1B · 49 rankedLast updated Jul 21, 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, Bryce Harper, 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	93	Ben Rice	Yankees	0.281	0.967	29	68	2	15.5%	92.2
2	91	Willson Contreras	Red Sox	0.283	0.931	22	64	2	14.6%	90.5
3	90	Bryce Harper	Phillies	0.258	0.853	20	59	5	11.1%	90.1
4	90	Yandy Díaz	Rays	0.310	0.859	13	56	1	6.9%	91.1
5	89	Matt Olson	Braves	0.269	0.881	26	59	2	14.0%	92.8
6	89	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	Blue Jays	0.262	0.703	6	41	7	7.1%	90.1
7	89	Freddie Freeman	Dodgers	0.285	0.848	15	51	3	10.5%	90.5
8	89	Pete Alonso	Orioles	0.246	0.808	21	66	4	12.5%	93.8
9	89	Nick Kurtz	Athletics	0.266	0.902	20	66	7	18.1%	93.6
10	88	Jonathan Aranda	Rays	0.290	0.845	14	64	0	10.3%	91.1
11	87	Alec Burleson	Cardinals	0.280	0.810	15	69	3	11.4%	91.7
12	86	Jake Bauers	Brewers	0.259	0.858	18	59	6	13.9%	92.5
13	85	Bryce Eldridge	Giants	0.275	0.858	10	23	1	12.6%	92.4
14	84	Michael Busch	Cubs	0.244	0.773	12	52	2	10.3%	88.3
15	84	Curtis Mead	Nationals	0.256	0.861	17	48	6	11.6%	88.1
16	84	TJ Rumfield	Rockies	0.299	0.860	13	51	0	5.6%	83.9
17	83	Joc Pederson	Rangers	0.243	0.818	16	35	1	11.5%	91.9
18	83	Spencer Horwitz	Pirates	0.280	0.841	10	33	1	8.6%	86.9
19	83	Ryan O'Hearn	Pirates	0.278	0.816	16	64	1	7.9%	89.8
20	83	Andrew Vaughn	Brewers	0.307	0.856	2	24	0	3.8%	89.6
21	80	Spencer Steer	Reds	0.246	0.759	16	40	3	13.0%	89.9
22	80	Nathaniel Lowe	Reds	0.249	0.806	11	30	0	11.1%	89.0
23	79	Ty France	Padres	0.275	0.872	14	39	1	11.3%	91.9
24	78	Nolan Schanuel	Angels	0.279	0.744	6	35	0	2.0%	87.2
25	78	Paul Goldschmidt	Yankees	0.259	0.809	15	42	1	11.6%	86.5
26	78	Endy Rodríguez	Pirates	0.260	0.858	5	16	2	12.7%	92.4
27	77	Josh Bell	Twins	0.249	0.731	13	60	1	10.4%	90.0
28	77	Christian Walker	Astros	0.234	0.766	20	58	0	10.0%	89.5
29	75	Jake Burger	Rangers	0.239	0.716	16	59	2	10.6%	89.8
30	75	Spencer Torkelson	Tigers	0.207	0.723	18	47	0	15.0%	89.8
31	74	Romy Gonzalez	Red Sox	0.184	0.579	1	6	1	3.4%	88.2
32	74	Justin Foscue	Rangers	0.279	0.879	7	19	0	12.2%	89.4
33	73	Vinnie Pasquantino	Royals	0.223	0.650	6	32	4	7.3%	88.5
34	71	Josh Naylor	Mariners	0.253	0.671	8	37	19	4.8%	87.6
35	70	Andrés Chaparro	Nationals	0.210	0.750	3	15	0	14.6%	91.8
36	67	Ryan Mountcastle	Orioles	0.286	0.690	0	1	0	0.0%	90.0
37	67	Dominic Smith	Braves	0.259	0.695	6	35	0	6.0%	87.7
38	65	Nick Sogard	Worcester Red Sox	0.257	0.721	0	2	0	0.0%	81.6
39	65	CJ Kayfus	Columbus Clippers	0.182	0.644	1	2	0	21.4%	92.8
40	63	Kyle Manzardo	Guardians	0.208	0.649	10	30	0	10.7%	89.1
41	63	Rowdy Tellez	Gwinnett Stripers	0.200	0.773	1	4	0	28.6%	91.8
42	63	LaMonte Wade Jr.	Astros	0.205	0.736	2	8	0	8.0%	84.6
43	62	Rhys Hoskins	Guardians	0.177	0.671	9	31	1	11.6%	88.6
44	61	Coby Mayo	Orioles	0.198	0.672	13	35	2	11.0%	92.2
45	57	Triston Casas	Red Sox	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
46	57	Eric Wagaman	Mets	0.162	0.586	2	4	0	7.4%	83.7
47	57	David Fry	Guardians	0.202	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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