1B · 49 rankedLast updated Jul 18, 2026

Best First Basemen in MLB 2026

Ben Rice is the highest-rated first baseman in MLB 2026 on Legends Deck. The top three are Ben Rice, Willson Contreras, Yandy Díaz, ranked by a percentile transform of real 2026 Statcast data from Baseball Savant.

Every active MLB first baseman ranked by Legends Deck card rating — built from real 2026 Statcast data from Baseball Savant through the same calibrated pipeline for every player. Ratings refresh nightly.

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Judge, Soto, and Ohtani lead off vs. a Cy Young CPU pitcher. Three outs or three runs — whichever comes first. Real Statcast pitch-by-pitch sim, ~30 seconds. No download, no signup, no card pack to open.

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#	OVR	Player	Team	AVG	OPS	HR	RBI	SB	Barrel%	Exit Velo
1	92	Ben Rice	Yankees	0.279	0.971	29	68	2	15.3%	92.1
2	91	Willson Contreras	Red Sox	0.285	0.921	20	61	2	14.3%	90.6
3	91	Yandy Díaz	Rays	0.322	0.888	13	55	1	7.1%	91.1
4	90	Bryce Harper	Phillies	0.261	0.866	20	57	5	11.3%	90.1
5	89	Matt Olson	Braves	0.267	0.873	25	58	2	13.9%	92.9
6	89	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	Blue Jays	0.262	0.703	6	41	7	6.9%	90.0
7	89	Freddie Freeman	Dodgers	0.290	0.862	15	49	3	10.6%	90.5
8	89	Pete Alonso	Orioles	0.252	0.820	21	65	2	12.6%	93.8
9	89	Jonathan Aranda	Rays	0.297	0.865	14	64	0	10.5%	91.1
10	89	Nick Kurtz	Athletics	0.266	0.902	20	66	7	18.1%	93.6
11	87	Alec Burleson	Cardinals	0.273	0.805	15	67	3	11.6%	91.7
12	87	Jake Bauers	Brewers	0.268	0.881	18	59	6	14.1%	92.5
13	85	Bryce Eldridge	Giants	0.271	0.832	8	20	0	12.5%	92.3
14	84	Michael Busch	Cubs	0.239	0.763	11	49	2	10.1%	88.3
15	84	Ryan O'Hearn	Pirates	0.288	0.838	16	63	1	8.1%	89.7
16	83	Spencer Horwitz	Pirates	0.280	0.841	10	33	1	8.6%	86.9
17	83	Curtis Mead	Nationals	0.247	0.843	17	44	5	11.9%	87.9
18	83	Andrew Vaughn	Brewers	0.311	0.871	2	24	0	3.8%	89.7
19	83	TJ Rumfield	Rockies	0.296	0.855	12	47	0	5.3%	83.8
20	82	Joc Pederson	Rangers	0.235	0.796	15	34	1	11.2%	91.9
21	80	Nathaniel Lowe	Reds	0.247	0.800	10	26	0	11.3%	88.8
22	79	Spencer Steer	Reds	0.247	0.749	14	37	3	12.6%	89.7
23	78	Nolan Schanuel	Angels	0.275	0.741	6	35	0	2.1%	87.3
24	78	Paul Goldschmidt	Yankees	0.258	0.809	15	42	1	11.7%	86.5
25	78	Endy Rodríguez	Pirates	0.260	0.858	5	16	2	12.7%	92.4
26	77	Josh Bell	Twins	0.248	0.736	13	60	1	10.6%	89.9
27	77	Christian Walker	Astros	0.237	0.775	20	58	0	10.0%	89.6
28	77	Ty France	Padres	0.267	0.815	11	33	1	11.0%	91.5
29	76	Jake Burger	Rangers	0.240	0.727	16	58	2	10.4%	89.9
30	75	Romy Gonzalez	Red Sox	0.231	0.687	1	5	0	4.0%	86.8
31	75	Justin Foscue	Rangers	0.286	0.908	7	19	0	13.0%	89.4
32	74	Spencer Torkelson	Tigers	0.208	0.718	16	43	0	14.4%	89.9
33	73	Vinnie Pasquantino	Royals	0.222	0.653	6	32	3	7.1%	88.6
34	71	Josh Naylor	Mariners	0.252	0.671	8	36	18	4.9%	87.6
35	67	Ryan Mountcastle	Orioles	0.286	0.690	0	1	0	0.0%	90.0
36	67	Dominic Smith	Braves	0.263	0.703	6	35	0	6.1%	87.8
37	65	Nick Sogard	Worcester Red Sox	0.257	0.721	0	2	0	0.0%	81.6
38	65	Kyle Manzardo	Guardians	0.215	0.669	10	30	0	10.8%	89.1
39	65	CJ Kayfus	Columbus Clippers	0.182	0.644	1	2	0	21.4%	92.8
40	63	Rhys Hoskins	Guardians	0.178	0.680	9	31	0	11.1%	88.5
41	63	Rowdy Tellez	Gwinnett Stripers	0.200	0.773	1	4	0	28.6%	91.8
42	62	Coby Mayo	Orioles	0.193	0.659	12	34	1	11.1%	92.3
43	62	LaMonte Wade Jr.	Astros	0.250	0.794	2	8	0	9.5%	84.5
44	59	Eric Wagaman	Mets	0.176	0.635	2	4	0	8.0%	84.3
45	58	Andrés Chaparro	Nationals	0.167	0.586	1	7	0	11.1%	90.3
46	57	Triston Casas	Red Sox	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
47	57	David Fry	Guardians	0.203	0.690	6	13	0	7.3%	85.8
48	56	Connor Joe	Tacoma Rainiers	0.179	0.597	1	3	2	8.3%	92.5
49	55	Pavin Smith	Reno Aces	0.141	0.428	1	6	1	3.3%	86.1

How this leaderboard is built

Legends Deck rates every first baseman using real 2026 Statcast data. For hitters, that means the key inputs are exit velocity, barrel rate, xwOBA, sprint speed, whiff rate, and chase rate. No scout opinions, no card-by-card tuning — the same fixed pipeline for every player.

Full methodology: How Legends Deck card ratings work. Or read the ranked breakdown: Best First Basemen in MLB 2026.

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