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2012 Fantasy Baseball: First Base Rankings

Athlon Sports' updated consensus fantasy rankings reveal the AL's strength at first base

By: Athlon Sports | 3/21/12, 10:30 AM EDT

Athlon Sports' updated consensus fantasy rankings reveal the AL's strength at first base

Opening Day is just a few weeks away and Athlon Sports has all the fantasy baseball rankings you need to get ready for the upcoming season.

Athlon Sports has combined nine fantasy baseball big boards from around the web to compile an updated consensus Top 200 as well as positional breakdowns.

At first base, not much has changed in the updated positional rankings. Miguel Cabrera, who's moving to third this season, and Albert Pujols flip-flop places atop the first base rankings, followed by Joey Votto, Adrian Gonzalez and Prince Fielder, the reason why Cabrera is moving over to the hot corner.

The biggest changes are all injury or illness-related as Ryan Howard (Achilles), Ike Davis (lung infection), Justin Morneau (concussion-related symptoms and numerous surgeries) and Mark Trumbo (stress fracture in foot) all dropped in the rankings. Howard is out until at least May, if not longer, which is the main reason why he has fallen in the rankings. Davis and Trumbo were both limited early on in spring training by their situations, but appear to be back on track, while Morneau has struggled to find his timing and power at the plate.

There has been some positive news on the injury front, however. Kendrys Morales, who last played on May 29, 2010 due to a severely fractured ankle, has been making slow, but steady progress during spring training. He is scheduled to make his long-awaited return to game action later this week.

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Rank – Position ranking
OVR – Overall ranking on The Big Board
LR — Last Ranked, where player was ranked on The Big Board that was published on Feb. 20, 2012
NR — Not Ranked, means player did not appear on The Big Board that was published on Feb. 20, 2012

AS – Athlon Sports (updated 3/19/12)
CBS – CBSSportsline.com (as of 3/16/12)
ESPN – (updated 3/13/12)
FOX – FOXSports.com (updated 3/7/12)
MLB – MLB.com (as of 3/15/12)
RC – RotoChamp.com (updated 3/18/12)
RS – RotoSummit.com (updated 2/27/12)
USA - USAToday.com (updated 2/13/12)
Y! – Yahoo! Sports (updated 2/24/12)*

*Yahoo! ranked only 120 players on their list, while Athlon's Big Board contains 200. The aggregated scores of the other eight big boards were used to extrapolate Yahoo!’s rankings to 200 players.

Athlon Sports Fantasy Rankings**: Big Board | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP

**Positional rankings will be updated throughout the week

Rank OVR LR Player Team Pos AS CBS ESPN FOX MLB RC RS USA Y!
1 1 3 Miguel Cabera DET 1B 2 1 1 4 4 1 4 3 1
2 2 1 Albert Pujols LAA 1B 1 3 2 3 2 3 3 4 3
3 9 7 Joey Votto CIN 1B 16 12 10 12 9 5 9 10 7
4 10 9 Adrian Gonzalez BOS 1B 7 13 14 7 11 11 13 9 9
5 17 16 Prince Fielder DET 1B 17 26 18 15 12 7 18 18 14
6 23 21 Mark Teixeira NYY 1B 22 33 24 23 24 18 27 31 23
7 36 33 Carlos Santana CLE C/1B 52 17 52 30 35 32 46 40 41
8 38 38 Mike Napoli TEX C/1B 57 43 47 27 39 30 41 36 53
9 39 48 Pablo Sandoval SF 1B/3B 34 54 33 44 68 27 38 69 39
10 46 42 Paul Konerko CHW 1B 70 97 36 37 40 38 35 65 47
11 52 49 Eric Hosmer KC 1B 41 106 45 39 74 43 40 60 68
12 59 53 Michael Young TEX 1B/2B/3B 74 56 95 43 101 26 57 75 61
13 69 72 Kevin Youkilis BOS 1B/3B 58 45 98 59 77 105 76 68 60
14 70 79 Michael Morse WAS 1B/OF 103 83 71 53 82 42 70 83 62
15 77 76 Joe Mauer MIN C/1B 43 48 131 58 66 77 85 93 95
16 83 87 Lance Berkman STL 1B/OF 105 78 59 77 96 52 77 99 86
17 90 90 Howard Kendrick LAA 1B/2B/OF 85 119 118 79 84 88 91 101 72
18 98 98 Billy Butler KC 1B 55 111 102 129 153 37 121 85 123
19 109 107 Freddie Freeman ATL 1B 81 147 120 76 143 81 127 97 115
20 112 120 Michael Cuddyer COL 1B/2B/OF 96 152 92 123 156 139 98 121 70
21 115 113 Mark Reynolds BAL 1B/3B 120 98 156 107 111 101 123 124 128
22 141 149 Nick Swisher NYY 1B/OF 163 170 150 146 115 137 158 114 153
23 142 143 Paul Goldschmidt ARI 1B 136 - 182 150 117 126 192 113 98
24 145 136 Adam Lind TOR 1B 158 - 135 142 133 110 115 195 142
25 158 183 Gaby Sanchez MIA 1B 156 182 162 133 200 154 175 115 161
26 160 118 Ryan Howard PHI 1B 159 126 196 171 187 - 160 150 94
27 161 137 Ike Davis NYM 1B 157 149 208 172 152 - 168 140 111
28 165 153 Justin Morneau MIN 1B 59 191 - 176 181 - - 126 151
29 172 200 Carlos Lee HOU 1B/OF 161 - - 147 - 150 183 123 175
30 182 190 Kendrys Morales LAA 1B 154 - - - 168 122 - - 176
31 207 NR Lucas Duda NYM 1B/OF - - - - - 173 - 143 190
32 209 155 Mark Trumbo LAA 1B/OF - - - 155 - - 177 - 185
33 210 NR Brandon Belt SF 1B/OF - 197 - 190 186 192 - 154 -
34 218 NR Carlos Pena TB 1B - - 192 - 182 180 - 178 -
35 223 216 Yonder Alonso SD 1B/OF 181 - - - - 176 - - -
36 232 NR Mike Carp SEA 1B/OF - - - - - 166 - - -
37 236 NR James Loney LAD 1B - - - - - 168 - - -
38 253 NR Adam Dunn CHW 1B/DH - - - - 188 - - - -

Other names to consider (in alphabetical order): Chris Davis (BAL, 1B/3B), Todd Helton (COL, 1B), Aubrey Huff (SF, 1B/OF), Garrett Jones (PIT, 1B/OF), Adam LaRoche (WAS, 1B), Mitch Moreland (TEX, 1B/OF), Daniel Murphy (NYM, 1B/2B/3B), Justin Smoak (SEA, 1B), Ty Wigginton (PHI, 1B/3B/OF)

— by Mark Ross, updated on March 21, 2012

Other Fantasy Baseball Content:

2012 Fantasy Baseball: First Base Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Second Base Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Shortstop Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Third Base Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Outfield Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Catcher Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Starting Pitcher Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Relief Pitcher Rankings
2012 MLB Fantasy Closer Grid
2012 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers and Busts: Infield
2012 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers and Busts: Outfield
2012 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers and Busts: Starting Pitching
2012 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers and Busts: Closers
Fantasy Baseball Studs to Avoid in 2012
2012 Fantasy Baseball Deep Sleepers

 

For more fantasy baseball help, visit our friends at the Fantasy Baseball Hub.

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