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Breakout Hitters to Watch for Fantasy Baseball Week 6
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
Finding Breakout Hitters for Fantasy Baseball: Chase Rate Early-Season Metrics
In an earlier article on Blast Rate, I mentioned that this was the time of year that some hitting metrics start to stabilize. While many of us want to focus on exit velocity and hard-hit rate because they lead to more exciting outcomes, I think focusing on plate discipline metrics can be just as important.... Read More
Hitter Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - Average Exit Velocity for Week 4
We can finally start extrapolating something from one of the easiest Statcast metrics to decipher - exit velocity. This stat stabilizes after approximately 70 plate appearances or 45 batted-ball events. Last week, we looked at early leaders in maximum exit velocity because it doesn't take long to take something away from that metric. Keep in... Read More
Updated Starting Pitcher Rankings for Fantasy Baseball: The Top 101 Baller Ranks
With a shortened April now in the rearview mirror, let's move into May with a fresh stroll through my weekly-updated top 101 starting pitcher rankings - looking at rest-of-season values. RotoBallers can once again peruse my notes regarding key movers and then scroll through the top-101 in a table with tiers, ranks, earned value via... Read More
Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball Week 4
Week four of fantasy baseball is upon us, and we have seen a lot of exciting developments on the starting pitcher scene. Kyle Wright, an early recommendation in this post series, continues to dominate, while young rookies like Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo have fallen off a bit due to performance and injury. The pool... Read More
Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 4
The streaming landscape starts to change a couple of weeks into the season as lightly-rostered players who perform well start to become permanent fixtures on fantasy rosters. There are still a couple of starters out there that fantasy managers haven't fully bought into yet, including the first one on our list for Week 4. It's... Read More
Closers and Saves Waiver Wire Report for Fantasy Baseball - Week 4
Another week of baseball means another week of bullpen drama. Nothing like the Mets/Cardinals drama though. We're staying in the bullpens here, not jumping over the fence. There were plenty of saves, even more holds, and some blown saves this week. A few surprises, and some strong throwing arms getting healthy made some bullpens shift... Read More
Finding Breakout Hitters for Fantasy Baseball: Blast Rate Early-Season Metrics
It's about that time in the season when we start getting antsy about slow starters, or wondering if players off to hot starts on the fantasy baseball waiver wire might be for real. While it's still important to keep in mind that we're dealing with small sample sizes, there are some stats that have begun... Read More
Homer Run Risers and Fallers: Batted-Ball Profile Changes for Fantasy Baseball
We are closing in on the end of April, which means we have a pretty decent-sized data sample for hitters now. The league leaders will clear 100 plate appearances in the next week or so, which gives us a lot of good stuff to look into. A lot of times we find a breakout or... Read More
Mining the Minors for Hot Prospect Hitters and Call-Ups - Nolan Gorman, Triston Casas, Luis Garcia, and more
If you've played even one year of fantasy baseball, you know that predicting minor league call-ups can be a frustrating endeavor. We have to weigh not only the talent of the player and the potential lineup opening in his major league organization but also the relative competitiveness of that organization and any financial or service... Read More
Breakout Hitters to Watch for Fantasy Baseball Week 4
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 3)
Bobby Witt Jr., Julio Rodriguez, and C.J. Abrams may have arrived in The Show already but the Triple-A level (and even Double-A) is littered with prospects looking to have explosive impacts at the MLB level in 2022. Quite a few top prospects are off to strong starts at the Triple-A level -- albeit in small... Read More
Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 3
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. With May fast approaching we're starting to get settled into the season, and while... Read More
Baller Ranks: Starting Pitchers Top 101 Weekly Rankings
We have another week in the record books for our emerging 2022 MLB season, which yields another dose of my weekly top-101 SP Baller Ranks breakdown. RotoBallers can enjoy my rambling about key movers and then scroll through the top-101 in a table with tiers, ranks, earned value via Fangraphs, and even more notes! You... Read More
Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball Week 3
Week three of fantasy baseball is upon us, and we have seen a lot of exciting developments on the starting pitcher scene. Plenty of guys are popping up here, especially guys we really weren't tracking much in the pre-season. Finding breakout starting pitchers is one of the most fun parts of the game, and it's... Read More
The Cut List - Time to Let Go? Week 3
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 3
Before introducing this week's two-start streaming options at starting pitcher, I have to expound briefly upon one specific topic: Nestor Cortes. This isn't a victory lap just because I labeled him as a solid streamer last week. I simply want to highlight the value of examining pitching matchups closely each week and identifying the best... Read More
Are These Early Slumps Worth Worrying About? Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts, Cedric Mullins and more
We are less than two weeks into the season, and full panic mode is setting in for many fantasy players. It should not, but it is. Some of our draft picks perform poorly, and we always wonder what to do. It is even worse when watching some of our top draft picks struggle. So, what... Read More
Breakout Hitters to Watch for Fantasy Baseball Week 3
Welcome back RotoBallers to another edition of my "Breakout Hitters To Watch" series. And just like that, we are on our third version of the weekly breakout hitter watch analysis. For those who are not familiar, I'll be writing this article weekly and it will be published on Thursday mornings. So far, we have identified... Read More
Pitchers With New Pitches - Should We Care For Fantasy Baseball? Part Two
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 has. Much like a toy that's the exact same as a toy we already have makes us forget the older toy. So instead of just celebrating that some... Read More
Are The Mets Hitters Here To Stay? Fantasy Baseball Insider Report
If the early returns are any true indication of how the full season will play out, then Francisco Lindor will prove to be one of the best early-round picks of 2022 fantasy baseball drafts. Some were skeptical about him rebounding in a big way in his second year in New York, and it was reflected... Read More
Bullpen Report: Speculating on the Red Sox, Twins, Giants, and More
While many early-season trends in baseball can be dismissed as hot or cold starts, bullpens are the one thing you should always pay close attention to and get actionable information. So much of what makes relievers valuable in fantasy is the usage and opportunities they receive. This year, perhaps more than ever, there were more... Read More
How Sustainable is High Fastball Usage? Hunter Greene, Justin Steele Analysis
Hunter Greene and Justin Steele have looked very sharp to start the 2022 season. They are both trendy waiver wire additions in fantasy leagues right now, but I noticed something very interesting about these two guys. They have both been extremely reliant on their four-seam fastball in their first two outings, and in Greene's case,... Read More
