RealGM Analysis
First Basemen
Tier 1: Paul Goldschmidt, Chris Davis
Tier 2: Prince Fielder, Edwin Encarnacion, Joey Votto
Tier 3: Freddie Freeman, Buster Posey
Tier 4: Eric Hosmer, Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez, Joe Mauer, David Ortiz, Allen Craig, Carlos Santana
Tier 5: Jose Abreu, Billy Butler, Anthony Rizzo, Mark Trumbo, Matt Adams, Mike Napoli, Michael Cuddyer, Brandon Belt
Tier 6: Brandon Moss, Mark Teixeira, Kendrys Morales, Ryan Howard, Nick Swisher, Victor Martinez, Justin Morneau, Chris Carter
* Note: Players in bold are those whom I expect to outperform their ADPs.
We have new kings on the 1B mountain, with Paul Goldschmidt and Chris Davis atop the perch.
Tiers 2 and 3 have strong performers as well, with tier 4 generally housing players with potential for strong seasons, but also with more risk (age, injury, etc.).
Eric Hosmer raked during the second half of 2013, and I firmly remain on his bandwagon.
Albert Pujols carries injury risk, but he’s fallen quite far down draft boards, further than warranted.
As noted in the catcher rankings, I think Joe Mauer produces strong numbers this season, albeit his best value would be in the catcher slot.
Now for one of my favorite roll-of-the-dice players this year, how about Jose Abreu? Dude’s got serious power. Sure, Abreu will strike out quite often (note this in points leagues), but he has an incredibly high ceiling, and based on where he figures to go in the draft, he provides one of the best chances at a high ROI.
Please note in relation to the catchers listed here (Posey, Mauer and Santana) that in each case, the fact that they have catcher eligibility has factored into their first base ranking. So in other words, if these players solely had first base eligibility, they would be ranked a bit lower among other first basemen than what is reflected above.
Neema Hodjat is the fantasy sports writer for RealGM. He can be reached via email at nhodjat@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @NeemaHodjat.
