MLB: The game’s most valuable first basemen
By Bill Felber
3. Josh Bell, Pittsburgh Pirates, $8.479 million value, $587,000 salary
Since the Pirates don’t have a lot of talent on hand, Josh Bell is almost certainly their prime asset, and he’s arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter. His on-field production alone justifies at least two years worth of an investment, and he is the team’s most logical candidate for a long-term extension. What does the Pirates new front office do?
Bell batted .277 in 2019 with an impressive 37 home runs, one of which reached the Allegheny River.
So we’re talking about legit power here. His .569 slugging average ranked second among all MLB first basemen, and priced out to $4.86 million in value.
He’s also adept at reaching base. Bell delivered a .367 on base average that included 74 bases on balls. Only four first basemen exceeded that, the .367 figure valuing out at $2.545 million.
His 1,161 innings on the field didn’t quite measure up to top 10 status, but it was still 240 innings above the positional average, equating to $991,000. His 96 assists were also solidly above the group average of 65, if not rising to an elite level.
Like Pete Alonso, Olson, Hoskins and Walker, Bell is part of that class of first basemen that is an MLB front office dream: His production far exceeds his cost. With free agency that will change, although the happy new for Pirate fans is that in Bell’s case free agency remains four seasons in the future.