	28	32
28	Carlos Santana	22	30	31	29
29	Brandon Belt	40	27	29	21
30	Chris Carter	28	42	25	31
31	Mitch Moreland	34	26	24	42
32	Ryan Howard	23	36	40	28
33	Mark Reynolds	25	42	35	30
34	Yonder Alonso	31	42	34	33
35	Lucas Duda	36	32	39	34
36	James Loney	41	25	38	37
37	Adam Dunn	37	37	36	36
38	Ike Davis	42	29	42	35
39	Nick Swisher	33	42	32	41
40	Chris Johnson	38	42	30	40
41	Garrett Jones	32	35	42	42
42	Juan Francisco	42	42	37	38
43	Justin Smoak	39	42	45	39
44	C.J. Cron	42	33	48	42

Ranked by one analyst: Daniel Nava, Conor Gillaspie, Logan Morrison, and Darin Ruf.