Best and worst first basemen in Major League Baseball for 2016

From a hitting perspective, Goldy is one of the best players in all of baseball. He put up a .321 average and a tremendous .435 on-base percentage while hitting 33 homers and driving in 110 runs last season. If Goldschmidt was on a contenting team, he'd be a consistent MVP candidate. Adding to this, the three-time All-Star has won two Gold Gloves at first.

Just. So. Darn. Bad. There really is no other way to look at it here. The former MVP has fallen on some tough times recently. Last season saw him hit .229 with a .277 on-base percentage and a 30 percent strikeout rate. This came after he posted a league-leading 190 strikeouts while hitting .223 in 2014. With a career defensive WAR of -16.4, the value Howard once brought at the plate is no longer there for the Phils to justify even playing him. It's a sad ending to what was a tremendous career for Howard in Philadelphia. 

Primarily playing third or the outfield during the early stages of his career, the value the 33-year-old Cabrera brings to the game is at the plate. He's earned two MVP awards, been named to the All-Star team 10 times and boasts a career .321 average in 14 seasons. Cabrera is coming off a 2015 campaign that saw him lead the league with a .338 average and .440 on-base percentage. To top this all off, the future Hall of Famer will end his career with 500-plus homers, potentially hitting the 600 mark before all is said and done. 

Sure, Carter can hit the long ball. He has 20-plus homers in each of the past three seasons. He's also struck out 150-plus times in each of those seasons, leading the majors in that category with 212 back in 2013. A career .218 hitter, Carter finished last season with Houston hitting at a .199 clip. He's also among the worst defensive first basemen in the game, posting a negative 6.3 WAR over his career. 

Hosmer's bat fully caught up to his fielding prowess for the champion Royals last season. He hit 18 homers with 93 RBI (both career highs) while posting a .297 average. This came the same season that the veteran earned his third consecutive Gold Glove in the American League. 

You can't be a near everyday first baseman in the majors and fail to hit double-digit homers. Averaging 421 plate appearances for the San Diego Padres over the past four seasons, Alonso hit a total of 27 homers. Yes, that's an average of 6.8 per season. Now on the Oakland Athletics, there's little hope that Alonso's power numbers are going to increase. This wouldn't be a big deal if he were close to a .300 hitter. Instead, the 29-year-old veteran boasts a career .269 average. 

It starts on defense for Belt, who has the best range and is among the best in the game at picking balls at first base. Once Belt's hitting started to come along, it became clear he'd be one of the top overall first basemen in the game. That happened last season when he hit .280 with 18 homers and 68 RBI. He also posted a .356 on-base percentage with a .367 BAbip last season. Considering he has an 80 percent contact rate, that's pretty darn impressive. 

Reynolds once led the league in strikeouts for four consecutive seasons. Then a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, that was somewhat mitigated by the fact that he averaged 35 homers in those four seasons. As Reynolds' power has regressed, his strikeout numbers have continued to remain the same. The veteran has struck out in 36 percent of his career at-bats. Playing in Colorado this season may improve his performance at the plate, but that's simply nothing more than an outlier.

If it weren't for Abreu's relatively advanced age (27) when he made it to the majors, he might have gone down as one of the best-hitting first basemen of this generation. The Cuban hit 30-plus homers while driving in 100-plus runs in each of his first two seasons. If that wasn't enough, he led the majors with a .518 slugging percentage as a rookie in 2014. Oh, and he entered the 2016 season as a career .303 hitter. 

Remember when Smoak was considered a can't-miss prospect with the Texas Rangers? If that seems like a long time ago, that's because it was. He simply hasn't lived up to expectations in the majors. Smoak is coming off a 2015 season with the Blue Jays that saw him hit .226 with a sub-.300 on-base percentage. It was the third time in four seasons that he failed to hit the .300 plateau. He's also averaging just 12.5 homers the past two years after putting up 20 in 2013. The regression from average status makes him among the worst at his position. 

A multifaceted player, Rizzo has actually put up a positive defensive WAR in two of the past three seasons. That's a great accomplishment considering he's known more for what he can do with the bat. He's put up 30-plus homers in each of the past two seasons and is coming off a career-best 2015 campaign that saw him knock 31 out of the park while driving in 101 runs. Not to mention the fact that he's posted a .386 and .387 on-base percentage over the past two seasons respectively. 

After putting up an All-Star campaign for the Oakland Athletics back in 2014, Moss has regressed a great deal. Always considered a substandard fielder, the veteran simply isn't getting it done at the plate. He hit a combined .226 with 19 homers between the Cleveland Indians and Cardinals last season, striking out 32 percent of the time. That came after he hit just .234 with a 32 percent strikeout rate for Oakland in 2014. It's looking more and more like Moss was a one-year wonder. 

With a 35 percent career strikeout rate and leading the majors in this category last season, some might wonder why we consider Davis one of the best. Well, the dude led the MLB in homers (53) and RBI (138) back in 2013. He followed that up by jacking 47 homers and driving in 117 last season. These are absurd power numbers in today's baseball. 

It's a good thing the Mets haven't been relying on Campbell too much at first base. He's been an absolute disaster since joining the big league club back in 2014. Campbell, 29, is a career .221 hitter with just seven homers in 426 at-bats. Those aren't numbers you want from someone at a traditionally power-heavy position. Adding to this, he boasts a career .310 on-base percentage. Ouch! 

Despite Atlanta's struggles and his own regression from a power standpoint over the past two seasons, Freeman remains one of the best in the game. He's posted a .370-plus on-base percentage in each of the past three seasons, compiling 50-plus extra-base hits in four of the past five years. Freeman also plays a solid first base. 

Mauer's specialty for the majority of his career was his ability to play elite defense while calling a good game behind the plate. Add in seven seasons of hitting over .300, and he was among the best in the game. Unfortunately, since moving to first base back in 2014, he simply doesn't provide the same value. Never really a power hitter, Mauer has averaged seven homers and 60 RBI over the past two seasons. Combine that with a .270 average and pedestrian defense, and there's very little to like about this former MVP. 

Consistency means something in baseball. Gonzalez has hit 15-plus homers and driven in 85-plus runs in each of the past 10 seasons, going for 20-plus and 100-plus five times during that span. He's also earned four Gold Gloves during his career. Even at 34 years old, there aren't a ton of signs that Gonzalez is slowing down. 

A former catcher who once brought something decent to the plate, Jaso's career has tailed off. While he did hit .286 with a .380 on-base percentage a season ago, it was primarily in a platoon situation for the Rays. It also came with him hitting just five homers. A lack of power and an inability to play every day have plagued Jaso's career. He's a career .174 hitter against lefties, meaning that any team (the Pirates this year) has to deploy a platoon at a position where platoons themselves shouldn't be depended on.