Colorado Rockies: Top 5 First Basemen in Franchise History

The Colorado Rockies have had a couple of great first basemen in their franchise’s history but since those couple of first basemen played for the Rockies for a long time, it could be difficult to rank the top five in franchise history.

If you have been a fan of the Colorado Rockies for any length of time, you will likely know the best first baseman in Colorado Rockies history and likely, the top two. However, the players that are three, four, and five are a little bit harder to decide.

We are just considering their time as a Colorado Rockie but if it is too close to call, we will use their experience with other teams (if applicable). Let’s take a look.

Number 5: Ben Paulsen (0.4 bWAR, 0.3 fWAR, 3 seasons as a Rockie)

This one may be a bit of a surprise and to be honest, when I looked at the numbers, I was a bit surprised too.

Ben Paulsen only spent three years in the majors and all three were with the Rockies. In that short tenure (2014-2016), he only played more than 39 games in a season once (2015).

But in that season, he played in 116 games and he hit .277/.326/.462 slash line with 11 home runs and 49 RBI.

Number 4: Mark Reynolds (0.9 bWAR, 0.4 fWAR, 3 seasons as a Rockie)

Mark Reynolds had two tenures with the Rockies (2016-17, 2019) and the reason why he’s on this list because of his first two seasons.

In 2016 and 2017, he was the Rockies’ primary first baseman and hit to a 102 OPS+ and he was around league average defensively.

In 2017, he hit 30 home runs and 97 RBI, which is part of the reason why he nearly became an All-Star, as he was one of five people that were on the “Final Vote” for the last roster spot on the NL All-Star roster. He lost to the Dodgers’ Justin Turner.

When he returned in 2019, he played to a -1.1 bWAR and a 48 OPS+ in 78 games before being released in late July.