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Top 10 fantasy baseball first basemen heading into the 2022 season

By Michael Cahill

TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 01: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 of the Toronto Blue Jays ahead of their MLB game against the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre on October 1, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 01: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 of the Toronto Blue Jays ahead of their MLB game against the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre on October 1, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images) /
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Oct 2, 2021; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo (48) hits a solo home run in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2021; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo (48) hits a solo home run in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports /

Fantasy baseball season is upon us. Over the next couple of weeks leading up to Opening Day, many people will draft their fantasy teams for the 2022 season.

This list is a ranking of the top 10 first basemen you want on your fantasy baseball team.

Let’s start off with a few guys who just missed the list.

Anthony Rizzo was one of the most consistent first basemen in the league from 2014 through 2019, but he’s started to drop off as he’s aged. He was still an above-average player in 2021, posting a .248/.344/.440/.783 slash line with 22 homers, 22 doubles, and 61 RBI. Those aren’t the eye-popping numbers we have gotten used to seeing from him, but in tiny Yankee stadium, expect more in 2022.

Jared Walsh had a breakout season last year. The lefty slashed .277/.340/.509/.850 with 29 homers, 34 doubles, and 98 RBI. He’s not going to walk much (40th percentile in walk rate) and he is going to strikeout a lot (20th percentile strikeout rate), but he barrels the ball better than most (75th percentile barrel rate).

Ryan Mountcastle had a big 2021 in some aspects, yet struggled in others. His final slash line was .255/.309/.487/.796 with 33 homers, 23 doubles, and 89 RBI. The counting stats are good, as were some of his Baseball Savant metrics (79th percentile in barrel rate, 70th percentile in xSLG), but the rate stats are underwhelming. It’s hard to get excited about a player that has an OPS under .800. Last year he was in the third percentile in chase rate, 12th percentile in whiff rate, and 14th percentile in strikeout rate. He needs to work on his eye to make the list someday.

Brandon Belt put up some monster power numbers in 2021. He slashed .274/.378/.597/.975 with 29 homers, 14 doubles, and 59 RBI. He finished in the 94th percentile in barrel rate and chase rate, 90th percentile in walk rate, and 89th percentile in xwOBA and xSLG. It’s very strange to me that he only drove in 59 runs when he hit 29 homers, so they must’ve been mostly solo shots. In 2019, he hit basically half as many homers (17) and drove in almost the same number of runs (57). I don’t know what’s going on there, but I hope he can figure out a way to drive in more runs.

I originally had Belt inside the top 10 first basemen fantasy baseball list, but the shockingly low RBI totals dropped him out.

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