Nothing makes my heart happier than baseball….sorry kids and wife and family and dogs. Actually, I think I’m in big trouble for that statement. One year ago, my kids had their first T-Ball practice before the world shut down. Flash forward to this week when T-Ball started back up and, hi, my name is Coach Richardo. There’s so much joy in teaching kids the basics. Fielding a grounder, throwing to first base, the proper launch angle to be a home run masher! Speaking of home run mashing, I need to update my top 25 first basemen for the rest of the season. When the original top 25 came out, C.J. Cron was just a NRI, Luke Voit was healthy, and the Nationals didn’t have an outbreak. Let’s take a look at the updated list and then we’ll talk a little bit about the movers.
| Rank | Player | Position | Team | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freddie Freeman | 1B | Braves | – |
| 2 | Cody Bellinger | 1B/OF | Dodgers | – |
| 3 | Jose Abreu | 1B | White Sox | – |
| 4 | DJ LeMahieu | 1B/2B/3B | Yankees | – |
| 5 | Pete Alonso | 1B | Mets | – |
| 6 | Paul Goldschmidt | 1B | Cardinals | +1 |
| 7 | Vlad Guerrero, Jr. | 1B | Blue Jays | +1 |
| 8 | Matt Olson | 1B | Athletics | +1 |
| 9 | Matt Muncy | 1B/2B/3B | Dodgers | +1 |
| 10 | Anthony Rizzo | 1B | Cubs | +1 |
| 11 | Mike Moustakas | 1B/2B | Reds | +2 |
| 12 | Eric Hosmer | 1B | Padres | +3 |
| 13 | Rhys Hoskins | 1B | Phillies | +3 |
| 14 | C.J. Cron | 1B | Rockies | NR |
| 15 | Dominic Smith | 1B/OF | Mets | -1 |
| 16 | Miguel Sano | 1B | Twins | -1 |
| 17 | Carlos Santana | 1B | Royals | +3 |
| 18 | Josh Bell | 1B | Nationals | -6 |
| 19 | Yuli Gurriel | 1B | Astros | +3 |
| 20 | Nate Lowe | 1B | Rangers | NR |
| 21 | Jake Cronenworth | 1B/2B/SS | Padres | +2 |
| 22 | Jared Walsh | 1B | Angels | +1 |
| 23 | Luke Voit | 1B | Yankees | -17 |
| 24 | Ryan Mountcastle | 1B/OF | Orioles | -5 |
| 25 | Christian Walker | 1B | Diamondbacks | -6 |
I’m going to jump around a little so bear with me. First, I’ll address the Yankees fans that I’m sure are furious about Luke Voit. The Yankees slugger underwent surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus and is expected back “sometime in May”. I’m a realist, so I’m assuming Voit comes back mid-May until we get more information. Four and a half months of Voit is still valuable as we know he can catch fire.
I’ve also bumped down Josh Bell. HIPAA laws prevent us from knowing whether Bell tested positive or is just quarantining because he was a close contact. Until we get more information, we’re kind of in a holding pattern with Bell. If we find out he tested positive and was symptomatic, he’ll plummet in my ROS rankings.
Up at the top, not much changes for now. I didn’t want to wildly react to a hot four games. Most of the movement from Paul Goldschmidt to Rhys Hoskins was due to the Voit injury and potential Bell COVID news. Real talk – I needed to update this list at the end of March before most drafts went off. That way, C.J. Cron wouldn’t look so ridiculous. Cron joined the Rockies as a non-roster invitee and won the starting job pretty easily. I think I ranked Cron pretty aggressively. He’s got a great home park and showed in the first series against the Dodgers that it doesn’t matter who’s pitching when it comes to Coors.
I mentioned earlier that I’m a realist. I’m also self-deprecating, so I have no issues laying my cards on the table and telling you I streamed Kyle Gibson in his first start against the Royals. Flat out, I didn’t expect them to be good, especially after losing Adalberto Mondesi to the IL. And then they murdered every pitch that came out of Gibson’s hand and I cried at the astronomical ERA that my roto team had and sadness was had by all. I tell you that heart-breaking story to tell you I bumped up Carlos Santana slightly because maybe he’s not in the worst lineup in baseball.
On the other side of that Royals/Rangers game was current (as of this writing) AL RBI leader, Nate Lowe. Guess who else I streamed on Opening Day? That’s right, Brad Keller. Frankly, I thought this Rangers lineup looked like hot garbage, but currently, they’re averaging almost 6 runs per game. Lowe’s someone to go out and add now, as he’s only rostered in 17.5% of ESPN leagues.
With Fernando Tatis, Jr.’s shoulder injury, I bumped Jake Cronenworth up slightly as he should see an uptick in plate appearances. Finally, Ryan Mountcastle and Christian Walker took a bump down as they’ve started off super chilly at the plate. I’m not panicking too much though, especially with Walker who gets three games in Coors this week.
Questions, comments, concerns? Let me hear them and we’ll continue the first base conversation in the comment section!
