Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 8
This week presents a lot of high-risk/high-reward streaming options that could swing either way. There are also a couple of pitchers that I feel strongly about based on their upcoming schedule and recent trends. Every streamer brings a degree of risk, which is why they are available on the waiver wire in the first place.... Read More
Breakout Hitters to Watch for Fantasy Baseball Week 8
Welcome back RotoBallers to another edition of my "Breakout Hitters To Watch" series. What we're doing here is taking a good, close look at the hitting data each week to see which hitters are standing out the most. The idea is to find hitters that have made changes and/or really improved this season to find... Read More
Pitchers With New Pitches - Should We Care For Fantasy Baseball? Part Four
Welcome to another episode in this FSWA award-winning series Pitchers with New Pitches. We take the simple premise that not every new pitch should be greeted with praise. The new pitch, like the shiny new toy, might be exciting on its own, but it also needs to be a complement to what a pitcher already... Read More
Updated MLB Prospects Rankings - Top 25 Fantasy Baseball Prospects (Week 7)
Welcome back RotoBallers to our weekly fantasy baseball prospect rankings. We have had several call-ups this week and as a result, the following players who will not be on the rankings this week that have been in the past are Adley Rutschman, Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore, and Roansy Contreras. Additionally, players who are playing in... Read More
Updated Starting Pitcher Rankings for Fantasy Baseball: The Top 101 Baller Ranks
Heya, folks, and welcome back for an updated edition of "The ball is getting bouncy again!" top-101 starting pitcher rankings - looking at rest-of-season values. Tread carefully when setting the bar for streamers. I've got you covered with ranks, tiers, trends, and notes with the top-101 in a table with other fun things like earned... Read More
Is Trea Turner Still the Top Player in Fantasy?
Not to sound like Captain Obvious, but it is safe to say that baseball is a very interesting game with a lot of complex intricacies. After all, it is predicated on failure, with even the top hitters getting out more than they reach base, which differs greatly from other sports, where success is a bit... Read More
Hitter Advanced Metrics Risers and Fallers - xBA for Week 7
Last week, we dove into xwOBA (expected weighted on-base average) to see who is really maximizing their time at the plate. It's time we look at xBA (expected batting average) but with a twist. Some players are experiencing better batted-ball fortunes than others and it's bound to turn around at some point. Rather than examining... Read More
Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 7
Welcome back to "Are You For Real?", a weekly column where we take starting pitchers who had surprisingly good starts over the past week and put them under the microscope to determine whether they're legit or just smoke and mirrors. We're about a quarter of the way through the fantasy season, which means standings are... Read More
Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball Week 7
Week six was a tough one on the pitching side. We saw some duds, some huge starts out of nowhere, and some really rough injury news. Lots of fantasy teams are probably running a starter or two short right now, but we're here to help. I will dive into the numbers here to try to... Read More
The Cut List - Time to Let Go? Week 7
Welcome back to The Cut List. This is our weekly article looking at players who fantasy managers might be considering cutting from their teams and struggling players who need a closer look. We'll look at players who are worthy of a drop, players who are worth monitoring for replacing, and someone on the hot seat... Read More
Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 7
The good news is that there are more starters to feel confident about this week than usual. It is still early enough that a bad start or two can skew stats and disguise a quality pitcher who occasionally has an off day. Every streamer brings a degree of risk, which is why they are available... Read More
Starting Pitchers Breaking Out for Fantasy Baseball: Part II - The New Strikeout Kings
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about pitchers who were striking out a lot of hitters and focused in particular on some pitchers who had seen major increases in their strikeout rates when compared to their 2021 seasons. That article can be found here and I got a lot of great feedback on it,... Read More
Dead Ball Victims - Power Hitter and Home Run Decliners for Fantasy Baseball
Things are different this season. The offense is down across the board and we are seeing hitters have a lot of trouble hitting for power. These aren't unprecedented times, but we got so used to the juiced-ball homer-happy era that it feels very strange to be back to the days of the early 2010s. Some... Read More
Updated MLB Prospects Rankings - Top 25 Fantasy Baseball Prospects (Week 6)
Welcome back RotoBallers to our weekly fantasy baseball prospect rankings. This was a week where we saw bigger names get sent down than got called up such as C.J. Abrams and Jarred Kelenic. For Week 6 some significant changes were also made to the rankings. Teams are being more aggressive with calling up prospects than... Read More
Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 6
Welcome back to "Are You For Real?", a weekly column where we take starting pitchers who had surprisingly good starts over the past week and put them under the microscope to determine whether they're legit or just smoke and mirrors. It was another fun week of baseball as we saw two no-hitters from top prospects,... Read More
Hitter Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - xwOBA Leaders for Week 6
We're far enough into the season that we can dive into expected stats with some sense of reliability. Let's begin with everyone's favorite - xwOBA! Its given name is expected weighted on-base average and what it represents is the quality of each at-bat by a hitter. Statcast uses a combination of exit velocity, launch angle,... Read More
Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball Week 6
Hey yo! It's week SIX of the fantasy season! We are back for another iteration of the starting pitchers waiver wire pickups article, which you can find here every Sunday morning. Thanks for being here! This week, I'm beefing up the analysis a bit. I tried to include more names this week and highlight more... Read More
Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 6
Some of the names may be the same but each week presents a change in schedule that determines a starter's fantasy value. The trickiest part of playing in weekly leagues is having to weigh talent vs. opportunity in the pitching realm. With many pitchers now having four or five starts under their belt, we have... Read More
Starting Pitcher Standouts: MLB's Best Pitch Arsenals
After watching Shane McClanahan just absolutely dominate with all four of his pitches on Wednesday night, I got to thinking. I wanted to take a look at the full-pitch arsenals that the leagues' starting pitchers are throwing and try to identify the players that are doing the most to dominate hitters with multiple offerings. It's... Read More
Closers and Saves Waiver Wire Report for Fantasy Baseball - Week 6
Another week of home runs, bats broken over knees, a cycle, a no-hitter, offensive eruptions in ninth innings, and so much more is behind us. It was a very exciting week in baseball, but for the first time in a while, the bullpens mostly remained away from center stage. Now, there were still plenty of... Read More
Fantasy Baseball Rookie Report - Prospect Risers and Fallers for Week 5
Welcome to RotoBaller’s Recently Promoted Prospects series for fantasy baseball! Here I discuss some recently-promoted top MLB prospects and rookies, making note of what I think their upside could be for fantasy baseball managers, and whether they are potential risers or fallers. In the past two weeks, we have seen a few more high-impact rookies... Read More
Breakout Hitters to Watch for Fantasy Baseball Week 6
Welcome back RotoBallers to another edition of my "Breakout Hitters To Watch" series. What we're doing here is taking good, close look at the hitting data each week to see which hitters are standing out the most. The idea is to find hitters that have made changes and/or really improved this season to find start-worthy... Read More
Updated MLB Prospects Rankings - Top 25 Fantasy Baseball Prospects (Week 5)
With roster expansions in April, there were several impact fantasy baseball prospects that had opportunities, and the promotions have continued at a fast pace. In the past week, we have had several more top MLB prospects called up, including George Kirby on May 8, Royce Lewis and Jarren Duran on May 7, Juan Yepez on... Read More
Hitter Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - Swing & Take Leaders for Week 5
Admittedly, it's as exciting to measure 'swing and take' metrics as it would be to look at something like Barrels. One of them often results in a long fly ball that leaves the ballpark and puts runs on the scoreboard. The other can be a player staring at the umpire after watching a pitch hit... Read More
Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball Week 5
We are in the second week of May, and things like injuries and prospect call-ups are becoming more and more common. While a lot of the early season starting pitcher breakouts have long been snatched up in most leagues, these new developments give us the chance to continue to mine the waiver wire for help... Read More
Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 5
Some of the names may be the same but each week presents a change in schedule that determines a starter's fantasy value. The trickiest part of playing in weekly leagues is having to weigh talent vs. opportunity in the pitching realm. With many pitchers now having four or five starts under their belt, we have... Read More
Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Fantasy Baseball - Week 5
As I sit down to write this article, only one thought comes to mind: Shohei Ohtani remains an absolute marvel. Not only did he pitch seven scoreless innings with no walks, 11strikeouts, and 29 whiffs, but he also led off for a team that scored eight runs, having the highest exit velocity for the game... Read More
Starting Pitchers Breaking Out for Fantasy Baseball - The New Strikeout Kings
We are nearly one month into the season and most starting pitchers have three or four starts under their belt. Some big names have dominated out of the gates, while others have faltered. And some lesser-known pitchers have made a splash by piling up some big strikeout totals. I do daily strikeout projections for DFS... Read More
Nick Mariano's Updated Saves+Holds Rankings for Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitchers
We're back to celebrate the glory that is relief pitchers with another rendition of my top-150 Saves+Holds (Solds) rankings with a month of play in the books. I know there are dozens of you out there who play in formats with SV+HLD, or leagues where Saves and Holds are separate categories. Or maybe you're just... Read More