Ranking the 2016 NL East: First Basemen
By Pablo Roa
Over the last few weeks we have been ranking the NL East to find out who has the best player at each position. Today we continue our series by ranking NL East first basemen.
Throughout this month, we have begun our preview of the 2016 National League East by seeing which team has the best players at each position. In doing so, we hope to determine the overall strength of each team in the NL East to get a sense of how the division will play out in 2016. Keep in mind, if a player is fifth on a list, the team gets one point and if the player is first, that team gets five points. The points will be used in our final NL East ranking.
Last year, first base was one of the weakest positions in the NL East. There wasn’t a true dominant force at the position among any of the five teams in the division, and injuries hurt both the Nationals and the Braves at first base in 2015.
Nevertheless, there’s plenty of offensive potential at first base in the division. Freddie Freeman and Ryan Zimmerman are capable of being some of the best hitters in the game when they’re healthy. Ryan Howard had an illustrious career with the Phillies before entering a sharp decline in recent years, and Justin Bour and Lucas Duda put together solid seasons for the Marlins and Mets in 2015.
Without further ado, here are our 2016 NL East rankings for first basemen:
Next: No. 5