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First Base: Updated March Rankings and Tiers

We rolled out our final update on 2017 rankings this past weekend. While there haven’t been seismic shifts, some players have naturally seen their stocks rise or fall since our initial valuations were made in December. All week long, we’re looking at the biggest movers and shakers at each position. In this installment, we’ll present our updated first base rankings, tiers and auction values.

As before, this round of rankings features picks from myself, Nick Mariano, Bill DubielBrad JohnsonHarris Yudin and Jeff Kahntroff.

Check out all of our updated rankings. Adjust your league size, and export your rankings. Tiers, auction values, prospects, news and more. It's all free.

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2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: First Basemen (March Updates)

Ranking Tier Player Position Brad Kyle Nick Bill Harris Jeff Auction $
1 1 Paul Goldschmidt 1B 5 4 5 4 6 6 44
2 2 Miguel Cabrera 1B 9 9 11 9 10 13 38
3 2 Anthony Rizzo 1B 8 10 10 11 12 21 36
4 3 Joey Votto 1B 22 22 16 15 13 20 33
5 3 Edwin Encarnacion 1B 34 35 28 25 20 31 29
6 3 Freddie Freeman 1B 31 33 30 39 18 26 29
7 4 Wil Myers 1B 36 60 39 42 45 36 23
8 4 Chris Davis 1B 48 53 68 57 56 37 21
9 4 Hanley Ramirez 1B 46 52 53 46 62 63 21
10 4 Matt Carpenter 1B/2B/3B 44 48 58 58 65 52 21
11 4 Jose Abreu 1B 42 54 43 56 57 81 21
12 4 Carlos Santana 1B 77 114 98 103 108 84 16
13 5 Kendrys Morales 1B 142 150 69 111 172 82 13
14 5 Eric Hosmer 1B 148 132 116 67 134 136 13
15 5 Albert Pujols 1B 158 113 103 77 140 147 12
16 5 Adrian Gonzalez 1B 101 115 121 141 139 197 9
17 5 Victor Martinez 1B 153 141 112 125 171 239 7
18 5 Brandon Belt 1B 169 206 154 172 134 198 5
19 5 Matt Holliday 1B/OF 213 178 140 159 174 184 5
20 5 Greg Bird 1B 171 157 192 188 228 238 5
21 6 Tommy Joseph 1B 217 217 207 208 186 209 4
22 6 Eric Thames 1B 151 170 222 238 298 183 4
23 6 Mike Napoli 1B 233 215 227 181 184 240 4
24 6 Chris Carter 1B 239 254 264 221 297 300 3
25 6 Lucas Duda 1B 255 264 212 286 284 299 2
26 6 C.J. Cron 1B 293 257 267 191 334 302 2
27 6 Justin Bour 1B 312 205 240 324 286 298 2
28 6 Joshua Bell 1B/OF 284 289 296 353 227 268 2
29 7 Steve Pearce 1B/2B/OF 302 370 245 374 350 228 1
30 7 Mitch Moreland 1B 311 373 269 303 285 444 1
31 7 Danny Valencia 1B/3B/OF 374 297 379 218 367 363 1
32 7 Ryan Zimmerman 1B 338 398 301 384 329 360 1
33 7 Travis Shaw 1B/3B 396 409 328 420 368 355 1
34 7 Joe Mauer 1B 434 371 348 409 328 445 1
35 7 Byung-ho Park 1B 356 375 375 467 402 380 1
36 7 Adam Lind 1B 367 387 350 410 400 443 1
37 7 Wilmer Flores 1B/3B 410 393 395 427 369 1
38 7 Dan Vogelbach 1B 417 453 368 338 401 479 1
39 7 A.J. Reed 1B 384 444 369 416 460 400 1
40 7 Jefry Marte 1B/OF 453 314 420 397 457 478 1
41 7 Matt Adams 1B 403 406 387 414 461 481 1
42 7 Kennys Vargas 1B 466 474 360 423 459 413 1
43 7 Luis Valbuena 1B/3B 486 410 405 437 458 402 1
44 7 David Freese 1B/3B 416 493 432 424 370 487 1
45 7 Tyler Austin 1B 497 389 425 464 1
46 7 Logan Morrison 1B 432 423 462 496 1
47 7 Justin Smoak 1B 497 465 399 1
48 7 Marwin Gonzalez 1B 484 1

 

First Base Rankings Analysis: The Risers

Kendrys Morales, Toronto Blue Jays

Those of you who read the debate on Morales between yours truly and Bill Dubiel knew I’d be moving Morales up on my board, but I wasn’t the only ranker to do so. Nick Mariano bumped the veteran up from just outside the top 100 to inside the top 70. I’m not quite that bullish, but there’s a lot to like here. Morales will hit in the middle of a Jays lineup that should again be one of the better groups in the game. He’s a good bet for strong power and run production, and won’t kill you in batting average.

Matt Holliday, New York Yankees

Holliday didn’t budge in the consensus rankings, just my own. Given that I was the low man on the totem pole, though, that makes some sense. The batting average woes last season were almost certainly a mirage. Despite his contact quality, batted ball distribution and strikeout rate all being in line with his career averages, he suffered from a .253 BABIP, 80 points below his career mark. He’s also going to be playing half his games in Yankee Stadium, one of the most homer-friendly park in baseball. Finally, he’ll be able to DH, increasing his chances of staying healthy.

Eric Thames, Milwaukee Brewers

It was tough to know what to do with Thames in our initial rankings, hence the ultimately huge bump he got from me by the final update. The projection systems love him based on his Ruthian performance in the KBO, and he’s recovered from a slow start this spring with an .801 OPS through Saturday’s action. If MLB pitchers can’t find an exploitable weakness, Thames could conceivably parlay his swing and friendly park into a 40 HR season. Is that the most likely outcome? Probably not, but it’s worth gambling on at his current price.

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First Base Rankings Analysis: The Fallers

Edwin Encarnacion, Cleveland Indians

Encarnacion remains in the top five in our consensus ranks, but a few members of the panel did bump him down slightly, including me. FanGraphs’ Andrew Perpetua wrote a great article a few weeks ago about Statcast data for some aging sluggers, Encarnacion among them. There are some real red flags here, especially with Encarnacion entering his age-34 season and moving to a less homer-friendly division.

Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals

Jeff was the only writer to move Carpenter down by an appreciable amount, but the margin is so thin between the top options at first base that it dropped him two spots in the consensus. The veteran followed up his power breakout in 2015 with an identical slugging percentage and a higher hard contact rate, while trimming strikeouts and adding to his already excellent walk rate. Only injury kept him from equaling his home run total or run production. In fact, injury may well have kept him from an even better season in 2016. When Carpenter strained his oblique just before the All-Star break, he was hitting .298/.420/.568. He was walking nearly as often as he struck out, had a .270 ISO, and was on pace for 30 homers, 110 runs, and 105 RBI. He missed the rest of the month and was clearly not the same player upon his return. Carpenter acknowledged in a recent interview that he never felt healthy and altered his swing because of the injury.

Adrian Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodgers

Jeff and Harris dropped AGon on their boards, and I’m not sure why. Maybe they took exception to his criticism of the World Baseball Classic? Whatever the case, Gonzalez’s first half struggles were attributable to a back injury. Once he recovered from that, he resumed the same steady production that has made him a reliable fantasy option for the last decade-plus. Cody Bellinger is the future, but Gonzalez still has the job locked down.

 

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