Fantasy baseball 2027 first base outlook: Ben Rice, Miguel Vargas lead resurgence at a suddenly deep position

Young breakouts have revitalized first base, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s disappointing season raises questions about his 2027 value

The story of first base in recent years has been one of attrition. As we've dealt with a number of high-profile flameouts from much-hyped young players, the position has gotten increasingly old. A lot of those guys in their 30s have held their value remarkably well, but we started to see more than just cracks in the foundation in 2024 and 2025. But that all changed in 2026. To put some numbers to it: 16 players put up an .800 OPS while playing at least five games at first base in 2026, compared to 14 in 2025 and just four in 2024. There were 10 30-homer first basemen in 2026; there were just 11 combined between 2025 and 2024.

First baseman had a .336 wOBA in 2026, the best league-wide mark since 2021. We're a long way from the days of the 2000s, such as 2006, when the average first baseman had an .851 OPS, of course, but this was still obviously a big improvement for a position that had been trending down for a while. And we've got a lot of younger guys to thank for that. Ben Rice (27) was arguably the best first baseman in Fantasy, and he was joined in the top tier by breakouts from Miguel Vargas (26) and Sal Stewart (22); Munetaka Murakami and