RADIO
An Open Letter to Kyler Murray
Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 3 - Statcast for Hitters
If you've watched a baseball broadcast in the so-called Statcast Era, you have undoubtedly noticed the broadcasters commenting on a batted ball's exit velocity, or EV. Many have taken to using stats like Hard% and Soft% to forecast how a player should be performing, expecting larger Hard% rates to produce larger BABIP and HR/FB figures.... Read More
2019 Outfielders - Early Fantasy Baseball Rankings
Outfield is a unique position in the fantasy world. The best of the best reside in the outfield, with our consensus top two picks and nine of the top 25 overall players making this list. On the other hand, it is by far the deepest and easiest to gain late-round value if you choose to... Read More
Willy Adames - The Breakout Is Coming
Major League Baseball is becoming dominated by young talent. Every year a new crop of players come into the league and show off their mouth-watering skill set. Just take a look at RotoBaller’s positional rankings, and you see players that are in their mid-20s or younger are among the top of every position. The youth... Read More
DJ LeMahieu to Yankees - Fantasy Impact
The Yankees needed to fill a void in their infield with Didi Gregorius likely to miss the first four months of the season and Troy Tulowitzki being unreliable to say the least. New York was (and still is?) heavily linked to superstar Manny Machado, but it was another former All-Star that the Yankees inked on Jan.... Read More
2019 Relief Pitchers - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings
A tough position to evaluate is that of relief pitchers, as a lot of success for closers comes from success from teams. There are also a lot of bullpens by committee these days, further stifling the value of closers. That being said, only four of the pitchers that ranked in the top-10 in saves in... Read More
AL-Only Deeper League Draft Targets
Objectively, deep-league AL or NL-only fantasy baseball is the best format to play this summer. For one, NL-only leagues are the original formats of fantasy baseball. If readers are not into history, the strategy should also convince them to jump in. With both an expanded and limited player pool, the unique challenges of balancing depth... Read More
2019 Third Basemen - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings
We continue our fantasy baseball tiered rankings analysis with the third base position. Even though it is only January, RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, Chris Zolli, and I have come up with our initial pre-draft rankings to give you a sense of player values as early as possible. As the offseason progresses, these rankings... Read More
2019 Starting Pitcher - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings
We continue our fantasy baseball tiered rankings analysis with the second base position. The sun is still rising on 2019, but RotoBaller writers JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Chris Zolli and myself are here with our initial pre-draft rankings to give you a sense of player values as early as possible. As the offseason progresses, these... Read More
Yasmani Grandal to Brewers - Fantasy Impact
The news broke on Thursday that Yasmani Grandal is headed to the Milwaukee Brewers on a one-year, $18 million contract. This is evidence of yet another move from the Brewers to go all in on their current squad. This trade takes one of the Brewers' two weakest offensive positions and turns it into a legitimate strength... Read More
Orlando Arcia - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper
Orlando Arcia was pegged by numerous fantasy baseball experts a year ago as a sleeper for the 2018 season. After polishing off his first full year in the majors in 2017 where he batted .277 with 15 home runs, 56 R, 53 RBI, and 14 stolen bases, Arcia took a significant step backward in 2018.... Read More
Jake Bauers - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper
Jake Bauers exploded onto the fantasy landscape last summer only to fall off late in the season. It ultimately became a disappointing freshman campaign. And yet, Bauers was back in the news this offseason with a trade to Cleveland and a chance to demonstrate again what made him a top fantasy prospect coming into 2018.... Read More
2019 Bullpen Outlooks - National League East
Last year's Bullpen Outlook got started with the American League, so let's take the National League on first this time around. Some signings and trades have made a splash in the bullpens of the NL East, and there may still be more to come. With some top free agent closers and setup men still looking... Read More
2019 Catchers - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings
Catcher is a tough position to evaluate, as many teams utilize multiple catchers and it is rare for one to play 140 or more games in a season. Wear and tear as a backstop limits offensive value for sure, but there are still a group of solid catchers that can contribute in multiple categories. Beyond... Read More
Willians Astudillo - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper
Sleepers. The most coveted search term during any sport's fantasy draft prep season. Which players are flying under the radar, presenting an opportunity for you to swoop in on draft day and pluck them from the player pool abyss, making you look like a genius at the end of the season when you post your... Read More
Luke Voit - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper
One of my biggest misses over the last few years has been my refusal to move on from Greg Bird at the first base position for the New York Yankees. Year after year I have continued to draft Bird and make excuses why this year will be the year. Part of the reason is that... Read More
Is it Legit? David Peralta's Breakout
We continue with our next edition of "Is It Legit?" to discuss another surprising breakout performer from the 2018 MLB season in order to assess his value heading into 2019. With so many players seemingly becoming fantasy baseball darlings overnight, it can be challenging to sift through the multiple hype trains and determine which players... Read More
2019 Second Base - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings
We continue our fantasy baseball tiered rankings analysis with the second base position. Even though we are just coming off ringing in the new year, RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, JB Branson, Pierre Camus, and Chris Zolli have wasted to time coming up with our initial pre-draft rankings to give you a sense of player values... Read More
Javier Baez - Don’t Overpay for Last Season's Stats
A common mistake by fantasy managers on draft day is taking a player based on his previous year's statistics and thinking it will be repeated the following season. A player’s draft day price can become heavily inflated after one breakout year. It's easy to fall victim to the belief that a one-year sample size is now... Read More
Ramon Laureano - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper
A source of consistent consternation for anyone who runs a fantasy baseball league is the exodus of cellar-dwelling owners in the dog days of summer. No matter what structures or incentives are put in place, at least a couple of owners whose championship dreams have been dashed are typically lured away by the siren songs... Read More
ADP Champ or Chump - Yasiel Puig and Adalberto Mondesi
Champ or Chump began the year with two positive outlooks because it's always a good idea to begin your draft prep with a dose of optimism. However, you won't win your league on draft day no matter how many players you like end up on your roster. You can lose your league on draft day... Read More
2019 First Basemen - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings
We continue our fantasy baseball tiered rankings analysis with the first base position. Even though it is only January, RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, Chris Zolli, and I have come up with our initial pre-draft rankings to give you a sense of player values as early as possible. As the offseason progresses, these rankings... Read More
David Robertson to the Phillies - Fantasy Impact
David Robertson became one of the highest-paid relievers this offseason after negotiating a two-year, $23 million deal to join the Philadelphia bullpen. Robertson has long been thought of as one of the top bullpen arms in the game, but recently has dipped in the fantasy world without a clear path to saves after a few... Read More
Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 2 - HR/FB for Hitters
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
2019 Shortstops - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings
It’s never too early to start looking toward the fantasy baseball season, so I’m here to kick off RotoBaller’s position-by-position rankings analysis series with the ever-so-glamorous shortstop position. Shortstop is rich at the top and while it boasts intriguing depth, this is not a position to wait on, especially if you also have a middle-infield... Read More
Top 660: Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings (January)
Welcome back RotoBallers, and Happy New Year! Below you will find our staff's early 2019 fantasy baseball tiered rankings (top 660) for mixed leagues. In case you missed it, you can also see our tiered positional rankings as well. Four of our lead fantasy baseball analysts - Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, JB Branson and Chris Zolli - have analyzed the MLB offseason moves and... Read More
Statcast Review - Noteworthy Hitting Leaders (xSLG)
xSLG isn’t a stat you’ll find on the back of a baseball card or one you’d find on a baseball reference page. However, as far as advanced stats go, xSLG is pretty straightforward. It is the expected slugging percentage of a hitter based on hit probability his batted balls in play, regardless of outcome. So if... Read More
Trevor Story Rankings Debate - Comparing RotoBaller's Rankers
For the RotoBaller baseball crew, it's our favorite time of the entire year. It's time to revive our signature series of articles debating the overall ranking of some of the most fantasy-relevant players of the 2019 baseball season. That's right, it's Ranker vs Ranker time! RotoBaller's expert writers have come up with our consensus rankings... Read More
Nick Pivetta - Ace In The Making
In 2018 there was a breakout pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies who took the league by storm. After garnering league-wide attention, he’s pegged by many fantasy experts as a top-tier starting pitcher for the upcoming year. I'm talking about Aaron Nola, of course. But after this season it very well could be Nick Pivetta. He... Read More
Teoscar Hernandez - Promising or Pretender?
Every new beginning signifies an end elsewhere. This was the case for Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Teoscar Hernandez last season. The hard-hitting righty broke through in more ways than one in his first full year in the big leagues, finishing with a .239/.302/.468 line, and most importantly 22 home runs. The path to the plate... Read More
