46.08 Checking the Locks: First Base

[crobillard]

This is a series where I will evaluate the options in each position leading into Spring Training. This is the second of eleven parts. I will be taking a look into the first base position in this post.

Sure fire locks: Carlomaria Donadoni
Near lock: Miguel Deleon
Trying to get in the door: Rusty Burkhead, Vincent Vanderhugen

I would be shocked if we see Donadoni at all this spring. He's proven himself to be such a pivotal part of the team and with his injury proneness rating dropping to fragile last season, the team wants to make sure they don't blow it and use him too much. I'm sure in a perfect world they would love to get him some time at third to see if he can still move over to the hot corner in an emergency, but Donadoni is only 25 years old and he's coming off his best season yet. He batted .316/.370/.586 last season with 42 doubles, 44 homeruns to collect a 5.6 WAR in 160 games. On top of that he had a +5.4 ZR at first, so he's been a really important part of the Jackrabbits' offense. So important that the team's front office just nailed down an extension for him that takes him through his arbitration.

Deleon is an important role player for the team. The speedster has seen no regression in his legs and he only just turned 26 years old. He has 12/11/11 wheels that were put on display when he beat out a throw on an infield single in the Landis series last season. He can fly around the basepaths and really put pressure on a below average defense. Edmonton thinks well of his bat too even if it definitely missed the mark last season when he was only 10/60 at the plate. The good news is that he also plays good defense too and could step in at the corners in a pinch with 8 ratings at first and third.

While it is not likely I could see a world in which Edmonton switches Deleon out for someone like Burkhead or Vanderhugen. Burkhead has fantastic defense at first and he can hit a little bit with 6/8/4/4/9 ratings against RHP. He's also been waiting patiently for a shot and I think this is his first spring training he recieved an invite for. Vanderhugen was just signed recently and he is the best hitter out of all three of them. Although, he's probably not a true first baseman. He's more likely to be a DH, but Edmonton will try him out at first during the spring to see if he can out play his ratings since that will change his value dramatically. With 6/8/8/5/7 ratings, he's not blowing anyone out of the water with his bat, but he's a solid hitter.