The 2018 MLB season is just around the corner, with Spring Training starting later this month. Here at Call to the Pen, we’ll take a look at the top players at each position. This time we’ll take a look at the top first basemen.
After looking at the current top 10 MLB catchers last week, we’ll now rank the top 10 first baseman heading into the 2018 season. First basemen carry a potent bat and powerful physique. If a team isn’t getting power production out of their first baseman, that’s usually a problem. However, first base is a deep position and one of the more difficult spots to rank. Much like how MLB Network ranks the top 10 players at each position before the season, we’ll do the same.
MLB Network has a couple of analysts talk about their top 10, along with fan voting that cranks out a top ten list. The show also uses a tool called the shredder to display the best of the best. The shredder takes a combination of baseball statistics and analytics when coming up with the top 10. And taken into account is both old school and new school numbers.
According to MLB Network’s shredder, it ranked the top 10 first basemen right now as follows:
- Joey Votto
- Freddie Freeman
- Paul Goldschmidt
- Anthony Rizzo
- Cody Bellinger
- Jose Abreu
- Edwin Encarnacion
- Brandon Belt
- Matt Carpenter
- Carlos Santana
How will the shredder’s list compare to CTTP’s top 10? Let’s take a look at which first basemen crack our top 10 heading into the 2018 season.