Yesterday I provided my catcher rankings for your upcoming fantasy baseball drafts and today, we move along to first basemen. I’ve ranked my top 60 options and broke down 40 of them who could be of some benefit in standard 12 team leagues. Before we get to the rankings, however, let me tell you about the key pieces I’ll be trying to land in my drafts.
If you listen to my podcast, you are well aware that Matt Olson is not only my favorite first basemen to own this year, but quite possibly the best-valued hitter at any position. He set historical figures with his homers in a limited sample size and possesses legitimate 50+ homer upside in his sophomore campaign. The batting average may end up in the Joey Gallo range, but .250 is not out of the equation either. The most important thing about him, however, is that while he outperformed Rhys Hoskins in both the minor leagues and big leagues last season, you can get him a full 60 picks later. If someone in my leagues reaches even higher than I am willing to on Olson, I’m plenty happy to settle for Ryan Zimmerman, who outperformed Cody Bellinger, Anthony Rizzo and Jose Abreu last year at the plate. While there is some risk with his health, there is no better position to buy a lottery ticket in because worst case scenario is he ends up on the DL and you can likely scoop up a Logan Morrison or Lucas Duda. My absolute fallback plan is Hanley Ramirez who also has a history filled with injury. He is expected to bat third in the terrific Red Sox lineup and should rack up the RBI and runs if it is true. Remember, he is just one year removed from hitting .286 with 30 homers and 110 RBI. The one player I’m avoiding drafting anywhere close to his ADP is Paul Goldschmidt. Nobody is immune to physics so we can expect a substantial dip in HR, RBI and R from the annual first round. The humidor is enough to knock him completely out of my top 15.
Gear up for your draft with our MLB Draft Simulator 
ADP – Average Draft Position
Nail your draft with our award-winning fantasy baseball tools
Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | SoundCloud | TuneIn | Google Play
