Top 25 First Basemen Rest of Season – Abandoning the Belli-Ship

Have you ever been the last person on a sinking ship? See that monster of a Carnival Cruise ship sinking off the coast of Florida? See the f*cking clown on top wearing a Cody Bellinger jersey? That’s me. Bellinger’s extreme upside kept me hanging onto the tiniest straw of hope for a turnaround down the stretch. This week, he tweaked a hamstring. He’s back in the lineup Tuesday night, but I’ve finally decided to throw in the towel. This is probably like when Rocky failed to throw in the towel and watched as Drago killed Apollo Creed….aka my teams with Bellinger are dead. The Dodgers’ slugger was easily the biggest faller of the week. But as one sun sets another Dodger rises in the west – that’s science, right? Max Muncy took a big leap into the top five. Muncy has managed to keep his walk rate above his strikeout rate all year and his Baseball Savant page is filled with the “red stats” that we want to see. Let’s dive into this week’s list and then we’ll talk about some movers.

While Kris Bryant and the rest of Chicago wait for the trade deadline to pass, the Cubs’ slugger has put together a decent July after struggling his way through June. April, May, and July all produced .300+ batting averages and we’ll just try and ignore that 9/79 stretch that was the month who shall not be named.

Like Bryant, Trey Mancini had a June to forget batting close to .200 after a nice start to the year. July has brought relief as Mancini is once again mashing. It’s good to see Trey fully healthy and on pace for close to 30 bombs. Also of note is his barrel rate, which at 13% is the highest of his career. The only thing that holds him back is the counting stats which are limited by playing for Baltimore.

What’s up with June being the month of death for first basemen? Like our previously mentioned contestants, Eric Hosmer had a brutal June but has rebounded nicely. Unlike Mancini, I love the Padres lineup, so the counting stats are there but the pop is significantly less with Hosmer. The hard-hit rate has been really impressive for the Padres’ first baseman, but the launch angle is a putrid 3.5 degrees which help to explain the lack of power.

I dropped Jared Walsh pretty significantly, but for now, it’s cautionary. Walsh was pulled from Monday’s game with a side injury and sat out Tuesday. It doesn’t appear to be a serious injury but anything in the direction of the oblique muscles scares me. I’ve been a big fan of Walsh all year, so hopefully, we see him return to the lineup this week.

Since returning from the IL, Joey Votto has been playing like a, well, younger version of himself. Since the beginning of June, Votto’s batting over .300 while mashing 10 bombs. If I knew he was going to stay healthy down the stretch, I’d have the courage to bump Votto into the Ryan McMahon range, but for now, he can chill out with Andrew Vaughn. Talk about two players on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Like Votto, Vaughn has caught fire and is flashing the skills that made him a top prospect. The White Sox outfield just got a little healthier with the return of Eloy Jimenez. We’ll have to keep an eye on Vaughn’s playing time once Luis Robert returns to the lineup. He’s currently on a rehab assignment in AAA.

Like Walsh, Luke Voit took a tumble on this list, but it may be precautionary in nature. The Yankees’ slugger hit the IL with a knee injury, but Aaron Boone made an indication that Voit was close to returning to the lineup. If he returns, we’ll see him bump back into the mid-teens range.