2026 Fantasy Baseball – First Base Rankings for OBP Leagues (Tiers & Commentary)
Last Update: January 7, 2026. Top 32 First Basemen (1B) with commentary. For full update log, please scroll all the way tf down.
Because my league is weird and we have 13 teams, I’ll be ranking the Top 13 best first basemen for fantasy baseball leagues that use on-base percentage going into the 2026 drafts. Again, this is for OBP leagues. While I admit that consistently hitting .290 is a notable skill, I do not really care about batting average and it’s been like the last thing I look at among a player’s stats since like 2001. Hitters with strong walk rates (BB%) and especially double-digit walk rates (DDBB%) and good on-base percentages (OBP) will get boosted over guys with average or below-average BB% compared to other industry lists. This is a living and fluid list that will be added onto and updated until Opening Day 2026, so please bookmark and check back often.
Top 13 First Baseman (1B) for OBP Leagues
1. Nick Kurtz
Idk about you but I’m going after all the dongs. Dongs dongs dongs dongs dongs dongs dongs. Gimme gimme gimme, especially another 40+ games’ worth. Mark McGwire hit 49 HR for the Athletics when he was 23 years old, Nick Kurtz could do the same thing in his first go at a full 162-game season at 23 years old, especially with the Athletics squatting in a non-MLB stadium.
2. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Like father, like son. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hits the shit out of the ball, and has been hitting it a tad bit harder the last two seasons, plus he had that great playoff run where he OPS’d 1.091 with 8 HR in 114 plate appearances all the way to the World Series. It’s important to keep in mind that in 2021, TOR played 21 games in TD Ballpark and 23 games at Sahlen Field for their home games before they moved back into Rogers and Toronto proper, and Vlad the Junior hit 21 of his 48 HR in those 44 games. He hasn’t come close to matching that, (32, 26, 30, and 23 last year), so if you’re looking for lots and lots and lots of HR, you may want to go after Kurtz and Olson and Devers and Alonso, who can probably promise you 40+ HR a bit more easily than Vlad can. However! Vlad brings a strong batting average that pushes his OBP upward to go with his very healthy DDBB%. Then again! He’s about to enter his Age 27 season so maybe he’s just getting started.
3. Rafael Devers
This will be Rafael Devers’s first full year as a fantasy first basemen, and he’s one of the three best, just like he was when was a third baseman for the Boston Red Sox. His floor is 90 runs, 30 home runs, and 90 RBI with a 12% DDBB%, and that’s just the floor he’s set going into his Age 29 season. He’ll be off third base and playing for a team that actually wants to win bad enough to trade for him and pay the going rate for this caliber of hitter. Keep in mind that he’s no longer 3B eligible, but Rafael Devers is an elite hitter who is well worth a 3rd or 4th round pick.
Fun fact: Because of when he was traded from Boston to the San Francisco Giants, Rafael Devers performed the small miracle of playing a 163-game season last year.
4. Bryce Harper
Is Bryce Harper my favorite player? He must be, if I’m still ranking him this high going into his Age 33 season. He’s got a floor of like 27 or so HR with an upside of 40, and his R/R (runs and RBI) floor is like 80/85, with upside of 100/100, even at his age. Bryce Harper is aging very very gracefully and it’s easy to believe he still has another big fat fantasy season in him that includes double-digit stolen bases (DDSB). Of course, it sure helps that OBP monster Kyle Schwarber resigned with the Philadelphia Phillies.
5. Pete Alonso
We all love the Polar Bear and his affable himboness but of the big stud fantasy 1B in the first half of this tier right now, he’s got the lowest BB%, just a hair under DDBB%. In the last five seasons, Alonso has hit between 34 and 46 home runs per year, and the Statcast numbers say he should’ve 46 home runs if he played in Baltimore last year. Going in his Age 31 season, there’s no reason to believe that Pete Alonso can’t keep mashing with the Orioles. The difference between Bryce Harper and Matt Olson and Pete Alonso isn’t much of a difference at all, as they’re all proven sluggers in their 30s with an outstanding and very safe fantasy floor who are still in their prime.
6. Matt Olson
A modern-day iron man, with consecutive seasons of 162 games played. Matt Olson will be 32 in March, with five consecutive seasons of at least 95 RBI. His OPS has had some variance in those years, from .790 in 2024 to .993 in 2023 and .850 last year, and he’s hit exactly 29 home runs in each of the last two seasons. Like Harper, his strong floor and history of mashing suggests he’s probably not done and may be a bit better than last year.
7. Freddie Freeman
Steady Freddie Freeman is a bit older than the aging slugging first baseman ahead of him on this list, going into his Age 36 season. His Statcast is a slightly lighter shade of red, and he’s striking out a tad more. He should still provide like 22+ home runs and a steady dose of R/R hitting 3th or 4th in a robust Dodgers lineup and around a DDBB% with his usual outstanding OBP and excellent batting average. A name-brand future Hall-of-Famer, Freddie Freeman may be overpriced a few rounds on draft day.
8. Ben Rice — (C/1B)
After 36 games behind the plate in 2025, Ben Rice should retain his catcher eligibility for at least one more season, which is awesome because he hit the absolute shit out of the ball last year. Go check out his Statcast page if you don’t believe me. An xSLG of .551 and a near DDBB% and C/1B? Hell fucking yeah let’s fucking go. Name me a better fantasy catcher rn than other than Big Cal Dumper. HIs bat is so fucking loud I’m ranking him among the top 8 1B, and a lot of those seven guys I’m ranking ahead are out of history and my own deference to proven veteran sluggers who bang.
9. Tyler Soderstrom — (1B/OF)
The Sacramento-Squatting Athletics gave Tyler Soderstrom a big fat bag this offseason, and going into his Age 24 season, he is a very appealing fantasy bat, especially with his positional flexibility and that ballpark and his power profile. Those who rostered him last year may have been disappointed by his second half — when he hit 7 home runs instead of the 18 he had in the first half — but his 853 OPS after the All-Star break was actually more than 50 points higher than it was before. Bang bang bang. Go get him.
10. Vinnie Pasquantino
I’ll say this much, Vinnie Pasquantino is a very good RBI bat. I know RBI is not a very good statistic and that it’s team-based and lineup-dependent and all that, but Pasquantino has been the third hitter in the lineup for the Kansas City Royals the last two seasons for well over 1100 plate appearances. He was 11th in MLB in 2024 with 97 RBI, and third last year with 113 RBI. He’s also entering his Age 28 season, and there’s no reason to believe that the career-high 32 HR he hit last year will stay a career-high. His BB% has been 7.2% in each of the last two seasons, so he won’t hurt OBP leagues. As long as the Royals hit Vinnie Pasquantino third in the lineup all year long, he will deliver. A great target if you can’t get the guys above in the first few rounds.
11. Spencer Torkelson
A re-breakout! The 25 year-old Torkelson hit 31 HR for the second time in his young career, after a lost 2024 that saw him slug a meager .374 with 10 HR in 92 games. The 1st overall pick of the 2020 draft will go into 2026 with a floor of 25 HR and an R/R of 75/80 with a DDBB%. There’s room and opportunity for upside, and I’m a sucker for betting on high first-round picks who are still this young and this experienced as Spencer Torkelson.
12. Michael Busch
Michael Busch was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in January 2024 for Zyhir Hope and Jackson Ferris, and the trade paid immediate dividends for the Chicago Cubs. They now have their big fat slugging first baseman of the future, and Busch should continue to deliver 30+ HR with a DDBB% and all the R/R that comes with it. I doubt the Cubs will start sitting him against lefties, so beware the 207/274/368 that he slashed vs LHP in 95 plate appearances last year.
13. Kazuma Okamoto — (1B/3B)
Kazuma Okamoto was a 6x All-Star in the Japanese NPB and has led their league in home runs thrice and slashed 322/411/581 in 77 games last year. Okamoto should be eligible for both 1B (27 games) and 3B (52), giving him some nifty positional flexibility on Draft Day and throughout the year. Munetaka Murakami will have the hype and is younger, but Okamoto may be the safer pick of the two at 29 years old.
The Rest of the Best Fantasy Baseball 1B for OBP Leagues
Since my 13-team league also has a Corner Infielder (CI) slot, at least the first few guys below will be rostered, and a few more will make sufficient bench pieces, and a few more after that will be decent fill-ins when your guy is hurt. I’m going to need to know these names on Draft Day and you should, too. Here are a shitload more first baseman.
14. Munetaka Murakami — (3B only for now but eventually 1B probably)
Twenty-six in February and coming over from the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Munetaka Murakami slugged .659 with 24 home runs last year and has a .394 career OBP. However, he struggles against secondary pitches and Fangraphs alluded him to Joey Gallo and even as a personal Gallo apologist who legit considers Gallo to be one of the best all-around baseball players of the 21st century, that doesn’t sound too encouraging for his fantasy prospects. However again, the robust history of DDBB% in Japan sets a pretty decent floor for OBP leagues. The 8 games he played at first base last year means that Munetaka Murakami should only be eligible at third base in ESPN leagues, and he could be pretty popular on draft day. Be careful of overpaying for the next big import.
15. Willson Contreras — (1B only, no catcher)
Willson Contreras the Red Socking first baseman appeared in zero (0) games as a catcher last year so while his fantasy value has taken a hit, his Statcast profile says he can still hit the shit out of the ball. However, if you’re thinking he can boost his home runs by moving to Fenway Park, note that he actually would’ve lost a pair of home runs there, according to his expected home runs by park. Willson will also be 34 in May, and I’m a teeny tiny bit concerned about his usual DDBB% dropping down to 7.8% last year.
16. Yandy Díaz
Great batting averages and great exit velocity and great HardHit%, Tampa Bay’s Yandy Díaz Experiment of getting a guy built like a tight end to stop hitting the ball on the ground and put the ball in the air has been a success, one that has seen fruition for several seasons now that included a batting title in 2023. His OPS vs LHP was actually over a hundred points higher than RHP (.922 and .820) so Tampa Bay has no excuse to platoon him. Last year’s 25 home runs were a career-high, he still hits the ball very hard, and he’s about to enter his Age 34 season. That first detail and last detail gives me some pause, and he may move down this list over the course of the offseason.
17. Josh Naylor
So this was a fun season (30 stolen bases!) and Josh Naylor is a fun player and a very good hitter who should continue to post good batting averages and while 30 stolen bases probably won’t happen again, it was such an intentional choice to steal that I don’t see why he can’t repeat DDSB, even if that means like 12 SB. His new home park surprisingly does not suppress his home runs, at least according to his Statcast, so 25-ish HR with 8% BB% or so plus his helping of SB is a pretty helpful fantasy first baseman. Josh Naylor will be 29 in June, so he’s still technically in his prime. However, he doesn’t really hit the ball very hard compared to other slugging first basemen, is billed at 235 pounds, and has a recent history of gaining weight in the season. Baseball players like this do not age well. Caveat emptor, friends.
18. Salvador Perez — (C/1B)
Salvador Perez will be 36 in May and he posts BB% that are often in the bottom 3% of MLB — and it’d be even worse if he didn’t get a dozen hit-by-pitches every year! That walk rate matters a lot more in OBP leagues of course, where the volume of playing 155+ games (which Sal has three of the last five seasons) can drag your ratios that much more. It feels strange to call a 36 year-old catcher a safe pick but at this point in his career, it’s probably safe to say that Salvador Perez is cut from a different cloth and may not be expected to age typically. You probably shouldn’t start him at first base if you roster him, tho.
19. Spencer Steer
With only 11 games in the outfield in 2025, Spencer Steer will only be eligible for first base on Draft Day going into his Age 28 season. Steer has hit at least 20 home runs for three consecutive seasons, and has a career DDBB% that his poor batting average obscures. That part of his skillset looks pretty stable but less stable is the range of outcomes for his stolen bases. He stole 25 in 2024 and 15 bags the year before, but only 7 last year.
20. Jorge Polanco — (2B and soon 1B, probably)
Jorge Polanco is a New York Met now, and he does not appear to be done hitting. His .495 slugging was the second-highest of his career, and so was his 26 HR and his .229 isolated slugging. Jorge will be 33 next July, and going into a year with a lot of unexciting options for second base, Polanco will probably be starting for someone in your league on Opening Day. And now that the Mets plan on using Jorge Polanco to recreate Pete Alonso in the aggregate, he should get first base eligibility pretty quickly.
21. Jonathan Aranda
Beware of purpleness! In my personal spreadsheets that I’ve been using to prepare for my drafts the last few years, I have been changing the text color for strong-side platoon hitters to purple. Purple means the hitter is best deployed (and often is so by the team) vs RHP. Purple bats can be plenty useful in deeper leagues, but require a bit extra planning and mindfulness of opposing SP.
Those 14 home runs he hit in 609 plate appearances last year a Gee whiz, that’s a sweet-looking Statcast profile from Jonathan Aranda, bang bang bang, with a near-DDBB% to go with it. He only hit one home run off LHP last year, but his .378 OBP says he doesn’t need to be platooned in OBP leagues. Aranda will be 28 in May and FYI, has not stolen a single base in his MLB career.
22. Alec Burleson — (1B/OF)
*Beware of purpleness!
With the St. Louis Cardinals trading Willson Contreras to the Boston Red Sox, that opens up first base, and the Cardinals have already said that Alec Burleson, who is going into his Age 27 season, will be the everyday first baseman. His expected slugging and exit velocity improved a few degrees last year, and he’s a comfortably above-average hitter, at least against RHP. Against LHP, he OPS’d just 708 last year, but that was a huge huge improvement from the 515 OPS he had against them in 2024. You should beware of his past platoon tendencies, but he may be on his way to solving that. In the meantime, he brings 1B/OF flexibility to the table.
23. Miguel Vargas — (1B/3B)
Miguel Vargas is entering his Age 26 season having wrapped up 101 wRC+ season in the purgatory of the Chicago White Sox offense. Vargas managed to score 80 runs batting within the first four spots of that lineup with a near DDBB%, so there’s some fantasy value here in deep OBP leagues, especially with his positional flex. It’s not long ago that he was well-regarded prospect for the Dodgers so he’s not without upside, especially as he gets more plate appearances and experience.
24. Ryan O’Hearn — (1B/OF)
*Beware of purpleness!
So enamored with his 2025, the Pittsburgh Pirates made Ryan O’Hearn their highest-paid free agent acquisition in franchise history, even though he slugged .387 after his trade to the San Diego Padres and was a platoon hitter before last season, before he figured something out and slashed 278/358/474 against LHP in 2025. But did he learn a new skill, or did a .358 BABIP do a lot of heavy lifting? Considering that he’ll be 33 in July, I’m going against the former and keeping him purple. The 1B/OF flex helps, but Ryan O’Hearn is a waiver target for me and not a draft day target.
25. Kyle Manzardo
*Beware of purpleness!
Kyle Manzardo hit 27 home runs with a 9% walk rate in his first full season last year so it’s pretty safe to say that his season was a success. He slashed 186/253/419 against LHP but still hit five home runs and at his age, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt that this can be corrected before declaring him a platoon bat forevermore, but the struggles should be noted. I would also like to see a bit more red on his Statcast before I place him any higher on this list because it seems a bit light for someone who hit 27 home runs.
26. Josh Bell
*Beware of purpleness!
Josh Bell will turn 34 next August, but his Statcast says he can still mash and he can still post DDBB%. His slash line of 151/250/302 versus LHP was putrid af, but he’s just two seasons removed from OPSing 854 against them so I’m not quite ready to completely purple him, but we should certainly keep his struggles against lefties in mind if we’re considering him. If the Minnesota Twins bat him third or fourth in the lineup, he could be a good source of RBI. That would make him a good value pick if you have a corner infield slot.
27. Nolan Schanuel
This guy has some elite BB% and should spend his career among the league leaders in OBP, but not much else, for now. Nolan Schanuel will be 24 on Valentine’s Day, with 1303 plate appearances under his belt in the major leagues having already demonstrated a strong OBP floor that makes him useful in an OBP league with a corner infield slot. He was such an advanced hitter that the Los Angeles Angels promoted him to the big leagues the same year they drafted him 11th overall in 2023. Presently, he doesn’t hit the ball very hard at all but guys with such high walk rates tend to get better so keep an eye on Nolan Schanuel. Eventually, he could be the next Kevin Youkilis but in the meantime, maybe he’ll finally slug .400 this year!
28. Andrew Vaughn
It sure looked like Andrew Vaughn was breaking out when he was traded out of the Chicago White Sox purgatory to the playoff-bound Milwaukee Brewers, but his numbers on the whole was pretty much more of the same. His .411 SLG% wasn’t even a career-high. Vaughn may get a career-high home runs in MIL, but that probably means like 24 HR instead of 36 HR. His Statcast is loud, tho, and idk how to explain the difference between his .411 slugging and his xSLG of .465, nor do I know why his actual slugging has underperformed his expected slugging by a big difference for two years in a row now. He’s also been much much better against LHP than RHP.
29. Christian Walker
The counting stats from Christian Walker were nearly identical to 2024, but lots of the under-the-hood stats took a beating and his Statcast profile was a lot less red. His BB% dropped from DDBB% range all the way to 6.3%, and his K% was a career-high by a lot, and he lost 85 points of OPS, and he will be 35 years old by Opening Day. This is a bat on the downslope.
30. Jake Burger — (1B only)
This Burger is less juicy these days lol, having had wrist surgery after end of the season, along with a few other owies (left oblique strain, left quad) in an IL-riddled season. Jake Burger also lost his 3B eligibility, and with his history of below-average BB% (a terrible 3.2% last year!), there’s that much less of a reason to draft him. He’ll only be 30, tho, and he could get his slugging back up over .460+ but idk if I can personally fw that walk rate.
31. Luis Arraez — (1B only for now but soon 2B)
If only this guy played 50 years ago! Luis Arraez does a lot of things well with a bat as far as making contact and not swinging and missing and striking out, but he has a plummeting BB% (9% in 2021 and 3.6% in 2024 and 5% last year) and almost nonexistent power and with just 14 games at second base last year, he is now only eligible as a first baseman in ESPN leagues. If you’re in a batting average league and can stomach the single-digit home runs, go for it but I’m going to pass. Now a Giant, Luis Arraez should get his 2B eligibility back in San Francisco pretty quickly.
32. Triston Casas
Triston Casas moved to Fort Myers this offseason to continue rehab the patellar tendon he ruptured in his knee in last May, under the Boston Red Sox’s watchful eyes at JetBlue Park. Look at that tasty 13.7% career BB%, I really like this hitter as a post-hype post-prospect post-injury pick and I’d love to rank him a lot higher but the Red Sox apparently feel differently considering they just traded for Willson Contreras. In fact, there is already talk of Triston Casas beginning the season in Triple-A Worcester.
Where are the rest of your Fantasy Baseball 2026 rankings by position?
Stay tuned! I’ll be adding all the positions and updating them throughout the winter. Don’t forget to bookmark this page and stay tuned for updates throughout the offseason until Opening Day!
UPDATE LOG
- November 18, 2025: Top 13 First Basemen posted with commentary.
- January 4, 2026: Top 30 First Basemen with commentary.
- January 6, 2026: Added Jorge Polanco. Top 31 First Basemen with commentary.
- January 7, 2026: Added Munetaka Murakami. Top 32 First Basemen with commentary.
Cover Image Credit: public domain via Wikimedia Commons
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