Top 25 First Base Rankings for 2016

I just received Ron Shandler's 2016 Baseball Forecaster in .pdf form on Thanksgiving, and I highly recommend that you buy it as it is the fantasy baseball bible for me. I buy it every year to help level set my expectations for hitters and pitchers heading into the next fantasy baseball season.

There are about 70 pages of sabremetric articles that address various hitter and pitcher statistics, fantasy baseball draft and auction strategies, and much more to help you raise your game heading into your 2016 drafts. Oh yeah, there are mini profiles and projections for hundreds of hitters and pitchers as well.

I think this book is a must read for all fantasy baseball owners year in and year out. I am not getting paid to push the book. I didn't get a free book. I purchase my own every year. I feel strong enough to recommend the book here to supplement to fantastic fantasy advice that we offer you here at Fake Teams.

You can purchase the book at www.baseballhq.com. It is worth the $26 investment.

Now that that is out of the way, here are my updated 2016 first base rankings. I have added Twins new first baseman Byung-ho Park and Red Sox new first baseman Hanley Ramirez. Here is what I wrote about Park after they signed him:

Remember when the baseball media were skeptical on how Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu would translate to pitching in MLB? Or Pirates shortstop Jung-ho Kang? Both turned out to be pretty darn good major league baseball players and I see Park performing very well in Minnesota. He will strike out a ton, as he did in the KBO, but has excellent power that should play well at first base.

I think he will transition well from the KBO league to major league baseball, and hit for solid power that one would expect from their first baseman. I can see him putting up a 25 home run, 80 RBI season hitting in the middle of the Twins young lineup that will feature Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Joe Mauer and others in 2016.

As for Ramirez, I know he won't be eligible at first base on draft day (he is outfield eligible only), but he the plan is for him to play first base every day in 2016, so I think it makes sense to rank him there. He comes with risk on draft day due to how often he gets injured, plays injured, or just sits on the bench instead of being placed on the disabled list, which seemed to happen quite a bit in 2015. If he is healthy heading into the season, he could move up these rankings, and hitting in that lineup, he has a chance to be a top 5-6 fantasy first baseman.

i also made a few other changes to my rankings, moving Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman down due to all of the in-season and offseason moves the Braves have made to make their lineup look like a AAA lineup. His runs and RBI could fall as a result.

Once the Hot Stove gets percolating over the next few weeks heading into the Winter Meetings in the second week of December, I will update my rankings accordingly.

Let me hear what you think about these rankings, who is ranked too high, too low in the comments section below.

First Base Rankings for 2016

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