When you think of a great fantasy baseball first baseman, what comes to mind? Home runs, home runs and more home runs. 24 first-base-eligible players hit 20 or more home runs in 2023, which was six more than in 2022 (and only one more than in 2021). It is tough not to get power out of the position, but the new rules added a new wrinkle to their production last year: fourteen first base-eligible players had 10 or more steals in 2023. Led by Freddie Freeman’s 23 (it was, surprisingly, his third time stealing 10 or more bases) and a revived Cody Bellinger’s 20, it marked the 6th time since 2000 that ten or more 1B-eligible players stole ten or more bases in a single season (and the most in one season since the turn of the century). Now, if you can get the power, with some speed, and add on, say, a .280 batting average or higher (something only ten first basemen with 200 or more plate appearances accomplished last year), you’d have the best fantasy first baseman, Freddie Freeman. Lose the steals and fifty points of batting average, add in 25 home runs and a major league-leading 139 RBI and you end up with the #2 first baseman, Matt Olson. 2024 should give us a full-season look at Bryce Harper at first, plus sophomore season from Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Tristan Casas; Spencer Torkelson and Josh Naylor building on great sophomore seasons; and Paul Goldschmidt fighting off father time.

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