Goldschmidt tops at first base.

• Position: Sports

I started my preseason look at the fantasy baseball season at catcher, discussing Buster Posey and Joe Mauer as top picks, and all felt familiar.

Now I move on to first base, where not only will I not discuss Albert Pujols at the top of the list, but I have to put Paul Goldschmidt there, and this feels quite unfamiliar.

The Diamondbacks' first baseman enjoyed quite a second full season in the majors, improving on his batting average (.302), home run (36), RBI (125) and run (103) totals. His only number that took a dip was stolen bases, where he fell from 18 to 15 but still led the position. Goldschmidt won the Hank Aaron Award, a Silver Slugger Award and a Gold Glove last season, and he doesn't turn 27 until September. Not yet a household name, there is no reason to think that he couldn't better his stats again and start to become one.

Another note on lesser-known, higher-quality guys: Cincinnati's Joey Votto walked 135 times last season, far outpacing second-place Goldschmidt's 99 at the position. Votto also struck out only 138 times, helping him record a .435 on-base percentage.

Only one player outshined Goldschmidt in any first-base facet last season, and that came from the power numbers of Baltimore's Chris Davis. The Oriole entered 2013 with some fantasy interest after hitting 33 homers and driving in 85 runs the previous season. He then blew those away with 53 bombs and 138 RBIs last season.

Davis improved his numbers across the board, hitting .286 to raise his career average to .266. The fact that he was batting .356 at the end of May and was still .332 at the end of the June isn't the most heartening trend, though. Only turning 28 next month, Davis still has enough youth on his side to imagine he could reproduce his numbers, but it's tough to count on a 50-homer season from anyone, never mind someone who did it just once.

Prince Fielder had a bit of a down season in 2013, hitting a career-low 25 home runs and tying another low by scoring just 82 runs. Now that he has been traded from the Tigers to the Rangers, he is also leaving a ballpark ranked the third-most hitter friendly by ESPN's Park Factor last season.

Things aren't all bad, though. All indications are that Fielder will bat third for the Rangers, giving him the benefit of having Adrian Beltre providing protection by hitting behind him, after Fielder served as the protection for Miguel Cabrera in Detroit.

Fielder isn't the only question mark among top-tier candidates, for we...