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When Should You Draft Your First Starting Pitcher?
Fall Flashes: Arizona Fall League Top Prospect Risers
Every year, some of the best minor league prospects head to Arizona to take part in the Arizona Fall League. It features six teams of prospects, sent by their organizations to get extra game reps against top-flight competition, sometimes including players at higher levels in the minor league system. Given the high level of competition,... Read More
Miguel Sano - 2019 Year in Review
Heading into the 2019 season, Miguel Sano’s career was defined by injuries and disappointment mixed with glimpses of potential. What was once one of the top prospects in baseball (Fangraphs ranked him #15 in their 2015 Top-200 list), had become an after-thought in fantasy drafts. He finished the 2018 season slashing .199/.281/.398, with just 13... Read More
Early Mock Draft Analysis: MLB Mixed Leagues
Don't tell us it's not draft season yet! Truth be told, the RotoBaller crew was already planning a mock draft days after the World Series ended. As it turns out, we decided to wait until some free agent moves were made and settled for a slow draft that began shortly after the Winter Meetings. We... Read More
Fernando Tatis Jr. - 2019 Season in Review
A year ago, though he was highly valued in dynasty leagues, Fernando Tatis Jr. was viewed merely as a late-round flier in redraft formats. At just 20 years old and with only 450 plate appearances above Single-A, there was a large degree of uncertainty around his 2019 outlook. Would San Diego's front office manipulate his... Read More
Josh Donaldson to Twins - Fantasy Impact
The Minnesota Twins recently signed third baseman Josh Donaldson to a four-year contract worth $92 million. The contract also has a fifth-year option that can take the total value to $100 million. The Twins finished 101-61 in 2019 en route to their first AL Central Division title since 2010. The addition of Donaldson will add... Read More
2019 Season in Review: Sonny Gray
2019 was a pivotal season for starting pitcher Sonny Gray, both from a real-game and fantasy perspective. The 2018 season turned out to be a complete dud for Gray, who, in his first full season with the Yankees, posted a poor 4.90 ERA and 1.50 WHIP over 130 ⅓ innings pitched. With a move to... Read More
Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball: Barrels
Last time, we looked at how exit velocity (or EV) is only one piece of the fantasy analysis puzzle. Baseball broadcasts will commonly cite Launch Angle (LA) to complement their EV figures, but it is given in terms of degrees. Am I evaluating a baseball player or trying to find the hypotenuse of an isosceles... Read More
2019 Season in Review: Carlos Correa
Over the first five seasons of his career, Carlos Correa has demonstrated why the Astros chose him first overall in the 2012 MLB amateur draft. He captured American League Rookie of the Year honors in 2015, along with some down-ballot MVP consideration. In 2017, he made his first All-Star team, finishing 10th in the league... Read More
Is Mike Trout Still the #1 Pick in Fantasy?
Pierre Camus and Nicklaus Gaut debate whether Angels outfielder Mike Trout should still be the consensus number one pick in 2020 fantasy baseball drafts or if Ronald Acuna Jr. or Christian Yelich should be taken higher. Like and subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get all our latest podcasts and catch us on... Read More
2019 Season in Review: Danny Santana
One of the first articles I ever published with RotoBaller was a warning. Specifically, this column dissuaded fantasy owners from buying into Danny Santana's breakout 2014 season. (Yes, I've been doing this for a long time/am old.) That year, Santana had emerged from obscurity as a 23-year-old rookie to hit .319/.353/.472 with 70 runs scored... Read More
Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball: HR/FB
Using BABIP to predict a player's batting average is great. Average is a category in many league formats and every hit is an opportunity to steal a base or score a run. But most owners find the long ball sexier. Every HR comes with a guaranteed run scored and at least one RBI. Many owners... Read More
Don't Doubt Mike Trout: Why He's Still #1
It has become fashionable for fantasy owners to suggest that perhaps this is the year that Mike Trout should be supplanted as the consensus first overall draft pick. Not one, but two other players - Ronald Acuna and Christian Yelich - are being regularly selected in early NFBC drafts ahead of the 28-year-old Trout, who... Read More
2019 Season in Review: Aristides Aquino
On August 1, 2019, Aristides Aquino was called up by the Cincinnati Reds. Shortly thereafter, bedlam broke out. He hit 11 home runs in his first 63 at-bats, drove in 22 runs, and caused the internet to flood with The Punisher GIFs and newly made t-shirts. When the month of August came to a close,... Read More
Madison Bumgarner to Diamondbacks - Fantasy Impact
The Arizona Diamondbacks signed three-time World Series champion Madison Bumgarner to a five-year, $85 million contract in the middle of December. This will be the first time in 11 seasons that Bumgarner will not take the hill for the San Francisco Giants, but instead will head the rotation of their division rivals. The Diamondbacks finished the... Read More
2019 Season in Review - Matt Carpenter
Matt Carpenter had a down year in 2019, which came on the heels of a 2018 season that saw him finish ninth in NL MVP voting. He struggled to get in a groove at any point in 2019 and often found himself out of the lineup late in the season. This was exemplified by his... Read More
Exit Velocity Pitching Leaders - Statcast 2019 Review
Ah, winter, the true dead zone of baseball coverage. The new champs have been crowned, vacation plans are made, the awards are being handed out and the winter meetings getting underway. Sounds like the perfect time to review some Statcast data in preparation of 2020 fantasy drafts. Exit velocity has become one of the more... Read More
Barrel and Exit Velocity Batting Leaders: Statcast 2019 Review
The 2019 season saw more home runs hit than ever before in Major League history as 6,776 balls left ballparks across the league. The top-hitting club of them all was the Minnesota Twins with 307 big flies. Chief among them was none other than 39-year-old Nelson Cruz, who finished in a tie for seventh in... Read More
Luis Urias to Brewers, Trent Grisham to Padres - Fantasy Impact
It's hot stove time and there's already been more activity on the market than we've seen in the past couple of offseasons, with more big signings on the horizon. One of the first and more surprising offseason deals to get done was a trade between the Brewers and Padres that sent infielder Luis Urias and... Read More
Jurickson Profar to Padres - Fantasy Impact
The Oakland Athletics recently sent infielder Jurickson Profar to the San Diego Padres in exchange for catcher Austin Allen and a player to be named later. Upon making the trade, San Diego and Profar immediately agreed on a deal for $5.7 million for this upcoming season to avoid arbitration. The Padres finished 70-92 in 2019... Read More
2019 Season in Review - Shane Bieber
In each of the past three seasons, MLB has held a "Player's Weekend" where one of the promotions is players having the ability to wear a nickname on the back of their jersey. For both of his MLB seasons, Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber has worn "Not Justin" on the back of his uniform. After... Read More
Jonathan Villar to Marlins - Fantasy Impact
The low-budget Marlins made a splash (pun intended) on the free-agent front in their typically cost-prohibitive way by picking up recently waived infield Jonathan Villar in exchange for minor leaguer Easton Lucas. They also claimed first baseman Jesus Aguilar, who is one year removed from a 35-HR, 108-RBI season but struggled mightily last year between... Read More
2019 Season in Review - Edwin Diaz
After a lights-out 2018 campaign, Edwin Diaz emerged into the elite class of closers heading into the 2019 season. He wrapped up his historic year with the second-most saves in a single season (57) to go along with a sparkling 1.96 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, and 44.3% K-rate. The Mariners sold high on their young hurler... Read More
2019 Season in Review - Trevor Bauer
Trevor Bauer disappointed fantasy managers everywhere in 2019 after a dominant 2018 campaign where he finished sixth in AL Cy Young voting. Setting career-bests with a 2.21 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and 221 strikeouts in 175.1 IP (30.8% K%), the 28-year-old entered the 2019 draft season as a top-10 pitcher with an ADP of 31. His... Read More
Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Prospects: Top 10 Second Basemen
The 2019 MLB season may be at an end but the off-season baseball coverage is just getting started at Rotoballer. We’re three positions deep now as we review the Top 10 dynasty prospects at each position. The second base position has a chance to be very interesting over the next three or four years. The... Read More
Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Prospects: Top 10 First Basemen
The offseason positional prospect rankings were launched last week at Rotoballer with a detailed look at the Top 10 catchers. Today, it’s the first base prospects’ turn to be on full display. There also aren’t a ton of “can’t miss” first base prospects in the pro ranks right now with only one sitting on my... Read More
Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Prospects: Top 10 Catchers
Today, we kick off Rotoballer’s off-season Major League Baseball positional rankings for dynasty prospects. The most demanding position in baseball is up first with the catchers. The backstop position is not known for providing a ton of value for fantasy managers because starting catchers are often expected to focus on defense and leadership before offense.... Read More
Overlooked Veterans On the Waiver Wire
It is the time of year that we need every roster spot filled at all times. We need nothing more than counting stats, lots of them. In searching for guys to fill the roster, some fantasy owners look just at a player's name to determine whether they should be on their roster. This can be... Read More
Time To Replace Your Battery Mate?
It's crunch time in the 2019 fantasy baseball season and as we head down the stretch everything can feel like it is magnified. Every win, point, or stat accrued feels more important than it did back in May. If your team is still competitive you've likely settled on the primary guys that have gotten you... Read More
Mets Muddle the Trade Deadline
Thought to be sellers, the New York Mets were 52 -55 at the MLB trade deadline, putting them 11 games back in NL East, and 4.5 games back in the Wild Card race. But the Mets continued to confound their fan base by not only failing to sell the valuable assets that everyone assumed that... Read More
