RADIO
The first three months of the 2013 fantasy baseball season are in the books, and now we’re really starting to get a feel for the fantasy baseball landscape. RotoBaller will be updating our positional rankings over the next week. Today, we’re revisiting the first base rankings we initially published in April and have updated in May and June. All the ranks below are compared to the FantasyPros ECR (Expert Consensus Rank), which will show you where RotoBaller differs with the expert community and by how much. Check out our tier-by-tier analysis below the rankings, and let us know where you agree or disagree with us!
Tier 1: How could you not rank Chris Davis as the #1 overall First Baseman? He has more than doubled Joey Votto’s HR and RBI output and is on pace to finish the season with 60 and 154 respectively, all whilst keeping his batting average well above .300. Paul Goldschmidt and Edwin Encarnacion deserve to be ranked among the elite 1B as well with the seasons they’re having.
Tier 2: Albert Pujols had a slightly better June than he did May, but the fact that he’s talking about offseason foot surgery in July makes me wonder if he will opt for the procedure much sooner if the Angels can’t make up any ground in the AL West or Wild Card standings. If I were a Pujols owner, I’d be trying to package him along with another player in a trade while I still can. Allen Craig went off in June and is on pace for 129 RBI. Freddie Freeman (.291/4/19) had a solid month of June, but Mark Trumbo (.200/6/14) and Anthony Rizzo (.231/2/12) both struggled. Billy Butler finally hit over .300 during a month (.323) but it was accompanied by a single HR and 13 RBI.
Tier 3: No two first basemen improved their stock more dramatically after the month of June than Eric Hosmer (.303/6/17/4) and Adam Lind (.350/7/22). Both make for great comeback stories, but keep a watchful eye on Lind in particular. His back has been bothering him and BB/K rate has been going in the opposite direction with each passing month. Lind is another player I’d be trying to trade right now, just in case the back issues persist and negatively impact his numbers. Adam Dunn is a fun player to own when he goes off like he did in June. Welcome back, Big Donkey.
Tier 4: The players in this tier are intriguing to me. I mean, I’d like to own them all based on upside potential, but there are risks associated with each player. Ike Davis and Logan Morrison, in particular, will look to do in July what Hosmer and Lind did in June. I’m not banking on either player to fulfill that statement, but it’s certainly not unattainable either.
Tier 5: Here’s your collection of “meh” or “blah” first basemen. I just can’t get excited about any of these options except for maybe Chris Carter (when he’s hot) and Yonder Alonso. Yawn.
Tier 6: I’m pretty sure that all four of these (oft) injured first basemen are on the wavier wire in my 12-team leagues. Based on past success alone, keep a loose eye on them if/when they return to health.
