Biggest Fallers of 2020 – Relief Pitchers
In an abbreviated 60-game season, a large number of relievers previously considered to be lockdown closers or dominant set-up men struggled consistently, ultimately resulting in a negative impact on their fantasy value. As we previously did with RP risers, we will now look at the biggest fallers of the 2020 season as we gear up... 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
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
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
Year-In-Review: Javier Baez
Javier Baez was one of the bigger disappointments in the league during the shortened 2020 season. He had established himself as a five-category contributor over the last several seasons and was coming off a 2019 campaign in which he hit .281 with 29 home runs and 11 steals in 561 plate appearances. Therefore, Baez was... Read More
Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft - ADP Surprises
Of course, there are many changes to be made throughout the offseason. It feels as if the dust is still settling on the 2020 World Series yet baseball fans are more ready for the upcoming season than ever. We have no idea whether a full schedule can be played, what games will look like, and... Read More
Analyzing Fly Ball Metrics: Pitchers to Trust in 2021
Welcome back to some 2020-2021 offseason fantasy baseball analysis! I recently took a look at pitchers who could see a decrease in performance next season based on their fly-ball metrics from this season. Some of these metrics included home run-to-fly-ball ratio, fly-ball rate, and average launch angle. To reiterate the value of this type of... Read More
Analyzing Fly Ball Metrics: Pitchers Who Could Bust in 2021
Welcome to the 2021 offseason! This past season was different and exciting, offering a new flavor of baseball with definite impacts on fantasy baseball. The shortened season brought forth some new strategies from a fantasy perspective and smaller sample sizes from an analytics perspective. That being said, assuming a "regular" 2021 season, it makes sense... Read More
Starting Pitcher K-BB% Risers: Who to Believe In
The 2020 MLB season may have left starting pitchers with shorter starts and fewer total innings than usual, but arsenal adjustments and pitch improvements were still prevalent. As a result (and sometimes as a result of other factors), several pitchers saw significant changes in their strikeout and walk rates. K-BB% is one way to measure... Read More
Statcast Hitter Leaderboard: Rolling xSLG Risers
The final Statcast numbers for 2020 will undoubtedly reap some interesting data. Small sample sizes abound, so throw in scheduling quirks, numerous injuries, seven-inning doubleheaders and a universal DH and you have the recipe for statistical outliers galore. Fantasy baseball season has one glorious week remaining, so the best use of this space would be... Read More
The Cut List (Week 10) - Time to Let Go?
Welcome back to the Cut List, already perhaps the final one of the year with the season ending on September 27. Either way, it's crunch time. In recent weeks we switched up the format of this article a bit, to cover a larger pool of players and to discuss trends being seen by fantasy baseball... Read More
The Cut List (Week 9) - Time to Let Go?
Welcome back to the Cut List. In recent weeks we switched up the format of this article a bit, to cover a larger pool of players and to discuss trends being seen by fantasy baseball managers across a large number of leagues, based on ESPN's 25 most dropped players in the past week. Injuries have always... Read More
2020 wRC+ Splits: Risers and Fallers
Baseball in 2020 is unlike any season that I can remember. The designated hitter is now present in the National League. You will not find any more LOOGYs with the institution of the three-batter minimum rule. Doubleheaders are now a combined 14 innings of baseball. Extra innings now start with a runner on second base.... Read More
The Cut List (Week 8) - Time to Let Go?
Welcome back to the Cut List. In recent weeks we switched up the format of this article a bit, to cover a larger pool of players and to discuss trends being seen by fantasy baseball managers across a large number of leagues. This article, for three weeks now, reviews several of ESPN's 25 most dropped... Read More
Too Hot to Hold: Sell-High Candidates
Now that we've flipped the calendar into September, we have only one month left of baseball. It was a perilous journey, but we somehow managed to get here, so it's time to stop wondering if the season will continue as planned and give yourself over fully to managing your teams. For those of you who... Read More
The Cut List (Week 7) - Time to Let Go?
Welcome back to the Cut List. This article, for three weeks now, reviews several of ESPN's 25 most dropped players in the past week and, in order from most dropped to least (except most injured players), determines how reasonable that course of action has been. (Some players near the bottom of the ESPN and Cut... Read More
Deep Dive: What's Wrong With Shohei Ohtani (The Hitter)
Shohei Ohtani is over a year removed from Tommy John surgery and on a short year, he may have pushed a bit hard to be ready to rock and roll. This has caused another injury and now he has been relegated to an everyday role as a hitter. This will be a deep dive into... Read More
Statcast Hitter Studs and Duds - Exit Velocity (Week 6)
We're cruising right along on our Statcast Hitter Studs/Duds series. Many fantasy baseball owners are starting to see the value of MLB's Statcast advanced stats in order to help identify potential risers and sleepers. We're approaching the midway point of this shortened season, and hot and cold streaks are beginning to expose their permanence--is a... Read More
The Cut List (Week 6) - Time to Let Go?
Welcome back to the Cut List. In case you missed last week, this article now reviews several of ESPN's 25 most dropped players in the past week and, in order from most dropped to least (except most injured players), determines how reasonable that course of action has been. (Some players near the bottom of the... Read More
Yankee Yo-Yo: Bronx Bombers to Buy or Sell in Fantasy
For most teams, we've now reached the 20+ game mark of the season meaning we are over one-third of the way through this shortened season. There are of course some exceptions with teams needing to make up games missed after Covid-19 outbreaks but for the most part, we have enough data on how things are... Read More
The New Big Red Machine
For some, the nickname Big Red Machine conjures up fond memories of former WWE superstar and current Knox County, TN mayor Kane (real name Glenn Jacobs). However, the mere mention of the Big Red Machine in the mid to late 1970s made many big league pitchers shudder in fear at the prospect of facing a Reds... Read More
Statcast Hitter Studs and Duds - Barrels (Week 5)
We're cruising right along on our Statcast Hitter Studs/Duds series. Many fantasy baseball owners are starting to see the value of MLB's Statcast advanced stats in order to help identify potential risers and sleepers. Just as we do for pitchers, this weekly series will examine a handful of hitters who are performing surprisingly well or... Read More
The Cut List (Week 5) - Time to Let Go?
Welcome back to the Cut List, where we're about to call an audible--or, for a more baseball-appropriate term, throw a changeup. This article now reviews several of ESPN's 25 most dropped players in the past week and, in order from most dropped to least (with some exclusions for injuries or opt-outs), determines how reasonable that... Read More
Too Good To Be True? Buying/Selling Hot Pitching Starts
Last week, we dove into the hitters who were off to hot starts and tried to decide what was real and what wasn't as sustainable. Now we'll turn our attention to the arms. After two full weeks of baseball, we're over 20% done with the season, more FAAB dollars are being spent than ever before, and... Read More
Statcast Hitter Studs and Duds - Exit Velocity (Week 4)
We're off and running on our Statcast Hitter Studs/Duds series! Many fantasy baseball owners are starting to see the value of MLB's Statcast advanced stats in order to help identify potential risers and sleepers. Just as we do for pitchers, this weekly series will examine a handful of hitters who are performing surprisingly well or... Read More
The Cut List (Week 4) - Time to Let Go?
The season is about one-quarter over for the luckiest teams, who have played up to 14 games out of 60. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have played all of five. If only you could have known beforehand which teams would be asymmetrically affected by the current health situation. But while we're dealing with small samples, they represent... Read More
Is It Too Good To Be True? Buying and Selling Hot Starts
Normally, after only one full week of the fantasy baseball season, we're casually taking stock of our teams, seeing which guys are settling into lineup spots, which teams look like they might be surprising, and generally feeling pretty good about where we're at now. However, there is nothing normal about this season. After one full... Read More
Statcast Hitter Studs and Duds - Barrels (Week 3)
We're off and running on our Statcast Hitter Studs/Duds series! Many fantasy baseball owners are starting to see the value of MLB's Statcast advanced stats in order to help identify potential risers and sleepers. Just as we do for pitchers, this weekly series will examine a handful of hitters who are performing surprisingly well or... Read More
Early (Over/Under) Reactions for Fantasy Baseball
The first week of the shortened MLB season is officially over and we have several prominent fantasy storylines emerging. Some carry over from 2019 and others have come out of nowhere. My job here is to walk us through those which seem most notable. COVID-19 is one tough customer and has made not even hope... Read More