The Evolution of First Base: From Powerhouse to Utility Role in Baseball

Who’s on First? The Changing Landscape of First Basemen in Baseball

In the world of baseball, the position of first base has long been a cornerstone of the game. Traditionally, it has been home to some of the most iconic players in the sport’s history. However, as we find ourselves in 2025, the role of the first baseman is undergoing a significant transformation. The question on everyone’s mind is, “Who’s on First?”

Historically, first base has been a position of power and prestige. In 2024, however, major league first basemen batted .246, marking their lowest total since 1900. Additionally, they posted an OPS of .736, the lowest since 1968, the Year of the Pitcher. This is a stark contrast to the highest OPS by first basemen in any season, which was .882 in 2000 during the steroid era, and more recently, .853 in 2006. A first baseman has won a Most Valuable Player Award 32 times, more than any other position, with right field coming in second. Yet, last season marked the second time in 10 years that no first baseman finished in the top five of the MVP balloting.

Pat Tabler, who played 444 games at first base in the major leagues from 1981 to 1992, commented on the current state of the position: “There are probably only five or six [starting first basemen in the game now] who fit the mold of a typical first baseman, but there are 24 or 25 who don’t.” He added, “In my fantasy baseball league, if you don’t get one of those five or six top guys, you got no chance. Now, you’re just like, ‘Whatever happened to the Eddie Murrays? Where are the Eddie Murrays today?'”

Despite the challenges, there is still talent at the position. Freddie Freeman, the MVP of the 2024 World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers, is a great player and a future Hall of Famer. The Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryce Harper is starting his second full season at first base. The Atlanta Braves’ Matt Olson hit 54 home runs in 2023. The Toronto Blue Jays’ Vlad Guerrero is one of the best young hitters in the game. The Houston Astros’ Christian Walker, a brilliant defender, has hit 95 homers over the past three years. And since Pete Alonso made his New York Mets debut in 2019, the only player to hit more home runs is Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees.

However, the turnover at first base has been glaring. Half the teams this season will have a different primary first baseman than in 2024. The days of the classic first baseman such as John Olerud, Don Mattingly, and Mark Grace—long, rangy, great hitter, left-handed—seem to be over for now.

Voices from the Field

We spoke to luminaries of the game—those who have played the position, plus those who managed them—to find out exactly what has changed and why.

• Keith Hernandez, often considered the greatest defensive first baseman of all time, said, “It’s one of the important positions on the field. The numbers don’t lie. It’s not as important, or as productive, as it was.”
• Former first baseman Mark Teixeira, who hit 409 home runs from 2003 to 2016, remarked, “I look at the first baseman that I played with and against—there were great first basemen everywhere. I only made three All-Star teams. There were great first basemen for my entire career. It has almost turned into a throwaway position.”
• Princeton baseball coach Scott Bradley noted, “Scouts tell me that the least drafted position in baseball is first base. There just aren’t any. The players who end up there were moved from other positions, unless they are projected as a 40- or 50-home run guy. It has become a stopgap position, a last-ditch effort.”
• Milwaukee Brewers veteran first baseman Rhys Hoskins said, “It used to be a mainstay position; it’s not the same. Power is always needed. Now we’re seeing shortstops hitting 25, 30 home runs. There has been more of a focus to get athleticism in the middle of the diamond. First base has become more of a place to fill a gap.”

Perhaps it’s cyclical. In 2024, first basemen such as Olson, Alonso, and Paul Goldschmidt had subpar seasons. Maybe in five years, there will be multiple superstars at the position. Over the past five years, surefire Hall of Fame first basemen Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera (who was more productive at third base) retired, as has Joey Votto, who has a good chance to make it to Cooperstown on the first ballot. And with the universal DH being established two years ago, a good hitter in both leagues can now be used as a DH, perhaps reducing the production at first base. As for first basemen posting their lowest batting average since 1900, and their lowest OPS since 1968, the stuff hitters see today is stunningly good, and offensive numbers are down at most positions.

But the decline at first base has been steeper than most. First basemen have had the biggest drop in OPS among all positions since 2015, according to ESPN Research.

The Changing Dynamics

“These are strange times,” said former major league manager Buck Showalter. “First base has become a one-dimensional place. How many prototype first basemen are out there? One of them, Pete Alonso, had trouble getting a two-year deal [as a free agent this winter]. If you have a good first baseman these days, it’s gold.”

Why have old-school first basemen become so rare?

Former major league manager Bobby Valentine offered his perspective: “I think a lot of it comes down to body type. The increase in velocity has negated the skills of the slower, thicker-body guys. And the taller guys, too, with the bigger strike zone, that makes you easier to attack. We are looking for smaller guys, shorter guys to play first base these days. The slider-speed bat guys, there aren’t many places for them in the game today.”

Tabler added, “You look at first basemen from back in the day and they look like football players and basketball players. Those guys are now staying in football and basketball, because it’s like straight to the NFL and the NBA. They’re not playing baseball anymore. That’s why I think there aren’t as many [first basemen] as there used to be. In football, you go to college for a couple of years, and you strike it rich when you are 20. Or, you go play football, and you get paid in college now. These guys just aren’t playing baseball.”

Teixeira said, “Maybe teams see all these injuries and understand that players are going to move around during a season, so the bigger first basemen aren’t as valuable to a team anymore. Maybe, early in their careers, players stop lifting all the time. Instead of getting bigger and stronger, they think they need to stay light and agile to be able to play multiple positions. The old way of thinking was to put the biggest, slowest guy at first base. He happens to rake, and he can hit all day long. Maybe we’re not taking a young player and just throwing him out at first base. You’re working with him more to develop all his skills.”

And the defensive structure of the game has also changed the look of the position.

“The position is not about power,” said San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin. “It’s about defense.”

“In today’s game, it should be about defense at first base,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.

Tabler explained, “I think the genesis of this was when the young GMs came to value on-base percentage and the shifting of the defense. If you have three defenders on the left side, you need a first baseman who plays basically like a second baseman. There’s no way Luis Arraez or Michael Busch could have ever played first base in the 1980s. But they do now because when they were moved over to first base, teams were shifting, and you needed a first baseman who could cover all that ground on the right side. That’s where this started. Teams started to value defense more than home runs. We’ll find power somewhere else.”

Teams are looking for power in traditional non-power positions. Thirty years ago, Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who is 6-5, likely would have been a first baseman. So would Pittsburgh Pirates‘ shortstop-turned-center fielder, Oneil Cruz, who is 6-7.

Showalter reflected, “I had [Erubiel] Durazo [at first base], Travis Lee, Adrian Gonzalez, Don Mattingly, Chris Davis. I don’t know if we’re spitting out those type of guys anymore. When you go to college, you won’t see that guy. Everyone wants to be Bobby Witt [Jr.], a power-hitting shortstop/second baseman. The old baseball player development manual said, ‘Make him play catch, short, second, center field until he shows he can’t [do it] defensively. Don’t ever just start at first base.’ I used to tell [former Baltimore Orioles general manager] Dan Duquette that [Ryan] Mountcastle had no chance to play shortstop. Never. Never. Never. But Dan was so stubborn. Teams are so stubborn about that today. And Mountcastle ended up at first base.”

Tabler said, “GMs are so enamored with players who can play multiple positions because they want all those interchangeable parts, so you’re working with a 32-man roster instead of 26. They are so enamored with mixing and matching, to have someone ready when they bring a lefty in in the sixth inning. So, a guy who is pigeon-holed, you’re a first baseman, only a first baseman, they look at that and say, ‘That’s not good.'”

Alonso only plays first base. He is big, not particularly mobile, and not particularly good defensively.

“He is the poster boy [for the changes in the position],” Valentine said. “He had a hard time getting a contract.”

Anthony Rizzo, a free agent, only plays first base. He made $14 million last year during a down (and injury-filled) season and, for now, he has no job. There is, as there always is in baseball, a financial component. If you platoon at first base, or choose an agile defender who doesn’t hit much, instead of a big, immobile one who might hit 35 home runs, you likely can pay that player less.

Even though some teams are stressing defense over power at first, “No one teaches defense at first base anymore,” Showalter said. “Guys like Keith Hernandez and Mattingly were so valuable with their defense.”

Hernandez added, “Defense used to be a major plus at first base. Other than the catcher and the pitcher, no one is more involved in the game than the first baseman. Defense just isn’t as stressed as much today.”

Bradley said, “If you are designing the position, first base is a left-hander’s position in every way. Holding runners on, the bunt play, the position is built for a left-handed thrower. John Olerud is what a first baseman is supposed to look like: tall, long, left-handed. After college, when he pitched, he never dabbled in another position, like the outfield. He was always a first baseman. There aren’t any like him anymore.”

Indeed. Of the 30 primary first basemen in the major leagues, only four throw left-handed.

“I am stunned by that,” Hernandez said. “It is a position best played by a left-hander.”

But Hernandez, a left-handed thrower, is different from today’s first basemen. Instead of playing the outfield or third base or catching, then moving to first base, he started playing first at age 6, and played it full time at age 10. Now, very few are brought up that way. They play another position until they can’t.

But there is hope that things at first base can, and will, change. Bradley, Princeton’s baseball coach, has recruited a high school kid from California named Tomas Cernius, who is 6-3, 245 pounds, and bats and throws left-handed.

“He is a first baseman only,” Bradley said.

Tabler said that now the shift has been outlawed to some degree, he’s hopeful the position is going to change back to the old days of size, production, and power.

“We’re going to get back to sluggers like Triston Casas,” Tabler said, referring to the Boston Red Sox first baseman, who is 6-5, 245 pounds, is exceptionally strong, and only plays first base. “Give me a guy who hits 40 homers and drives in 125 and plays decent enough defense at first base. Hey, here’s Pete Alonso, he’s going to hit 40 homers and drive in 100 runs and answer the bell 150 plus times a year. What’s wrong with that?”

Nothing.

But right now, that’s not Who’s on First.