If not for Shohei Ohtani's unprecedented season, we could be talking about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as the reigning AL MVP. At the very least, we can talk about him as the best pure hitter in fantasy baseball in 2021.

Guerrero's 2021 season was nothing short of spectacular. He was tied for the league lead in home runs (48), ranked sixth in batting average (.311), sixth in RBI (111), third in hits (188), third in OBP (.401) and second in OPS (1.002).

Basically, few hitters in all of MLB did what Vladdy Jr. did in 2021. As such, he is our clear consensus top-ranked first baseman for the 2022 fantasy baseball season.

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Beyond Guerrero Jr., the first basemen showcase a simple fact about the position: There is a TON of power available. We've already spoken about Guerrero Jr.'s 48 bombs, but check out some of the names after him: Freddie Freeman, Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Pete Alonso and Paul Goldschmidt hit a combined 171 home runs in 2021.

That's an average of 34.2 home runs per player.

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All told, drafting a star first baseman (or two) would probably have you covered in the home run department, allowing you to focus on filling other categories in the draft.

And because so many first basemen are sluggers, the fantasy position is deep. Think about the fact that Max Muncy is our 20th consensus-ranked first baseman for 2022, and he hit 36 home runs last season.

So, even if you decide to skip the position early in drafts, you still might be able to tap into some of the power available in the later rounds.

Check out how all the first basemen stack up in our analysts' rankings at the position:

2022 Fantasy Baseball Rankings powered by FantasyPros