Fantasy Baseball: Rest of Season First Base Rankings

We’re just about two full months into the season and quite a bit has changed. This week, we’re taking a trip around the diamond and ranking each position for rest of season fantasy value. As always 5×5 rotisserie scoring is assumed.

Despite the fact that we’ve seen a couple of injuries amongst the preseason top-5 at the position, first base has become once again proven to be on of the deepest positions around the diamond. Prince Fielder‘s neck and Joey Votto‘s knee have demolished hopes for either of the pair returning draft day value, but the resurgence of Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez, the emergence of Jose Abreu and Brandon Moss coupled with the consistent dominance of Miguel Cabrera and Paul Goldschmidt keeps this position healthy. The back end of the first base ranking can also provide some value as platooning the likes of Adam Lind, Adam Dunn and Garrett Jones can make a fine stop-gap when covering from injury. Still, quite a bit has changed since draft day…

Rising

Jose Abreu: Abreu would have risen even further if healthy, but we’ve seen enough to know that this power stroke is for real.

Adam LaRoche: Averaging a consistet .250-27-90 per 162 games since the start of 2009, LaRoche continues to be an underrated asset in fantasy.

Victor Martinez: While you can’t completely expect the power pace to maintain, a professional hitter in a solid Tigers lineup belongs in the top-10 at the position.

Brandon Moss: Moss has mashed his way out of the platoon-me tier, showing an improved stroke against left-handed pitching while acing his way towards his second straight 30 homer campaign while eclipsing 100-RBI mark for the first time. He’s giving you a robust .353/.436/.676 versus southpaws after posting a meager .200/.261/.388 line against them in 2013.

Falling

Eric Hosmer: Many owners will cling to the notion that Hosmer can put together another marvelous post-break , but you won’t find us banking on a repeat. His ground ball rate reamins over 50%, not the type of number you are looking for from a masher, and while there’s certainly some poor luck wrapped up in a miniscule 1.3 HR/FB5 (career number at 11.2%), he also has an awful 9.8% infield flyball rate. That’s not to say that there may be something two his Jekyll and Hide first-half/second-half splits, it’s just not something we are willing to pay for.

Joey Votto: Votto tumbles down our rankings as he’s been forced to the disabled list with a lower quad injury and an uncertain timetable. He’s still showing excellent plate discipline, striking out just 17.9% of the time, compared tp a 19.1 BB% and despite some disappointing counting stats, Votto’s ISO slugging is actually a couple of ticks higher than it was when he slugged 24 home runs last season. He slips to the back end of the top-10 for the moment, but this remains a valuable player with a nice buy low opportunity.

Billy Butler: We can all agree that Billy Butler’s 29-homer assault in 2012 is the outlier on his career track. Still, B-But is a rock-solid .300 hitter entrenched in the middle of the Royals lineup. The run production is coming an he’s shown at least a modest improvement, batting .247 in May.

2014 Rest of Season First Base Rankings