|
Career Players: First Base |
|
New = *, Unavailable = X, |
|
-. Lou Gehrig X ! |
Fogelberg – Todays featured position is First Base.
First base is the first position that a draft strategy will need to be thought of. There are many ‘Premier Players’ including Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Frank Thomas and Jimmy Foxx at this position and several quality players including Bill Joyce, Ferris Fain, Dan Brouthers, Roy Cullenbine, Harmon Killebrew, and Stan Musial.
A VERY important factor to consider when looking at your draft strategy will be who is actually AVAILABLE at first base. You can eliminate Gehrig and Foxx immediately since they played in last years Classic. You can assume that Mantle will be drafted in the Single Season draft this year, so eliminate him and you need to plan for the scenario that Frank Thomas and Roy Cullenbine will be drafted there as well (since they are on the Big Board).
This leaves Fain, Brouthers, Killebrew and possibly Jeff Bagwell as your best options if you do not have a franchise player that plays this position. Look to grab one of them early in the draft (rounds 1-3, although Killebrew’s greatest value might be at 3rd base). Bagwell, Johnny Mize, and Hank Greenberg would be a steal late in the draft… WIth all of that said, if Frank Thomas is on the table when the career draft starts, he would be a definite first round selection and the best first basemen available.
The funny part about this particular draft is that in years past, first base was a place to find a middle of the lineup run-producer and this year that does not seem to be the case. Although there is power at this position, the players with that power do not have much balance to the rest of their disc which might force you to find a power hitter at another position. There are a few table-setting top of the order hitters in the group in Fain and Brouthers if a rabbit is what you need.
As always, look at the disc, not the name on the discs.
