Top 10 First Basemen

Here's the next installment in the series looking at the best players at each position.

10. Lee Roundtree, Philadelphia Phenomenauts: Roundtree has been something of an unheralded player throughout his career, but he's definitely a good hitter. He hit .306/.371/.588 in season 5, which is almost exactly in line with his career averages. Roundtree has excellent contact and very good power and patience. He's not very good against righties, but he's solid against lefties.

While defense isn't terribly important at first base, Roundtree is above average across the board in the field. In fact, his biggest weakness as a player is his durability, as he's only good for about 140 games in a season.

9. Wiki Perez, Nashville Twang: Early in his career, there were a lot of disagreements over just how good a hitter Perez is. There's no doubting his ability now, though. In the past three seasons, he's posted a .900-plus OPS each year while missing a total of just four games. He hit .277/.380/.574 with a career-high 52 homers in season 5. Perez gets his value from very good power and outstanding patience, a combination that allows him to overcome mediocre ability everywhere else.

Perez is a slightly below average defensive first baseman, but he's not so bad that you'd ever have to consider moving him to DH. Perez also benefits from having great durability, which allows you to keep his bat in the lineup just about every game.

8. Jesus Reynoso, Albuquerque Isotopes: Reynoso's only shown great power once, but he's still been a very accomplished hitter. His .382 OBP and .540 SLG from season 5 are right in line with his career averages, and he's off to a nice start this season. Reynoso's rates well across the board offensively, and his best attributes are his excellent contact and very good batting eye.

Reynoso's arm is below average even for first base and his range isn't very good, but he has a reliable glove and is probably only slightly below average defensively overall. He also has very good durability, which allows him to play nearly every game as long as he avoids injury.

7. Richard Stocker, New York Metropolitans: Stocker burst onto the scene with an excellent half-season in season 4. He wasn't quite as good in his first full year in season 5, but he still posted a .300/.356/.596 line and he's hitting even better so far this season. Stocker's only weakness is his ability against lefties, but he's very good everwhere else on offense.

Stocker's defense is above average everywhere except his poor arm accuracy. Stocker doesn't have great durability, but the Mets proved last year that just about anybody can play almost every game if you don't care how tired they get. And making Stocker play when he's fatigued probably isn't as big a risk as it would be for some players because he has excellent health.

6. Charlie Stevens, Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Stevens is getting a little bit old, but he's still an excellent hitter. He had the best season of his career in season 5, posting a .347/.444/.573 line. He's not likely to be quite that good this season, but his OBP has topped .390 every season and his lowest SLG is .505. Stevens doesn't have great contact or power, but his batting eye is terrific. He's also very good against lefties and outstanding against righties.

Defensively, Stevens is out of position at first base. Ideally, he'd be a DH, but in the NL it's worth the sacrifice on defense to get his bat into the lineup. His durability isn't great, but he can still play 145-plus games without any problems.

5. Rickey Dixon, Chicago Jayhawks: Dixon was merely good in season 5, hitting .283/.402/.527. That was the second time in five seasons he's posted an OPS under .930, but he cleared the 1.000 mark in each of the other three seasons, going over 1.070 twice. Dixon has very good contact and power combined with a tremendous batting eye. He's only decent against righties and good against lefties, but that's been plenty for him to excel thus far.

Dixon's range has declined to the point where it's well below average, but the rest of his defensive skills are above average. Aside from an injury-plagued season 2, Dixon's durability has allowed him to average 155 games a season.

4. Bernard Rhodes, New York Yankees: Rhodes is coming off his best season, when he hit .379/.453/.643 while splitting time between the Pug Dogs and Yankees. While Rhodes has posted a .950-plus OPS every season, that was the first time he went over the 1.000 OPS mark in his career, and he's well over that mark again so far this season. Rhodes rates very well across the board on offense, and his contact and ability to hit righties are both excellent.

Rhodes is above average defensively at first base, and he's actually playing exclusively in left field for the Yankees this season after splitting time between left and first for them last season. Rhodes' combination of good durability and excellent health has allowed him to play at least 148 games every season.

3. Toby Joseph, Minnesota Fatboys: After hitting very well in seasons 1 and 2, Joseph has kicked it up a notch in the past three seasons, posting at least a .400 OBP in each. In season 5, he hit .326/.413/.601. Joseph doesn't have elite power, but he has tremendous contact and patience and is a dynamic hitter against righties. He's also good, though not great, against lefties. It's funny that his worst offensive season is the one that brought him his MVP award.

Joseph's defense is excellent, as his season 2 Gold Glove attests. He's above average across the board and his glove is particularly good for a first baseman. Joseph's also a true ironman, as he's played more than 160 games in four of his five seasons.

2. Matt Governale, Boston Red Sox: For the third time in the past four seasons, Governale posted an OPS above 1.070 in season 5 to win his second MVP award. This time, he hit .337/.417/.678. Governale combines very good contact and patience with elite power (which allowed him to set the single-season record with 77 homers in season 2), and that's more than enough to overcome the fact that he doesn't have a great advantage against either righties or lefties.

Governale's not a good defensive player, as his terrible glove drags him down despite the fact that he's slightly above average everywhere else, but his poor fielding is a minor price to pay for his bat. And that bat's only missed three games total over the last four seasons thanks to his excellent durability.

1. Chipper Velandia, Iowa City Comics: Velandia is one of only three hitters in the world to top the 1.000 OPS mark in each of the first five seasons, and he actually topped 1.150 for the second time in his career to win the season 5 NL MVP award. Velandia's second-best season of his career checked in with a .334/.399/.759 line. He also became just the third player to hit 70-plus homers in a season with his 72 longballs and he set a single-season record with 181 RBIs. Few players can match Velandia's combination of contact and power, and he backs that up with a very good batting eye. He's not great against lefties, but he's an absolute terror for right-handed pitchers.

Velandia's defense is just about average, maybe slightly above average because his arm is solid for a first baseman. The only real problem with Velandia is that he's not the most durable player, so he's only played 150-plus games once.