As the regular season winds down, MLBTR is taking a position-by-position look at the 2026-27 free agent market. Next up is the first base class. It’s not the strongest group, but the biggest names include a breakout bat, a former All-Star enjoying a bounceback campaign, and a superstar at the tail end of his career.
Player ages are for the 2027 season. Only players who appeared in MLB this year are included.
Previous entries in this series: Catcher
The Everyday Players
Jake Bauers (31)Bauers started turning heads last September. The Brewers were the best team in baseball, and the big-swinging lefty was their best hitter over the final month of the season. Heads kept turning as Bauers kept it up in the playoffs and into the following spring. Altogether, from September 1, 2025 through the end of spring training in 2026, he played 43 games. He slashed .392/.492/.794 in 122 PA. His 1.286 OPS led all major league hitters (min. 100 PA) in that span. Aaron Judge ranked second. Shohei Ohtani ranked third.
Still, it seemed like the other shoe was bound to drop eventually. Bauers was entering his age-30 season. He owned a .672 OPS and an 88 wRC+ in more than 600 regular season games. Even when he had the platoon advantage, his career numbers were mediocre. He struck out too much and didn’t make the most of his strength when he put the ball in play. Maybe he could be a productive platoon bat for Milwaukee, but no one thought he would keep pace with hitters like Judge and Ohtani much longer. Just to suggest that would have been ridiculous.
Well, the Brewers have nine games left to play in the 2026 regular season, and if there’s another shoe coming, I don’t see it. With a 147 wRC+, Bauers has outhit both of the reigning MVPs. He has 26 home runs, 83 RBI, a 98th-percentile xwOBA, and a National League-leading .394 OBP. He ranks among the top 20 MLB hitters in wRC+ against right- and left-handed pitching (min. 150 PA). The only other hitter who can say the same is soon-to-be NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong. Once again, the Brewers are the best team in baseball, and Bauers has been their best hitter all season.
This winter, Bauers could make the case that he’s the best left-handed hitter available. That case will rely on teams believing he can sustain his 2026 success. His plate discipline, bat speed, and quality-of-contact metrics all work in his favor. Yet, one great season at 30 years old can’t erase hundreds of games of replacement-level production throughout his twenties. There’s no denying what Bauers has accomplished this year, but opposing pitchers will adjust, and he has to prove he can adjust back.
That being said, as long as two or three clubs believe in him, a bidding war could help Bauers cash in on his breakout campaign. However, he might prefer to bet on himself instead. If he signs a one-year contract (or a multi-year deal with an opt-out) and enjoys another strong season, he could wildly increase his earning power for 2027-28.
Ty France (32)France has put together nearly as impressive a season as Bauers. The Padres’ cleanup hitter is likely going to finish a few plate appearances shy of qualifying for leaderboards, but if he qualified, his 144 wRC+ would place him among the top 10 hitters in the major leagues.
France has hit .299 with 20 home runs and an .879 OPS in 124 games. His numbers are equally impressive against right- and left-handed pitching. He’s also produced stellar defensive metrics for a second year in a row. All of that puts him on pace for new career-highs in fWAR and bWAR. In fact, Baseball Reference likes his defense so much that he ranks third out of all MLB first basemen in their version of WAR, trailing only Willson Contreras and Pete Alonso.
Expected wOBA isn’t sold on France the way it is on Bauers. His .378 wOBA would be a career best, but his .333 xwOBA (66th percentile) isn’t far off from his career average. Unlike Bauers, however, France has had sustained major league success before. From 2020-22, France hit .285 with a 129 wRC+ in 335 games. In 2021, he was the Mariners’ best hitter. In 2022, he made the AL All-Star team. By fWAR and bWAR, he was one of the top 10 first basemen over those three years.
Then, his numbers took a sharp turn for the worse from 2023-25. It got so bad in 2024 that the Mariners designated France for assignment before the trade deadline. During the next two offseasons, he could only land a non-guaranteed major league contract for 2025 and a minor league deal for 2026.
Four years after his All-Star season, France has bounced back. When MLBTR’s Anthony Franco wrote about qualifying offer candidates for this winter, he included France (and Bauers) on the list. Admittedly, both were in the “long shots” category. Even so, just to be included in that conversation is a big deal for two players who joined their current teams on minor league contracts. Bauers has played parts of seven MLB seasons. France has played in eight. The qualifying offer (worth an estimated $23.1MM, per MLBTR contributor Ethan Hullihen) is nearly as much money as both have earned in their major league careers combined.
Compared to Bauers, France should be more inclined to seek the highest guarantee he can command this offseason. He’s already 32, and it’s harder to believe he’ll ever be a top-30(ish) free agent again. The question is just how high that guarantee could be. Is a two-year deal with an annual salary near $20MM too much to ask for? Jorge Polanco is a pretty good comp, but with the way Polanco’s 2026 has gone, that might not be a comparison France’s camp wants to make.
The Aging Star
Paul Goldschmidt (39)Goldschmidt isn’t mashing quite like Bauers or France. In 101 games as a part-time player for the Yankees, he owns a .773 OPS, a 114 wRC+, and 1.6 fWAR. At 39, the former MVP is still a solid hitter, but he isn’t the beast he once was. Same-handed pitchers have held him to progressively worse numbers over the last three years: a .675 OPS in 2024, a .619 OPS in 2025, and a .572 OPS in 2026.
Yet, put a lefty on the mound, and it’s like Goldschmidt hasn’t aged a day. In 175 PA facing left-handed pitching this season, he owns a 1.006 OPS and a 178 wRC+. Over the last three years, he ranks among the top five hitters (min. 300 PA) in OPS and wRC+ against southpaws, sitting beside names like Judge, Yordan Alvarez, Ketel Marte, and José Ramírez. Most hitters perform better against opposite-handed pitchers. That’s pretty much baseball 101. But Goldschmidt is taking that to an extreme. Watch him face a righty, and he looks like he should have retired two years ago. Watch him face a lefty, and he looks like he’s competing for another MVP.
An MLB team can only carry so many hitters. Most of them have to play a position other than first base or DH. All of them will have to face right-handed pitching at some point or another. That limits the value Goldschmidt can provide. However, for a team that can afford to roster a platoon first baseman/DH, a player like Goldschmidt can be a true luxury.
From Goldschmidt’s perspective, it’s hard to see why he wouldn’t want to play at least one more year. Some will call him a future Hall of Famer already, but others would say his case is borderline. Another season would likely get him to 400 homers and bring him into the top 100 on the all-time RBI leaderboard. There’s also the ultimate prize to consider; Goldschmidt has yet to win or even play in a World Series. That could change this fall, but if it doesn’t, he’d have all the more motivation to continue his career.
To do so, he’ll need to find a team that’s willing to pay for his particular set of skills. Considering the year he’s had, the weak free agent market, and the star power still attached to his name, I doubt that will be a problem.
The Part-Time Bats
Josh Bell (34)Bell has qualified for the batting title in each of the last 10 seasons, but he’s in the part-time category here because he’s played most of his games at DH in three of the last four years. Presumably, he could manage a more regular role at first if that’s what’s asked of him, but his -46 DRS and -35 FRV both rank last among first basemen since 2016.
On offense, his .735 OPS and 105 wRC+ this season don’t jump off the page, especially for a first baseman or a DH. Indeed, Bell hasn’t been a true impact bat since his twenties. However, he has been remarkably consistent, with a wRC+ between 102 and 106 in each of the last four years. He’s also a switch-hitter who offers slightly above-average production versus righties and lefties alike. All this to say, you know what you’re going to get with Bell. He might not be an impact bat, but he won’t be a liability either.
Alec Bohm (30)For most of his career, Bohm has been Philadelphia’s primary third baseman, though he has never graded out well there. He’s also played a fair amount of first base, and it’s been his regular position since the Phillies switched up their defense at this year’s trade deadline.
Bohm has had some great stretches over the years, including a 44-game debut in 2020 that earned him Rookie of the Year votes and a dominant start in 2024 that earned him an All-Star nod. Yet, he’s gone through just as many rough patches, and ultimately, he’s never proven he can be much more than a league-average bat. That’s barely been enough to cut it as a poor defensive third baseman, and it’s really not enough to cut it as a poor defensive first baseman. So, we have Bohm listed as a part-time bat, even though he’s been a full-time player for the past several years. His career stats against left-handed pitching (.856 OPS, 130 wRC+) will play at any position, but he needs to hit righties better to warrant an everyday role at first base.
Nathaniel Lowe (31)Lowe has been an above-average hitter in seven of his eight big league seasons. From 2019-24, he hit .272 with a .789 OPS and a 123 wRC+. He won a Silver Slugger in 2022 and a Gold Glove in 2023. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of his profile was that he didn’t have platoon splits. The list of left-handed hitters with meaningfully better numbers than Lowe against left-handed pitching in that span was short.
Then came 2025. Lowe’s numbers were down across the board, but his major problem was that same-handed pitchers had him figured out. He owned a career-worst .665 OPS and 84 wRC+ when the Nationals released him in August. The Red Sox scooped him up and shielded him from southpaws. That helped Lowe salvage his season with a .790 OPS and 115 wRC+ down the stretch. Even so, he had to take a minor league contract with the Reds this past winter – and no one was particularly surprised. As well as he played for the first several years of his career, he finished 2025 with the lowest OPS, wRC+, and xwOBA in the majors (min. 150 PA) against left-handed pitching. Simply put, platoon-only first basemen aren’t a very valuable commodity (especially when they aren’t Paul Goldschmidt).
Lowe has rebounded in 2026, to the point where a major league contract seems like a reasonable goal for the offseason. His numbers have only gotten worse against lefties, but fortunately, he hasn’t had to face them all that much. Meanwhile, his .840 OPS, 128 wRC+, and .350 xwOBA against righties are all above his career averages. Lowe isn’t a full-time player anymore, but he’s a safe bet to produce against the kind of pitchers who throw more than 70% of big league innings.
The Bench Bats
Rhys Hoskins (34)Hoskins was a middle-of-the-order bat throughout his Phillies tenure. In 2023, he lost the entire season to a torn ACL, and he hasn’t been the same hitter since. Over 316 games dating back to 2024, Hoskins owns a .719 OPS and a 102 wRC+. He still has pop and knows how to draw a walk, but swing-and-miss has become more and more of a problem. His high strikeout rate has started to outweigh the things he does well. A right-handed hitter, Hoskins can’t even make the case for himself as a lefty masher à la Goldschmidt; over the last two years, Hoskins has actually struggled even more against opposite-handed pitching (.683 OPS, 90 wRC+). Like all the other names in this category, it’s hard to believe he’ll see any guaranteed contract offers this winter.
Dominic Smith (32)Smith has played for four teams over the last three seasons. None of them has let him face many southpaws. His bat is roughly average when he has the platoon advantage, and it’s much worse when he doesn’t. Accordingly, he had to settle for minor league contracts with each of those four clubs. Despite that, he’s made it into 263 games since 2024, including 105 (and counting) this year. There’s no reason to think this pattern – minor league contract, part-time major league role, decent splits against right-handed pitching – won’t continue in 2027. We’re talking about a role player here, but one who has found consistent playing time for himself over the last 10 seasons.
Ildemaro Vargas (35)In his age-34 season, Vargas has set new career-highs in games, plate appearances, and most counting stats. However, following an absurdly hot start to the year – he had a 1.131 OPS and 208 wRC+ through his first 100 PA – he has regressed to his old self. The switch-hitter makes a ton of contact, but he doesn’t swing hard enough for that contact to make an impact. As such, his overall offensive numbers have been league average in each of his 10 big league seasons. To that point, his bat doesn’t belong at first base, and he’s only on this list because the D-backs haven’t had any good options at the cold corner this year. To Vargas’s credit, he has earned +7 DRS and +3 FRV in his first season as a primary first baseman. Yet, the fact that he can play all over the infield, and even the outfield in a pinch, is the reason he’s been playing in the majors for a decade.
LaMonte Wade Jr. (33)Wade has played most of his games in the outfield this year, but he was primarily a first baseman in the three seasons prior. After a shockingly poor 2025 (.524 OPS, 53 wRC+), the lefty batter has produced much more respectable numbers as a bench bat for the Astros in 2026 (.681 OPS, 96 wRC+). The version of Wade that hit at the top of the lineup for the Giants from 2021-24 might be gone forever, but his eye is still sharp, and his plate discipline is a genuine asset. That discipline should land him a new minor league deal and an invitation to spring training.
Carlos Santana (41)Retirement might be on the horizon for Santana. An adductor strain limited him to eight games with the Diamondbacks at the beginning of the season. He has since been released from contracts with the D-backs and the Braves, and he’s been a free agent for over a month. As telling as that might seem, Santana hasn’t given any indication that he plans to hang up his hat. He’s only two years removed from a strong 2024 campaign, in which he hit 23 homers, posted a 113 wRC+, and won the AL Gold Glove at first base.
Rowdy Tellez (32)Tellez has only played seven games in the majors this year, but he’s put up solid numbers at Triple-A in the Braves organization (.825 OPS, 117 wRC+). Over nine MLB seasons, he’s been a league-average hitter, with plus power from the left-hand side that cancels out his poor on-base skills. He’ll be in the market for another minor league contract, but maybe he’ll find one with a team that’s more likely to give him a shot in the show.
Joey Meneses (35)Meneses burst onto the scene with a red-hot run for the Nationals in August and September of 2022. Then, his numbers took a steep downward turn in 2023 and ’24. He’s played almost exclusively at Triple-A over the last two and a half seasons, though he made his way into nine games for the A’s this summer.
Club Options
Ryan Mountcastle (30)The chances that the Orioles pick up Mountcastle’s $7.5MM club option for 2027 are slim. He has followed the worst season of his career in 2025 with another injury-marred campaign in 2026. The righty batter put up a .653 OPS and 82 wRC+ in 89 games last season. This year, he’s 4-for-14 in eight contests and hasn’t played at all since early April. From 2020-24, Mountcastle was a solid hitter, especially against left-handed pitching. Yet, even at his best, he was closer to “average” than “star.” He’s the longest-tenured player in the O’s organization, but if they want to keep him around, they should be to do so for a much lower price than $7.5MM.
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