So, who’s the best player in fantasy baseball right now? We all know the names that immediately come to mind: Bryce Harper, Clayton Kershaw, Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado to name a few. They’re all quite worthy of their place at the table. However, it’s not just a player's stats that determine their greatness. It’s their stats compared to the rest of the players at their respective positions that determines their real value.

Relative Position Value (RPV) determines the percentage a player is above the fantasy league average of his peers. It also determines which players fall into the negative RPV, or below the fantasy league average. These percentages will fluctuate depending upon league depth and style. For the sake of this exercise, we’ll use a standard group of 16 players deep at each position to get our RPV number. Now, the deeper the league the more drastic these numbers become. RPV will also give us a sense of how deep each position is as a whole.

So let’s get to it!

FIRST BASE:

1) Anthony Rizzo +41% RPV

2) Mark Trumbo +11% RPV

First base is typically a productive offense position which is why the No. 2 overall guy at the moment (Mark Trumbo) is just a +11% RPV compared to Rizzo at the top. In other words, there’s meat on the bone here. Rizzo is just crushing it right now and his .424 OBP percentage is wreaking havoc on the National League.  A 30 percent difference between the first and second spots is great, but it’s not the best.

SECOND BASE:

1) Jose Altuve +61% RPV

2) Robinson Cano +26% RPV

With a 35 percent lead on Robinson Cano, Jose Altuve is setting world on fire right now. His power spike has given him and extra boost and over his last 360-plus at-bats dating back to last year he’s hitting .393 versus LHP! The notion that somehow his size prohibits him from consideration as a franchise fantasy player is just ridiculous. No one outworks Altuve, and this little engine is proving he can be considered one of fantasy super elite. His +61% also shows how bad the bottom of the second base pool is right now.

THIRD BASE:

1) Nolan Arenado +36% RPV

2) Manny Machado +27% RPV

Third base has some premium sluggers at the top of the board. However, despite the greatness of Arenado and Machado, the collective strength of the position doesn’t create a huge RPV advantage. Now, of course anyone would be thrilled to own either of these players, but the truth is at third base there isn’t as much ground to gain on the competition.

SHORTSTOP

1) Manny Machado +43% RPV

2) Trevor Story +24% RPV

Shortstop, on the other hand, offers quite a bit more opportunity for advantage. If not for Trevor Story’s historic April, Manny Machado’s +43% RPV would be even higher. As it stands now, Machado is a 19 percent advantage on the next best shortstop who also happens to play half his games in Colorado. This speaks volumes about how dreadful the position is offensively, and how great Machado has been in the early going.

OUTFIELD

1) Bryce Harper +17%RPV

2) Mookie Betts +7% RPV

(Five active OF League: Harper +26%, Betts +16%)

In leagues with just three active outfielders even the great Bryce Harper isn’t pulling away from the pack of first tier outfielders. He does gain some percentage points in leagues with five active outfielders, but the top 16 is a strong group. This proves that although Harper is the best player in baseball right now, he may not be the most valuable.

STARTING PITCHER

1) Clayton Kershaw +70% RPV

2) Chris Sale +24% RPV

Now in the Fantasy Black Book, Clayton Kershaw is the #1 fantasy points league player hands down and here’s why. Even against the top 16 aces, Kersahw is 46 percent better than the No. 2 pitcher Chris Sale. That’s just flat out ridiculous. Kerhsaw is the pillar of consistency and although I wouldn’t recommend ever starting a roto team of any nature with a pitcher, it’s tough to argue against selecting him in those format as well.

CONCLUSION

The versatility of Manny Machado and the mighty Jose Altuve are the most “valuable” fantasy bats around, but Clayton Kershaw is truly master of his domain when it comes to production at a position. Chances are if you own shares in any of these three, you’re also looking down at the rest of your league from atop the standings. And now who the best fantasy baseball has to offer really are so far this season.

Joe Pisapia (@JoePisapia17) is the seven-time best-selling author of the Fantasy Black Book Series for baseball and football. He hosts Fantasy Sports Tonight on Sirius/XM Fantasy Sports Radio and the Dear Mr. Fantasy Podcast.