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It takes a minimum of 50 games in the majors to qualify for this list. And with a few exceptions, most of the first basemen ahead have also played at least 50 percent of their games at the position.

The scoring is based mostly on statistics—current through Saturday, September 17—from Baseball-Reference.com, FanGraphs, Brooks Baseball, Baseball Savant and MLBfarm.com. The numbers at these sites leave few blind spots when looking at each player's performance, allowing for analytical scouting reports that cover the following:

Hitting: We know the average first baseman is hitting .258 with a .337 on-base percentage. What we also want to know is how each first baseman is living up to that standard and assorted MLB norms with his patience, discipline and ability to make contact, make good contact and, ideally, use the whole field.

Power: The average first baseman is slugging .452, and no position has produced more home runs. This is a cue to look at not only raw power but how well each hitter gets the ball in the air and how else (i.e. a steady pull habit) he maximizes his power potential.

Baserunning: This neck of the woods features more gray areas, so we'll keep it simple with a few questions for each player. Can he steal bases? Can he take more than one base at a time when the opportunity arises? Does he avoid running into outs?

Defense: This is where it's most necessary to do video scouting, but there are also helpful analytics to consult. Defensive runs saved and ultimate zone rating are helpful guiding stars. The same goes for Inside Edge fielding data and the fielding plots available on each player's FanGraphs page.

The individual scores are meant to mimic the 20-80 scouting scale while also taking sample sizes into account. Perfect scores are reserved for players who have excelled throughout the entire season, with extra points being possible (but rare) under extraordinary circumstances. Anything else is a judgment call.

Last but not least: If any two (or more) players end up with the same score, we made another judgment call on the player (or players) we'd rather have.