Fantasy Insight: Top 10 First Basemen

Italicized (number) is projected draft round

1. Albert Pujols- St. Louis (1)

2. Joey Votto- Cincinnati (1)

3. Miguel Cabrera- Detroit (1)

4. Adrian Gonzalez- Boston (2)

5. Prince Fielder- Milwaukee (2)

6. Mark Teixeira- New York (3)

7. Ryan Howard- Philadelphia (2)

8. Justin Morneau- Minnesota (4)

9. Kendry Morales- Los Angeles (6)

10. Billy Butler- Kansas City (9)

Sleeper: Eric Hosmer- Kansas City

            1. Albert Pujols

The overall first pick, and so the overall first baseman in fantasy. Pujols is ridiculous with a bat, and he’s never hit under .300, less than 30 homeruns, or had less than 100 RBIs in a season. You can also figure in at least 10 SBs and 100 runs scored (he’s only scored less than 100 once, and that was ’07 when he had 99). The best way to sum up Pujols is his career OPS of 1.009. Pujols has never shown any sign of slowing down, and injuries have never been an issue for him, which is why he has never had less than 634 PAs in a season. Unless you have pick numero uno on draft day don’t expect to see him on your team; however, if you do have the first pick you could do no wrong by picking Prince Albert.         

2. Joey Votto

If anyone is going to give Pujols a run as the number one pick, it’s going to be Votto. He has been fantastic in his short career and keeps getting better; last year drafters finally took notice. His power ceiling is through the roof; he’s never had an ISO less than .200 in his career. But, he doesn’t just do it with power. The last two seasons he’s hit over .320, had an OBP over .400, and last year he finally brook the 1.00 OPS plateau with a .600 SLG. His first year in the minors Votto stole 24 bases, and he had 16 bags last year, so he’s got speed. At a young 28 you can’t do wrong with Votto, and with him hitting his prime he could go 40-20 this season.

3. Miguel Cabrera

He’s slow, and he doesn’t play much defense, but boy can he hit. Miggy is the centerpiece of the Tiger’s offense and it seems he’s always in the MVP discussions. He racks up hits, posts averages over .300 and OBPs over .400, and last season had a ridiculous ISO of .294. The biggest issue holding Cabrera back is the off field indiscretions. Cabrera seemed to turn his behavior around after entering a rehab center before last season, but he was arrested at the start of Spring Training for drunk driving. If more issues take place, or the police try and take the charges further, Miggy could start to lose some playtime.

4. Adrian Gonzalez

We all know A-Gon’s story right now, because I’ve been promoting his value since I picked him as my 2011 AL MVP. His numbers aren't elite (yet), but when you consider that he’s spent half of his career in Petco Park (the best pitchers stadium in all of baseball) it’s hard to doubt his power and offensive clout. He’s had four straight years of over 30 homeruns. Looking at his home/run splits says a lot about what we could expect from him. Playing in Fenway, a hitters haven, he could belt a lot of opposite field homeruns while posting 100+ RBIs and runs.

5. Prince Fielder

The five spot was a toss up. Teixeira is a great hitter, but he is notorious for his awful slow starts, and last season his numbers were underwhelming. Howard is the same kind of hitter as Fielder, but strikes out far too often. Prince Fielder has fantastic patience and power and has a great supporting lineup surrounding him. He doesn’t move too quickly on the base paths, but that hasn’t stopped him from scoring 100+ runs in the past. Fielder is good for 30 bombs, a high OBP, and lots of RBIs. And, despite his size, he’s never had an issue with injuries; two seasons ago he played 162 games and he played in 161 last. You can’t go wrong here.