Q: Is Adrian Gonzalez one of the Top Five First basemen in MLB?
If you are a Red Sox fan, your answer will definitely be: “Yes!”
The experts at FantasyInfoCentral and CDM ranked all MLB First basemen and their conclusions may surprise you.
But, before you skip immediately to the end of this post for their take, take a moment to consider how you would rank these 10:
"Pujols, Fielder, M. Cabrera, Votto, A. Gonzalez,Howard, Teixeira, Berkman, Loney, Hosmer"
Here is my ranked list:
Pujols, Fielder, Gonzalez, Votto, Cabrera, Howard, Teixeira, Loney, Hosmer, Berkman
Do you agree with my first five?
Pujols, Fielder, Gonzalez, Votto, Cabrera
Do you agree with my ranking?
Pujols, Fielder, Gonzalez, Votto, Cabrera
CDM, does not agree with me or FantasyInfoCentral, about the how the Top Five should be ranked. Today CDM decided to move Cabrera off the First base list and onto the 3b roster, because RotoWorld is reporting today that, with the arrival of Fielder, Cabrera will shift to 3b, where CDM ranks him #1, with Yook in the 8 slot.
FantasyInfoCentral and I have the same five First basemen, but in a different order.
Mine: Pujols, Fielder, Gonzalez, Votto, Cabrera
Yours:
Now, you can look at the chart…
| Name | Team | G | AB | AVG | OBP | SLG | R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | K | Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adrian Gonzalez | BOS | 159 | 630 | .338 | .410 | .548 | 108 | 45 | 3 | 27 | 117 | 1 | 74 | 119 | 1259.49 |
| Miguel Cabrera | DET | 161 | 572 | .344 | .448 | .586 | 111 | 48 | 0 | 30 | 105 | 2 | 108 | 89 | 1249.62 |
| Albert Pujols | LAA | 147 | 579 | .299 | .366 | .541 | 105 | 29 | 0 | 37 | 99 | 9 | 61 | 58 | 1186.21 |
| Prince Fielder | MIL | 162 | 569 | .299 | .415 | .566 | 95 | 36 | 1 | 38 | 120 | 1 | 107 | 106 | 1177.41 |
| Joey Votto | CIN | 161 | 599 | .309 | .416 | .531 | 101 | 40 | 3 | 29 | 103 | 8 | 110 | 129 | 1152.64 |
Surprised? Let’s remember that this is for the standard Fantasy baseball games, which very rarely include fielding stats. But, WTF, using the official MLB stats, let’s see how these five did with the glove:
"Fld% INNINGS1. Kotchman .998 1222.12. Gonzalez .997 1352.2 Teixeira .997 1274.0 Helton .997 987.2[NOTE: MLB listed a tie for second place with the three above players; I ranked them, using total innings played.]7. Votto .996 1427.217. Pujols .992 1260.120. Cabrera .991 1322.021. Fielder .990 1394.2"
If we take the Top Five First basemen, ranked offensively by FantasyInfoCentral: Gonzalez, Cabrera, Pujols, Fielder, Votto and the Top Five from the CDM rankings list: Votto, Gonzales, Fielder, Pujols, Teixeira, we note that Adrian Gonzalez finishes 1st and 2nd. If we factor in the MLB defensive stat [Fielding average], Gonzalez places 2nd [.997] to Kotchman [.998] and Votto, Gonzalez’ offensive rival, ranks 7th [.996].
Next time you are at the tavern, talkin’ baseball, you could make the case that, considering the rankings of two major fantasy websites [using offensive stats only] Gonzalez places #1 [FantasyInfoCentral] and #2 [CDM], behind Votto combined with the official MLB defensive rankings [Gonzalez #2, Votto #7], Adrian Gonzalez is the best First basemen in MLB.
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