First Base: Updated March Rankings and Tiers

We rolled out our final update on 2017 rankings this past weekend. While there haven’t been seismic shifts, some players have naturally seen their stocks rise or fall since our initial valuations were made in December. All week long, we’re looking at the biggest movers and shakers at each position. In this installment, we’ll present our updated first base rankings, tiers and auction values.

As before, this round of rankings features picks from myself, Nick Mariano, Bill Dubiel, Brad Johnson, Harris Yudin and Jeff Kahntroff.

Check out all of our updated rankings. Adjust your league size, and export your rankings. Tiers, auction values, prospects, news and more. It's all free.

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2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: First Basemen (March Updates)

Ranking	Tier	Player	Position	Brad	Kyle	Nick	Bill	Harris	Jeff	Auction $
1	1	Paul Goldschmidt	1B	5	4	5	4	6	6	44
2	2	Miguel Cabrera	1B	9	9	11	9	10	13	38
3	2	Anthony Rizzo	1B	8	10	10	11	12	21	36
4	3	Joey Votto	1B	22	22	16	15	13	20	33
5	3	Edwin Encarnacion	1B	34	35	28	25	20	31	29
6	3	Freddie Freeman	1B	31	33	30	39	18	26	29
7	4	Wil Myers	1B	36	60	39	42	45	36	23
8	4	Chris Davis	1B	48	53	68	57	56	37	21
9	4	Hanley Ramirez	1B	46	52	53	46	62	63	21
10	4	Matt Carpenter	1B/2B/3B	44	48	58	58	65	52	21
11	4	Jose Abreu	1B	42	54	43	56	57	81	21
12	4	Carlos Santana	1B	77	114	98	103	108	84	16
13	5	Kendrys Morales	1B	142	150	69	111	172	82	13
14	5	Eric Hosmer	1B	148	132	116	67	134	136	13
15	5	Albert Pujols	1B	158	113	103	77	140	147	12
16	5	Adrian Gonzalez	1B	101	115	121	141	139	197	9
17	5	Victor Martinez	1B	153	141	112	125	171	239	7
18	5	Brandon Belt	1B	169	206	154	172	134	198	5
19	5	Matt Holliday	1B/OF	213	178	140	159	174	184	5
20	5	Greg Bird	1B	171	157	192	188	228	238	5
21	6	Tommy Joseph	1B	217	217	207	208	186	209	4
22	6	Eric Thames	1B	151	170	222	238	298	183	4
23	6	Mike Napoli	1B	233	215	227	181	184	240	4
24	6	Chris Carter	1B	239	254	264	221	297	300	3
25	6	Lucas Duda	1B	255	264	212	286	284	299	2
26	6	C.J. Cron	1B	293	257	267	191	334	302	2
27	6	Justin Bour	1B	312	205	240	324	286	298	2
28	6	Joshua Bell	1B/OF	284	289	296	353	227	268	2
29	7	Steve Pearce	1B/2B/OF	302	370	245	374	350	228	1
30	7	Mitch Moreland	1B	311	373	269	303	285	444	1
31	7	Danny Valencia	1B/3B/OF	374	297	379	218	367	363	1
32	7	Ryan Zimmerman	1B	338	398	301	384	329	360	1
33	7	Travis Shaw	1B/3B	396	409	328	420	368	355	1
34	7	Joe Mauer	1B	434	371	348	409	328	445	1
35	7	Byung-ho Park	1B	356	375	375	467	402	380	1
36	7	Adam Lind	1B	367	387	350	410	400	443	1
37	7	Wilmer Flores	1B/3B	410	393	395	427	369		1
38	7	Dan Vogelbach	1B	417	453	368	338	401	479	1
39	7	A.J. Reed	1B	384	444	369	416	460	400	1
40	7	Jefry Marte	1B/OF	453	314	420	397	457	478	1
41	7	Matt Adams	1B	403	406	387	414	461	481	1
42	7	Kennys Vargas	1B	466	474	360	423	459	413	1
43	7	Luis Valbuena	1B/3B	486	410	405	437	458	402	1
44	7	David Freese	1B/3B	416	493	432	424	370	487	1
45	7	Tyler Austin	1B		497	389	425	464		1
46	7	Logan Morrison	1B	432	423			462	496	1
47	7	Justin Smoak	1B	497		465		399		1
48	7	Marwin Gonzalez	1B					484		1

First Base Rankings Analysis: The Risers

Kendrys Morales, Toronto Blue Jays

Those of you who read the debate on Morales between yours truly and Bill Dubiel knew I’d be moving Morales up on my board, but I wasn’t the only ranker to do so. Nick Mariano bumped the veteran up from just outside the top 100 to inside the top 70. I’m not quite that bullish, but there’s a lot to like here. Morales will hit in the middle of a Jays lineup that should again be one of the better groups in the game. He’s a good bet for strong power and run production, and won’t kill you in batting average.

Matt Holliday, New York Yankees

Holliday didn’t budge in the consensus rankings, just my own. Given that I was the low man on the totem pole, though, that makes some sense. The batting average woes last season were almost certainly a mirage. Despite his contact quality, batted ball distribution and strikeout rate all being in line with his career averages, he suffered from a .253 BABIP, 80 points below his career mark. He’s also going to be playing half his games in Yankee Stadium, one of the most homer-friendly park in baseball. Finally, he’ll be able to DH, increasing his chances of staying healthy.

Eric Thames, Milwaukee Brewers

It was tough to know what to do with Thames in our initial rankings, hence the ultimately huge bump he got from me by the final update. The projection systems love him based on his Ruthian performance in the KBO, and he’s recovered from a slow start this spring with an .801 OPS through Saturday’s action. If MLB pitchers can’t find an exploitable weakness, Thames could conceivably parlay his swing and friendly park into a 40 HR season. Is that the most likely outcome? Probably not, but it’s worth gambling on at his current price.

First Base Rankings Analysis: The Fallers

Edwin Encarnacion, Cleveland Indians

Encarnacion remains in the top five in our consensus ranks, but a few members of the panel did bump him down slightly, including me. FanGraphs’ Andrew Perpetua wrote a great article a few weeks ago about Statcast data for some aging sluggers, Encarnacion among them. There are some real red flags here, especially with Encarnacion entering his age-34 season and moving to a less homer-friendly division.

Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals

Jeff was the only writer to move Carpenter down by an appreciable amount, but the margin is so thin between the top options at first base that it dropped him two spots in the consensus. The veteran followed up his power breakout in 2015 with an identical slugging percentage and a higher hard contact rate, while trimming strikeouts and adding to his already excellent walk rate. Only injury kept him from equaling his home run total or run production. In fact, injury may well have kept him from an even better season in 2016. When Carpenter strained his oblique just before the All-Star break, he was hitting .298/.420/.568. He was walking nearly as often as he struck out, had a .270 ISO, and was on pace for 30 homers, 110 runs, and 105 RBI. He missed the rest of the month and was clearly not the same player upon his return. Carpenter acknowledged in a recent interview that he never felt healthy and altered his swing because of the injury.

Adrian Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodgers

Jeff and Harris dropped AGon on their boards, and I’m not sure why. Maybe they took exception to his criticism of the World Baseball Classic? Whatever the case, Gonzalez’s first half struggles were attributable to a back injury. Once he recovered from that, he resumed the same steady production that has made him a reliable fantasy option for the last decade-plus. Cody Bellinger is the future, but Gonzalez still has the job locked down.