How Atlanta Braves position players stack up in the East: 1st base
The Atlanta Braves will be in a dogfight this season as the NL East has improved noticeably. Let’s see how teams rank at the first base position.
After over a decade of seeing the position as essentially a revolving door, the Atlanta Braves have enjoyed seeing the same productive – and popular – player on the right corner of the infield for nearly a decade.
Freddie Freeman‘s presence has paid great dividends and his contract – the largest extension deal in the history of the franchise – has been well-earned.
As the Braves’ division rivals have made great strides in improving their clubs, let’s rank the players expected to compete from 1st base in 2019.
Here are the players involved:
- BRAVES – Freddie Freeman
- MARLINS – Neil Walker/Martin Prado
- METS – Todd Frazier/Peter Alonso
- NATIONALS – Ryan Zimmerman/Matt Adams
- PHILLIES – Rhys Hoskins
Last year, this wasn’t particularly close. On a team basis, the Braves were third in the National League in total first base production for 2018 at 5.3 fWAR.
The rest of the teams in the East were just not very good – which was an important result given the traditional emphasis on power and production at all ‘corner’ positions on the diamond:
- Nationals – 2.5
- Marlins – 2.1
- Phillies – 1.9
- Mets – negative 0.3
But there have been changes… 3 teams are changing at 1st base, and for the most part, you can understand why. The exception is that the Marlins, who dumped Justin Bour to the Phils at the trade deadline for a pitcher who now ranks as their 30th-best prospect.
While Bour didn’t fit the long-term plans for Miami, he also didn’t bring much in return.
So with that as an introduction, let’s see what teams are bringing to the table in 2019.