Lance Berkman

What made Berkman special was his consistency rather than any single dominant trait. Six All-Star selections tell the story of a player who delivered quality seasons year after year, posting an OPS+ of 121 across 15 seasons. That 2001 campaign with a 1.051 OPS remains his masterpiece — a perfect blend of power and precision.

Berkman represents the last generation of switch-hitting first basemen who could work counts and spray line drives. His 1,234 career RBI came through situational hitting as much as raw power, making him the kind of middle-of-the-order threat that modern front offices try to replicate through analytics but rarely find.