Welcome to the position tiered rankings for 2015. The tiers are broken out into five tiers with five being the highest and one being the lowest. Five star players are players that will be taken in the first couple of rounds or will go for $30-plus. Four star players will have $20-plus. Three stars $10-plus, two stars $5-plus and the one star are players you want to avoid or players to stash on your bench.
The statistics for each player are my semi-final projections. The projections are going to change going forward, but if you follow me on Twitter @MattCommins I will tweet out when my projections are updated and posted on MattCommins.com. If I was a reader I would focus on the tiering of players and the overall idea of the projections. For example, if I project a player for 28 home runs that means I think he’ll hit for a lot of power.
Links the other position previews:
What you will find below are the fantasy tiers for first basemen. Even though David Ortiz and Chris Carter not eligible I included them in the list. Every player in the five and four star categories are no lock entering the season. There are two ways to interrupt that fact. Either you believe you need to get one of the five star players or you take 2-3 of the four star category and hope one breaks out. I want one of the elite players to anchor my hitting and then I’m taking flyers on 1-2 of the three star players. If you play with corner infield slot you want to fill that position with a first baseman.
Five Star
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | R | SB |
| Miguel Cabrera | 585 | .320 | 35 | 110 | 99 | 1 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | 600 | .300 | 30 | 100 | 90 | 13 |
| Victor Martinez | 570 | .308 | 25 | 98 | 88 | 0 |
| Jose Abreu | 560 | .288 | 27 | 110 | 84 | 2 |
| Edwin Encarnacion | 500 | .270 | 35 | 100 | 90 | 2 |
Five-Star Value Pick: Paul Goldschmidt
I rated all of these players as five star but I wouldn’t be surprised if any of them do not finish the season in this category because all them have warts on their resumes. For three years in a row Paul Goldschmidt has contributed in all five categories and is the youngest. The biggest question is how much affect does the broken finger have on his power, if at all.
Four Star
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | R | SB |
| Joey Votto | 545 | .305 | 22 | 86 | 94 | 1 |
| Albert Pujols | 580 | .272 | 26 | 110 | 86 | 2 |
| David Ortiz* | 520 | .290 | 27 | 105 | 75 | 0 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 590 | .292 | 24 | 100 | 75 | 1 |
| Anthony Rizzo | 550 | .279 | 24 | 90 | 90 | 4 |
| Chris Davis | 550 | .248 | 32 | 100 | 90 | 2 |
| Todd Frazier | 580 | .272 | 23 | 84 | 87 | 10 |
| Freddie Freeman | 575 | .282 | 22 | 90 | 85 | 2 |
Four-Star Value Pick: Chris Davis
I love buying low on players who had high ADPs the previous year who have dramatically lower ADPs the following year. I never bought his 2013 numbers, but if you look at his season you’ll notice in the last four months of the season he had a .252 batting average with 34 home runs. It’s very possible I’m too aggressive with the batting average, but his power is real.
Three Star
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | R | SB |
| Adam LaRoche | 500 | .269 | 28 | 95 | 72 | 0 |
| Prince Fielder | 550 | .275 | 25 | 90 | 75 | 0 |
| Lucas Duda | 520 | .250 | 28 | 95 | 77 | 1 |
| Brandon Moss | 475 | .259 | 27 | 87 | 73 | 1 |
| Eric Hosmer | 550 | .283 | 17 | 75 | 75 | 6 |
| Matt Adams | 540 | .282 | 19 | 85 | 70 | 2 |
| Brandon Belt | 510 | .265 | 21 | 85 | 70 | 6 |
| Chris Carter* | 520 | .235 | 35 | 85 | 67 | 3 |
Three-Star Value Pick: Billy Butler
I have feeling I’m going to own Billy Butler on a lot of my teams this year. His numbers were suppressed by a brutal April where .224/.285/.255 with zero home runs and only three extra base hits. After April he hit .282/.332/.406 with nine home runs and a 8.2% HR/FB rate. He’s going to play every day and hit in the middle of an order of good lineup.
Two Star
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | R | SB |
| Carlos Santana | 540 | .245 | 26 | 83 | 70 | 3 |
| Kendrys Morales | 500 | .275 | 20 | 83 | 65 | 0 |
| Justin Morneau | 480 | .295 | 16 | 80 | 62 | 0 |
| Mark Trumbo | 540 | .239 | 25 | 81 | 65 | 2 |
| Mike Morse | 480 | .270 | 17 | 80 | 62 | 0 |
Two-Star Value Pick: Carlos Santana
At this point we know who Carlos Santana is. He has a great eye at the plate and he’ll hit a lot of home runs. The reason why he’s a two start player is because I do not believe the batting average fully regresses. He’s striking out more, putting less balls in-play and his final average was a result of really good months in June and July. In April, May, August and September he had a .193 batting average. All that said he by far has the most upside of anyone in this category.
One Star
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | R | SB |
| James Loney | 570 | .289 | 10 | 70 | 60 | 3 |
| Joe Mauer | 475 | .288 | 6 | 75 | 60 | 2 |
| Nick Swisher | 400 | .250 | 17 | 65 | 65 | 0 |
| Mark Teixeira | 470 | .235 | 20 | 64 | 62 | 0 |
| Ike Davis | 450 | .254 | 17 | 60 | 55 | 1 |
| Mike Napoli | 420 | .247 | 16 | 61 | 51 | 1 |
| Jon Singleton | 550 | .202 | 20 | 64 | 60 | 2 |
One-Star Value Pick: Joe Mauer
In an era where batting average is hard to come by it’s hard not to like a player with a career .319 batting average. I was a huge believer in Joe Mauer last year, drafting him on all of my teams, but injuries derailed his season. If you already fulfilled your power early in the draft and you’re looking for batting average Mauer could be the perfect candidate.
