2011 Player Rankings: First Basemen

The 2011 season (and fantasy drafts) are rapidly approaching, so we here at RotoGraphs put our slide rules down long enough to come up some aggregate positional rankings. Today I present to you first basemen, and I’ll be your guy at the position all season…

Grand Slams
Albert Pujols
Miguel Cabrera
Joey Votto

Albert is still king, drawing the top spot from all seven of us who put the rankings together. Welcome to the high rollers club, Joey.

Solo Shots
Adrian Gonzalez
Prince Fielder
Ryan Howard
Mark Teixeira

I’ll take any of these guys on my roster any day of the week. I think a case can be made that one of these four plus a first round middle infielder is greater than one of the three guys above plus a second round middle infielder.

Double into the Gaps
Adam Dunn
Kendry Morales
Justin Morneau
Billy Butler
Kevin Youkilis
Paul Konerko

Safe, reliable, will get you home at night. Youkilis has more value at third base.

Single and a Stolen Bases
Luke Scott
Aubrey Huff
Derrek Lee
Ike Davis
Carlos Pena
James Loney
Michael Cuddyer

They’ll get the job done without a significant investment. Davis is a nice little breakout candidate, and Pena could make it rain in Wrigley.

Infield Hits
Mitch Moreland
Adam LaRoche
Freddie Freeman
Garret Jones
Adam Lind
Lance Berkman
Daric Barton
Justin Smoak
Gaby Sanchez
Matt LaPorta
Carlos Lee

Everyone here is either on the way up or on the way down.

Catcher’s Interferences
Brett Wallace
Todd Helton
Brandon Allen
Dan Johnson
Lyle Overbay
Kila Ka’aihue
Brandon Belt
Juan Miranda
Brad Hawpe
Ty Wigginton
Yonder Alonso
Chris Carter
Jorge Cantu
Russell Branyan
Xavier Nady
Chris Davis
Eric Hinske
Jay Gibbons
Travis Ishikawa

You’d have to be in a really, really deep league to look at these guys on draft day.

* * *

Buster Posey, Victor Martinez, and Mike Napoli all have 1B eligibility, but they’re far more valuable behind the plate, hence their omission from the rankings. We’re going to have plenty of more first base related content over the next day or two, and throughout the season I’ll post updated rankings and examine players that may (or may not) help your team.