We’ve only known this MLB season four weeks and three days but to me, it feels like nine weeks and five days. The Luke Voit injury felt like a week and the Cody Bellinger injury felt like five days. The Mike Moustakas injury seemed like a week again and the Josh Bell COVID scare felt like eight days. If you’ve seen the classic Steve Martin movie “The Jerk”, you’ll understand that reference. If you haven’t, then I think you can relate to it if you’ve dealt with any of the myriads of injuries from the first month. Four weeks into the season and I feel like I’ve lived a lifetime of baseball this year. But today’s a new day, so let’s get out of our funk and enjoy the sport we all know and love. Let’s talk about some first basemen. Let’s take a look at the list and then we’ll talk about the movers.
| Rank | Player | Position | Team | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freddie Freeman | 1B | Braves | – |
| 2 | Vlad Guerrero, Jr. | 1B | Blue Jays | – |
| 3 | Pete Alonso | 1B | Mets | +1 |
| 4 | Jose Abreu | 1B | White Sox | -1 |
| 5 | Paul Goldschmidt | 1B | Cardinals | – |
| 6 | Matt Olson | 1B | Athletics | +2 |
| 7 | DJ LeMahieu | 1B/2B/3B | Yankees | – |
| 8 | Max Muncy | 1B/2B/3B | Dodgers | +1 |
| 9 | Jared Walsh | 1B | Angels | +2 |
| 10 | Eric Hosmer | 1B | Padres | – |
| 11 | Anthony Rizzo | 1B | Cubs | +2 |
| 12 | Cody Bellinger | 1B/OF | Dodgers | -6 |
| 13 | Rhys Hoskins | 1B | Phillies | -1 |
| 14 | Mike Moustakas | 1B/2B/3B | Reds | +1 |
| 15 | Nate Lowe | 1B | Rangers | -1 |
| 16 | Carlos Santana | 1B | Royals | – |
| 17 | Ryan McMahon | 1B/2B/3B | Rockies | +1 |
| 18 | Yuli Gurriel | 1B | Astros | +3 |
| 19 | C.J. Cron | 1B | Rockies | +1 |
| 20 | Trey Mancini | 1B/OF | Orioles | NR |
| 21 | Luke Voit | 1B | Yankees | +3 |
| 22 | Jesus Aguilar | 1B | Marlins | NR |
| 23 | Dominic Smith | 1B/OF | Mets | -6 |
| 24 | Andrew Vaughn | 1B/OF | White Sox | NR |
| 25 | Joey Votto | 1B | Reds | NR |
I’ve adjusted my thinking some with these articles. I was stuck on seeing players that were popping over the last couple of weeks as opposed to future performance. Just a reminder, I’m using ESPN’s position eligibility. If there’s a player that qualifies at first base on Yahoo! or CBS, feel free to post a comment and I’ll let you know approximately where they’d fit in.
You have to travel down the list a little to find our first big mover, Cody Bellinger. Currently, Bellinger is on the IL while recovering from a stress fracture, and finding a decent timeline on his return is like finding a needle in a haystack. For now, I’ve bumped him down to 12 but he could be traveling further if we get word that he’s going to miss extended time.
The biggest riser of the year has been Jared Walsh, who continues to mash. Over the last two weeks, he’s continued to bat over .300 while mashing two homers in a great lineup. When we dive into his plate discipline, we find more good surprises. Walsh has managed to keep his swinging strike rate down while maintaining his barrel rate in the top 77th percentage.
I think I’ve finally settled into a good resting spot with Ryan McMahon and C.J. Cron. They’re going to have their hot streaks and their chilly streaks but they’ll provide you with decent pop. I prefer them in daily leagues versus weekly leagues so we can sit them when they’re on the road in a tough matchup.
Trey Mancini earned first base eligibility and makes his debut on this list at 20. Mancini’s a great rebound story and I root for him to shoot up this list. I love his bat but ultimately, the Orioles lineup definitely hurts him some.
The news on Luke Voit seems promising for a return early next week, so he takes a preemptive bounce up. Fingers crossed for a healthy Voit moving forward. A healthy Voit will provide a nice punch in the arm to any team that’s been lacking his power while he’s been on the IL.
I mentioned earlier that I was taking more of a season-long approach to this list and that’s exactly what I’m doing with Joey Votto. For his part, Votto has struggled at the dish a little but I have faith that things will come around (for all of the Reds for that matter). Overall, Votto should make the move towards improving your batting average and helping out the counting stats.
Finally, Andrew Vaughn and Jesus Aguilar are our last two new additions. I’m excited to see what Vaughn can do with regular plate appearances in the stacked White Sox lineup. The upside is certainly there and with him only being rostered in 32% of ESPN leagues, now’s the time to add him. Jesus Aguilar has quietly (I guess not that quietly considering he’s mashing monster homers) been mashing for the Marlins. In addition to popping homers, he’s also flashed some very impressive plate discipline in the early going. I definitely slept on Aguilar up to this point, but he has my full attention moving forward.
Alright, now it’s your turn. Who’d I miss? Or who are you still holding out hope for (looking at you Josh Bell)? Leave a comment and we’ll keep this conversation rolling.
