2025 Position Previews: First Base
An in depth look at the first base position ahead of 2025 fantasy baseball draft season.
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Overview
We are lacking fantasy studs in this position. You don’t find many steals, and there are only a handful of guys who can help you a ton in batting average. That said, we have a lot of steady contributors and a lot of reliable veterans.
My advice would be to just take what the draft gives you at the position. There’s nobody I want to jump out of my seat to get, but again, there are a lot of very useful and very reliable names to target
Here’s a little bonus action for you. I’m getting used to ripping up Data Wrapper tables quickly since I can embed them on here now. Here are your 1B ranks (standard 5x5 leagues) from the three big projection systems.
Tier One
#1 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (ADP Rank #1)
There are a lot of older guys at the top of the list here. Vlad will be just 26 on Opening Day, and he’s coming off the second-best season of his career. That makes him the #1 guy, pretty clearly.
#2 Bryce Harper (ADP Rank #2)
He should come into 2025 healthier than he has the past couple of seasons, and that gets me pretty excited about what he could do this season. He’s 32 now, so he’s probably outside of prime years, but we aren’t to the point where it’s a concern. We tend to see the best players in the league aging much more gracefully than the average player. I can get down with Harper in the late second round this year.
#3 Matt Olson (ADP Rank #4)
I have been all about buying into the Braves bounce-back at large. Olson went from 54 homers in 2023 to 29 last year, but the smart money is on him getting back to the mid-30s with a bunch of RBI.
#4 Freddie Freeman (ADP Rank #3)
Freeman has not cleared 30 homers since 2021, and he stole just nine bags last year. His appeal comes in batting average (.314 over the last three years) and R + RBI in that elite Dodgers lineup.
Tier Two
Four more very good hitters. This is probably my favorite tier to go to when considering price. And there’s a cliff after here. So if you can, get one of these top eight names.
#5 Pete Alonso (ADP Rank #5)
He’s back in New York for at least two more years. There are few hitters that are as safe of a bet for 35+ homers as Alonso (37, 40, 46, and 34 in the last four seasons). However, he’s crushed your team’s batting average (.237 last year, .218 in 2023) in each of the last two seasons and has just a dozen total steals this decade.
#6 Christian Walker (ADP Rank #7)
I’d have him above Alonso if I wasn’t a little bit worried about the age. He’ll turn 34 the day after Opening Day, so we could see the effects of that age show up soon. That said, he has hit .250 with 95 homers in these last three years. He’s been very good, and landing in Houston may even be an upgrade for him.
#7 Triston Casas (ADP Rank #10)
You have to be willing to forgive him for his horrible 2024 season to rank him this highly. And I am. I forgive you, Triston.
He had a brutal rib injury that cost him most of the season (243 PA) and very likely crushed his production as well (31.7% K%, .462 SLG). I’m betting on a bounce-back to his 2023 form, where he slugged .490 with 24 homers in 502 PAs. The raw power is elite, he gets on base a ton, and this Red Sox lineup is the best one they’ve fielded in a long time.
#8 Josh Naylor (ADP Rank #8)
He hit .310 in 2023 with 17 homers and ten steals in less than 500 PAs. That was pretty strong, and he took the power to the next level last year with 31 homers. However, the batting average fell back down to .243.
I’m not sure what to expect, but I am pretty certain he’ll fall well below 30 homers this year. He’s safe, but I don’t view him as a guy with much upside.