MLB Preseason Projections – 1B
It’s March already? Time for some sweet college basketball, right? Check the calendar again and look for that other important event coming up. It’s your baseball draft and it’s right around the corner, dummy. The players have reported to spring training, so it’s also time for fantasy geeks to report to their spreadsheets.
He's had a balky elbow for two seasons and you've seen how much that slowed him down.
We’ll start this season’s player rankings over in the land of 500 foot bombs and HGH suspicions. First base is long on homers, but pitifully short on steals. In fact only one guy, Mark Reynolds, is projected to swipe into the double digits. So that makes it important to make sure you get somebody who is very strong in the other 4 traditional offensive categories so you can fill in the steals with a cheap outfielder later.
While predictably deep in the long balls, it seems shallower than usual in dependable all around studs. The first tier is one man on an island, one of the best pure hitters in baseball history, and the perfect on field distraction to all the disgraceful Cardinals off field mess, Albert Pujols.
Tier 2 contains Prince, Miggy, Teixeira, and Howard who are all as close to sure things as you can get. Just put them down for 30+ HR, 100+ RBI, and 90+ runs. A great start to any infield.
Tier 3 goes from Joey Votto down to probably Kung Fu Panda. These guys are mostly the 3 category guys, who will be good to great in those power stats but with another weakness like batting average. A couple of these guys will probably perform up to second tier status so feel free to choose liberally from this group as well.
Then there is everybody else.
| RK | PLAYER | POS | TEAM | AB | RUN | AVG | HR | RBI | SB | vRUN | vAVG | vHR | vRBI | vSB | vTOT |
| 1 | Albert Pujols | 1B | STL | 550 | 105 | 0.320 | 38 | 115 | 7 | 2.54 | 2.21 | 3.26 | 3.04 | -0.97 | 10.08 |
| 2 | Prince Fielder | 1B | MIL | 560 | 95 | 0.288 | 42 | 115 | 2 | 1.71 | 0.93 | 3.94 | 3.04 | -1.61 | 8.01 |
| 3 | Miguel Cabrera | 1B | DET | 582 | 93 | 0.307 | 34 | 109 | 3 | 1.55 | 2 | 2.59 | 2.63 | -1.48 | 7.28 |
| 4 | Mark Teixeira | 1B | NYY | 566 | 99 | 0.294 | 35 | 110 | 2 | 2.04 | 1.26 | 2.75 | 2.7 | -1.61 | 7.14 |
| 5 | Ryan Howard | 1B | PHI | 570 | 94 | 0.268 | 42 | 128 | 4 | 1.63 | -1.28 | 3.94 | 3.91 | -1.35 | 6.85 |
| 6 | Joey Votto | 1B | CIN | 520 | 80 | 0.300 | 30 | 94 | 8 | 0.48 | 1.01 | 1.91 | 1.62 | -0.84 | 4.17 |
| 7 | Mark Reynolds | 1B, 3B | ARI | 530 | 90 | 0.260 | 30 | 93 | 14 | 1.3 | -1.19 | 1.91 | 1.55 | -0.06 | 3.51 |
| 8 | Adrian Gonzalez | 1B | SD | 555 | 90 | 0.280 | 34 | 98 | 1 | 1.3 | -0.59 | 2.59 | 1.89 | -1.74 | 3.44 |
| 9 | Lance Berkman | 1B | HOU | 508 | 85 | 0.281 | 28 | 96 | 7 | 0.89 | 0.05 | 1.57 | 1.76 | -0.97 | 3.29 |
| 10 | Kevin Youkilis | 1B, 3B | BOS | 525 | 90 | 0.292 | 24 | 90 | 5 | 1.3 | 0.71 | 0.89 | 1.35 | -1.23 | 3.03 |
| 11 | Carlos Pena | 1B | TB | 475 | 80 | 0.249 | 37 | 98 | 2 | 0.48 | -1.05 | 3.09 | 1.89 | -1.61 | 2.8 |
| 12 | Kendry Morales | 1B | LAA | 540 | 75 | 0.295 | 26 | 90 | 3 | 0.06 | 1.01 | 1.23 | 1.35 | -1.48 | 2.17 |
| 13 | Justin Morneau | 1B | MIN | 550 | 84 | 0.280 | 27 | 104 | 0 | 0.81 | -0.54 | 1.4 | 2.29 | -1.87 | 2.09 |
| 14 | Pablo Sandoval | 1B, 3B | SF | 530 | 77 | 0.319 | 22 | 80 | 3 | 0.23 | 1.95 | 0.55 | 0.68 | -1.48 | 1.92 |
| 15 | Billy Butler | 1B | KC | 560 | 75 | 0.302 | 20 | 90 | 1 | 0.06 | 1.54 | 0.21 | 1.35 | -1.74 | 1.42 |
| 16 | Derrek Lee | 1B | CHC | 530 | 80 | 0.290 | 22 | 85 | 3 | 0.48 | 0.68 | 0.55 | 1.01 | -1.48 | 1.24 |
| 17 | James Loney | 1B | LAD | 550 | 73 | 0.296 | 18 | 86 | 6 | -0.1 | 1.17 | -0.13 | 1.08 | -1.1 | 0.92 |
| 18 | Adam Dunn | 1B, OF | WAS | 507 | 75 | 0.250 | 32 | 90 | 2 | 0.06 | -1.37 | 2.25 | 1.35 | -1.61 | 0.68 |
| 19 | Victor Martinez | C, 1B | BOS | 520 | 76 | 0.291 | 19 | 88 | 0 | 0.15 | 0.61 | 0.04 | 1.22 | -1.87 | 0.15 |
| 20 | Adam LaRoche | 1B | ARI | 530 | 75 | 0.279 | 25 | 85 | 1 | 0.06 | -0.36 | 1.06 | 1.01 | -1.74 | 0.04 |
| 21 | Chris Davis | 1B | TEX | 495 | 70 | 0.260 | 30 | 82 | 2 | -0.35 | -0.8 | 1.91 | 0.81 | -1.61 | -0.04 |
| 22 | Michael Cuddyer | 1B, OF | MIN | 525 | 80 | 0.270 | 21 | 80 | 5 | 0.48 | -0.69 | 0.38 | 0.68 | -1.23 | -0.39 |
| 23 | Paul Konerko | 1B | CHW | 510 | 70 | 0.260 | 27 | 80 | 0 | -0.35 | -0.96 | 1.4 | 0.68 | -1.87 | -1.11 |
| 24 | Jorge Cantu | 1B, 3B | FLA | 533 | 70 | 0.280 | 20 | 82 | 3 | -0.35 | -0.35 | 0.21 | 0.81 | -1.48 | -1.16 |
| 25 | Garrett Jones | 1B, OF | PIT | 500 | 66 | 0.260 | 23 | 70 | 9 | -0.68 | -0.85 | 0.72 | 0 | -0.71 | -1.52 |
| 26 | Nick Swisher | 1B, OF | NYY | 480 | 80 | 0.248 | 21 | 71 | 2 | 0.48 | -1.15 | 0.38 | 0.07 | -1.61 | -1.84 |
| 27 | Aubrey Huff | 1B | SF | 500 | 64 | 0.277 | 19 | 76 | 2 | -0.84 | -0.11 | 0.04 | 0.41 | -1.61 | -2.12 |
| 28 | Kyle Blanks | 1B, OF | SD | 440 | 64 | 0.263 | 19 | 70 | 2 | -0.84 | -0.05 | 0.04 | 0 | -1.61 | -2.47 |
| 29 | Todd Helton | 1B | COL | 500 | 70 | 0.295 | 12 | 70 | 0 | -0.35 | 0.57 | -1.15 | 0 | -1.87 | -2.8 |
| 30 | Nick Johnson | 1B | NYY | 420 | 66 | 0.277 | 13 | 61 | 2 | -0.68 | 0.78 | -0.98 | -0.6 | -1.61 | -3.09 |
| 31 | Jeff Clement | C, 1B, DH | PIT | 370 | 54 | 0.261 | 17 | 60 | 1 | -1.67 | 0.64 | -0.3 | -0.67 | -1.74 | -3.74 |
| 32 | Bryan Lahair | 1B | SEA | 431 | 55 | 0.260 | 18 | 66 | 1 | -1.59 | -0.08 | -0.13 | -0.27 | -1.74 | -3.81 |
| 33 | Josh Phelps | 1B | SF | 308 | 42 | 0.279 | 15 | 52 | 1 | -2.66 | 2.11 | -0.64 | -1.21 | -1.74 | -4.14 |
| 34 | Russell Branyan | 1B | CLE | 360 | 52 | 0.244 | 20 | 54 | 3 | -1.83 | 0.01 | 0.21 | -1.07 | -1.48 | -4.17 |
| 35 | Daniel Murphy | 1B, OF | NYM | 410 | 52 | 0.278 | 11 | 58 | 5 | -1.83 | 0.93 | -1.32 | -0.8 | -1.23 | -4.25 |
Why do Gonzalez and Kung-Fu panda have to play in cavernous parks with anemic sickle-cell lineups? It’s more aggravating than Joey Votto’s emotional issues.