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You Paid What?! Overvalued Players in Auctions
Liam Hendriks to White Sox - Fantasy Impact
After making a big splash last offseason the White Sox with the signing of Yasmani Grandal to a four-year deal, Chicago has done it again as they signed closer Liam Hendriks to a three-year deal. The top closer on the free agent market, Hendriks will head to the South Side after establishing himself as one... Read More
Abandon the Win AND the Quality Start
The Win. One of the cornerstone categories of fantasy baseball since its creation. In recent years, baseball fans and fantasy managers alike have been debating the value of the win and whether or not it's overrated. With this debate, the quality start has become a category that more and more leagues are turning to as... Read More
Stunted Growth: Prospects Who Need More Time
So in 2018 and 2019, I was living the dream as I interned for a Minor League Baseball team, and I was looking forward to coming back in 2020. And then the season was canceled. Obviously, I was disappointed by everything that happened, but while I can shrug off missing a summer of interning and... Read More
Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to Mets - Fantasy Impact
The MLB Hot Stove has been far too quiet this offseason, outside of the Padres’ couple of days of fun, but the Mets helped heat things up on Thursday trading for Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco. Rumors of the Indians shopping Lindor had been discussed for quite some time, and the Mets have been potential... Read More
David Dahl to the Rangers - Fantasy Impact
It's been a rough journey through the majors so far for David Dahl. The potential has been there for the former 10th overall pick, but he has been plagued by injuries nearly every season. A torn hamstring in 2013 and a lacerated spleen in 2015 cost him time in the minors, a stress fracture in... Read More
A Year to Forget: Players Who Will Rebound in 2021
Happy Holidays everyone! Needless to say, 2020 was quite the crazy year — for any number of reasons. There was a lot that many of us will want to forget, and for quite a few baseball players, the 2020 season is one they'll want everyone to pretend never happened. But hey, it's almost 2021. As... Read More
Yu Darvish to the Padres: Fantasy Impact
The holidays must have been excellent in the Preller household since Padres GM, A.J. Preller is in quite the giving mood to his team's fan base. Over the last few days, Preller has traded for Blake Snell, signed KBO star Ha-Seong Kim, and now is trading for 2020 N.L. Cy Young runner up Yu Darvish.... Read More
Blake Snell to Padres - Fantasy Impact
It would be a massive understatement to say that the San Diego Padres are in "win-now" mode. They have just shipped off their number-three prospect in Luis Patino, as well as Francisco Mejia and two other prospects to acquire lefty Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays. Less than 24 hours later, they made another... Read More
Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball First Base Rankings
Once again, I'll start by saying the 2021 baseball season is not guaranteed to be a normal one. But for now, let's just close our eyes and dream of a world unencumbered by COVID-19 and talk about our silly little game as if a 162-game season will come next spring. Join me for my position-by-position... Read More
Projecting Power in 2021: Late ADP Options
Like a sitcom catchphrase from a bygone era, we all want more power. We'll take it early and we'll take it late but it always feels extra sweet when one of your final picks suddenly becomes one of the mayors of dong city. Looking at a player's exit velocities can tell us a lot about... Read More
A Year to Forget: Relievers Who'll Rebound in 2021
The 2020 season was so weird, unprecedented, awkward, and chaotic, it might be wise to toss out most of the stats when prepping for your 2021 fantasy drafts. But we are also human, and sometimes getting that bad taste a down season leaves in your mouth can be nearly impossible no matter the circumstances. These... Read More
Statcast Review - Noteworthy xBA/xSLG Hitting Leaders
Thanks to its abbreviated schedule, the 2020 MLB season resulted in some unusual outcomes. Michael Conforto posted the highest full-season BABIP since Ty Cobb in 1913, Luke Voit was on pace for 60 home runs, and Robbie Ray walked a ridiculous 18% of the batters he faced. xStats were not immune to that weirdness, xBA... Read More
Lance Lynn to White Sox - Fantasy Impact
Entering the offseason looking to shore up their pitching staff, the White Sox made the first big move in the 2020 starting pitcher market with the acquisition of right-hander Lance Lynn from the Texas Rangers. In return, Chicago sent top-100 prospect Dane Dunning and 2019 sixth-rounder Avery Weems down south to Arlington. In a move... Read More
Strike Zone Rate Analysis - Starting Pitchers
There are hundreds of metrics out there that describe pitchers. The richness of the available data is rivaled by no other sport. This can at times lead to information overload, leading us too far away from the core tenants of what success looks like. One group of statistics that are very simple and very helpful... Read More
Early-Round Fades and Overvalued Studs
Entering 2021, there is a bit of recency bias in the early ADP as well as an overall sense of unknown entering 2021 as a whole in terms of what rules are in place, where players are going to hit in the lineup or even where many players will play and how that could affect... Read More
MLB's Best Pitches by the Numbers
One of the most-often used algorithms in the data science world is called clustering. Clustering is defined, by Wikipedia, as: grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group (called a cluster) are more similar (in some sense) to each other than to those in other groups (clusters) In baseball... Read More
Statcast Review - Hard Hit/Exit Velocity Pitching Leaders
Pitcher contact quality can be a tricky attribute for fantasy managers to incorporate into their analysis. On one hand, pitchers are more at the whim of hitters when it comes to contact quality than the other way around. On the other hand, it certainly seems as though pitchers can exert meaningful control over their contact... Read More
Projecting Power in 2021: Early ADP Air% Exit Velocity
Looking at average exit velocity to project future power is not very useful compared to looking only at balls hit in the air. Because who cares how hard ground balls are hit? However, it can be even more useful to parse out those velocities into more refined bins and cast a more critical eye to... Read More
Year-In-Review: Sixto Sanchez
The 2020 season presented numerous challenges and is one that most teams, Dodgers aside, are ready to move on from. In the case of the Miami Marlins, it represented a major step forward for a perennially-rebuilding franchise. The Marlins made the playoffs for the first time since their 2003 championship season, mostly on the strength... Read More
Top 250 Dynasty Prospects for 2021
The 2020 baseball season was unlike any year we’ve ever seen with its shortened season and schedule that can perhaps be best described as organized chaos. The absence of a minor league season played havoc with prospect prognosticators. The 2021 season — and perhaps beyond — will continue to present unique challenges as the pandemic... Read More
Biggest Risers of 2020 – Relief Pitchers
In 2020, we saw a large number of relief pitchers, previously not in the upper tier of fantasy rankings, breakout or bounce back from 2019 decrepitude. Below we will take a look at a few of the biggest relief pitcher risers of the 2020 season as we gear up for 2021 drafts in the spring.... Read More
Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Redraft Prospects for 2021
The abbreviated, wild-ride known as the 2020 MLB season has come to an end and the playoffs are in full swing. Sadly, that means fantasy baseball seasons are finished. And prospects watchers have turned their attention towards the 2021 season. The 2020 season saw a significant number of key contributions from rookies and, had you... Read More
Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings
The 2021 MLB season isn't guaranteed to be normal but I have hope that next spring will be much healthier. As such, I will approach ranks as if a traditional 162-game season is coming. Join me for my position-by-position ranking series for the 2021 fantasy baseball season. How much weight do we give 2020? How... Read More
Starting Pitcher K-BB% Fallers: Who to Worry About
In part one of this mini-series, Sam Chinitz covered K-BB% risers from 2021. You can check that post out here. This article will take a look at the pitchers that went in the wrong direction. Strikeout to walk rate is so important to be mindful of when evaluating pitchers. No matter how you slice it,... Read More
Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Rankings
The upcoming 2021 season may not be normal -- going from 2020 to 2021 doesn't wave a magic wand -- but there's still comfort in baseball. As such, I will approach ranks as if a traditional 162-game season is coming. Join me for my position-by-position ranking series for the 2021 fantasy baseball season. How much... Read More
Is Hard-Hit Rate Predictive?
Over the last 10 or so years, baseball fans have seen all kinds of new statistics pop in front of their faces. Some people really like these new metrics, and some people really do not. Judging by the fact that you are reading this article, I am guessing that you fall into that first grouping.... Read More
Projecting Power in 2021: Elite Levels of Air% Exit Velocity
Everyone wants more power, even more so when it comes relatively cheap. But even when pricey, you're going to need to draft a bomber or two. One of the best ways to see how a player's power is trending is to sift through their exit-velocities to see what they're saying. Most know by now that... Read More
Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Outfield Rankings
I think most of us would agree that looking forward to 2021 is a good idea. For me, that means immersing myself in the upcoming baseball season. While there's no guarantee COVID-19 won't affect the '21 season, I will approach ranks as if a traditional 162-game season is coming. Join me for my position-by-position ranking... Read More
Year-In-Review: Christian Yelich
After having won the NL MVP award in 2018, Christian Yelich was well on his way to potentially winning a second consecutive award in 2019. However, he broke his kneecap in September of that year and that put a premature end to his monster season. There were some fantasy baseball managers who shied away from selecting... Read More
