The Yankees are finally getting production from their first basemen—and there’s reason to believe it will continue beyond this season.
In 2024, the Yankees put the “cold” in cold corner. Yankees first basemen, led primarily by Anthony Rizzo, struggled to a 76 wRC+ with a league-worst .335 slugging percentage. Not surprisingly for a position so dependent on offensive production, this ensemble of players became a complete black hole in terms of value: they were worth -1.2 FanGraphs WAR collectively. The Yankees kicked off their pennant run in October by starting Jon Berti at first; Berti had never played there in the Majors before.
This season, the Bombers are getting top-five production in MLB from first base. They rank fourth in wRC+ (137) and third in fWAR (1.6). First, allow me to say thank goodness. As mentioned, first base is a position where you need someone to be producing at the plate. New first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and his predecessor Rizzo have reputations (and four Gold Gloves each in their trophy cases) which attest to their defensive excellence, but they rarely generate notable defensive value of their own. This is a truism in baseball, but we’ll talk a bit about how that truism has eroded a bit later on.
Signed to a one-year deal following Juan Soto’s exit, Goldschmidt was one of the most interesting gambits made by GM Brian Cashman in the offseason. On one hand, he had worked his way back from a dreadful first half last season to essentially look like himself again at year’s end. At the same time, there’s simply no telling whether a 37-year old first baseman would be able to maintain a steady level of production.
Instead, Goldschmidt has defied the aging curve in a completely unexpected way. Estevão Maximo had a great piece about his evolution on this site last month last month, but I can’t help but talk about it a little bit here as well. Goldy is swinging more frequently than ever (or at least since 2015, when Statcast went online) and making oodles of contact. He rarely misses pitches in the zone—his 87-percent contact rate is easily above league average and well above the typical rate for his career. He has also routinely been able to connect with pitches out of the zone as well. Just look at all the pitches outside the box which he’s been able to turn into base hits here.
It’s remarkable to see a player this late in his career essentially reinvent himself on the fly. Coming into 2025, I expected Goldschmidt to try to sell out for power à la Giancarlo Stanton; if he was on the back nine of his career as it appeared the last two seasons, it would make sense if he opted to sacrifice a bit of his overall hitting ability to guarantee a strong ceiling. Instead, he’s responded by hitting everything in sight. Not only that, he’s been one of the Yankees’ strongest baserunners, helping the team shore up one of its biggest Achilles’ heels from prior seasons.
Even if Goldschmidt’s batted-ball luck falls to earth a bit, (he’s running a near-.400 BABIP at the moment) the Yankees should be able to trust the seven-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger to provide value at the dish going forward — especially when southpaws toe the rubber. And it appears possible that his successor is sitting in the dugout with him.
Ben Rice has been one of the Yankees’ biggest surprises in 2025. After a 50-game debut where he showed flashes of promise but proved overmatched by big league pitching, Rice returned with a stronger body and a quicker swing. He came out like a house on fire in April, slugging .585 with eight home runs, as well as showing off scorching exit velocities and elite hard-hit numbers. Rice has primarily played DH, but will often spell Goldschmidt at first base.
With that said, Rice has taken a step back lately. A homer last night in Anaheim was just his third of the month and made his May OPS look a more standard .716 than his .683 from the beginning of play. With that in mind, I believe one of the more compelling storylines to follow this season is to see how Rice and Goldschmidt proceed with the bat. If Rice rebounds to at least somewhat replicate his April production, he will be primed to succeed Goldy, a pending free agent, at the cold corner. (Rice has also been floated at catcher due to his prior experience there, but with J.C. Escarra showing excellent framing numbers behind Austin Wells and hitting at a satisfactory level, I consider that possibility to be increasingly remote, even with Giancarlo Stanton’s return creeping closer.)
Now, I earmarked something a while back; as I’ve said a few times before, first base is seen as a marquee offensive position, perhaps the marquee offensive position. And yet, first basemen have been on the decline at the plate for almost a full decade. Baseball writers have called from the mountaintop about this for years: here’s Daniel Epstein doing so for Beyond the Box Score in 2018, and Tom Verducci for Sports Illustrated in 2020.
So far in 2025, the cumulative triple slash from first basemen is .245/.319/.412, which sits a hair below last year’s mark of .247/.322/.414. They’ve dropped a few points in wRC+ from 107 to 105. That’s not the kind of offensive impact you’re looking for from guys who at their best only break even defensively.
All that is to say that having first basemen who rake is giving the Yankees a leg up on their competition. It’s not exactly a market inefficiency yet, but it certainly beats the free outs they were bestowing to their opponents last year. Goldschmidt’s production is welcome and seems largely sustainable. Rice has flashed a tantalizing ceiling, and if he can prove to be a positive player at the plate for a full season, the Yankees should be set at first base for years to come.