X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Join the Best Live Fantasy Chat Community!

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


LINEUP RESOURCES

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Pickups & Streamers
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

How to Approach Rookies in Re-Draft for Success

With the NFL season officially a thing of the past, we can now turn our undivided fantasy attention to preparing for our baseball drafts. We are still waiting on the answers to a few key questions (such as, I don't know, where Bryce Harper and Manny Machado might play their home games?), but we have enough information at hand to formulate the bulk of our draft strategies for 2019.

We know to target multi-category stars in the first few rounds. We know which positions are deep enough to wait on, and which ones we should try to lock down early. We know how volatile bullpens can be, especially in this day and age, and that spending high picks on closers doesn't always pan out.

But what about the players we have only seen sparingly on a Major League diamond, or not at all? Rookies can be tricky for a multitude of reasons in re-draft leagues, but fear not. I've devised a road map for how to go about acquiring and deploying them on your rosters, starting with how they fit into your draft plan and ending (hopefully) with a league championship.

Featured Promo: For this week only, take 50% off any full-season or yearly Premium Pass on the site! Just enter discount code THANKS when checking out. Thanks for being a reader, and Happy Holidays! Sign Up Now!

 

Know Your Prospects

The first thing you'll want to do is take some time to familiarize yourself with the top prospects in baseball. There are endless resources available on the world-wide web, including a great deal of prospect research right here at RotoBaller. A fine place to start is with our Top 100 prospect list.

Take note of one thing in particular regarding any MLB prospect: his estimated arrival date at the big league level. If a player is expected to make his MLB debut in 2019, follow him closely throughout spring training to see if he is trending toward an early-season (or even Opening Day) roster spot. Players who put forth an impressive effort in spring ball are the ones you want to consider on draft day. If a highly-regarded prospect struggles during the spring, however, he may be sent back down to Triple-A to work on his game before being called up during the summer. In this case, you may want to hold off until the very last rounds of your draft before spending a pick on a player in the minors.

Or, you can simply file away a few names to follow early in the season and track their progress at the minor league level. If at any point a promotion appears imminent for a given player, don't hesitate to pick him up a couple days early. It pays to keep an eye on these developments in order to give yourself an advantage over the other owners in your fantasy league.

 

Know the Organization

Another crucial aspect of dealing with rookies, particularly in re-draft leagues, is understanding the team they're eventually going to suit up for in the Majors.

It is entirely plausible that a prospect's primary position is already occupied by a quality player at the big league level. As a result, he may see time at a different position, or shuffle around the diamond altogether at the behest of the manager. Case in point: Nick Senzel of the Cincinnati Reds.

Senzel is a third baseman by trade, but Eugenio Suarez is already firmly entrenched at the position in Cincinnati. An outfield experiment seems logical then, but keep in mind that the Reds added Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp to an outfield already inhabited by Jesse Winker and Scott Schebler. Despite being a top-10 prospect believed to be prepared for the highest level, there is no ready-made path to consistent playing time for Senzel. Until we get a clearer picture of how the Reds plan to utilize him, his fantasy value takes a hit in re-draft leagues.

This is, of course, just one example, but the point remains: whether you're at your draft or browsing the in-season waiver wire, take into account the potential role a rookie will have on his respective team once called up before you acquire him.

Advertising

 

Beware of Starting Pitchers

In 2018, 13 rookies recorded 100 or more innings pitched. Of those 13, six recorded 120 or more strikeouts. Of those six, three recorded an ERA below 4.00. Among starting pitchers league-wide, 120 strikeouts would have been good for the 86th-highest total, and a 4.00 ERA would have tied for 128th.

Using the same thresholds, in 2017 there were 12 rookie pitchers who accumulated 100 or more innings, four of whom recorded 120 or more strikeouts. Only one finished with an ERA below 4.00. A 120-strikeout season in 2017 would have tied for 85th, and a 4.00 ERA would have fallen in 86th.

The point here is that while it's become somewhat common to see rookie position players work their way into the upper echelons of production, rookie pitchers tend to have considerably more ups and downs. As such, you're going to deal with some turbulence if you choose to roster any.

Additionally, here's something to keep in mind if you play in a head-to-head league: everyday players give you the opportunity for fantasy production several days a week and thus can atone for a bad performance here and there. Starting pitchers, on the other hand, give you two outings a week at most. One or two disastrous starts from a couple of rookies could mean the difference between winning or losing your weekly matchup.

Now, fantasy baseball leagues come in all different shapes and sizes, and maybe you play in a deep league or have a few extra bench spots. In this case, feel free to stash a rookie pitcher or two and hope for a return on your investment. In most 10 or 12-team leagues with standard roster sizes, however, it's best to tread carefully with rookie starting pitchers, as opposed to selling out in the hope you'll strike gold with the next Walker Buehler.

 

Maintain Patience

This is easier said than done thanks to guys like Mike Trout, but it pays to remember a simple fact when dealing with rookies in fantasy baseball: not every prospect is immediately going to blossom into the second coming of Willie Mays, and that's okay.

Consider this: in Ronald Acuna's first full month of playing time (May) in 2018, he hit .235 and struck out more times than he reached base. Then he got hurt, missed most of June, and put up half-decent numbers across 22 games in July. It wasn't until August that he truly broke out with a .336/.405/.698 slash line that included 11 home runs, 21 RBI and 25 runs scored.

If you're the owner who spent a draft pick on a highly-touted prospect like Acuna, don't give up on account of a rough first month or two. Baseball season is a long and winding road, and even if a young player isn't helping you early on, he can still play a vital role in your quest for a title down the stretch.

Conversely, if you notice a development like this elsewhere in your league, don't be afraid to exploit it. If an impatient league mate is growing frustrated with the performance (or lack thereof) of a rookie, try to acquire the player in a buy-low deal. Acuna's 19 post-All Star break home runs in 2018 (good for fourth in the entire league) would have been well worth sending away a couple mid-tier veterans early in the season.

 

Advertising

Finding Hidden Gems

So we've established that it pays to monitor the progress of highly-regarded prospects in spring training and early in the regular season. We've also discussed exercising patience with these youngsters once we acquire them, whether it be through the draft, free agency or a trade. This is all well and good for high-profile players, but what about the ones flying under the radar? Not every prospect is going to arrive at The Show on a hype train.

While the baseball community swooned over Acuna, Juan Soto and Gleyber Torres in 2018, there were plenty of other rookie position players who made an impact at various points throughout the season.

Willy Adames of the Rays posted the highest batting average among shortstops with 200 plate appearances after the All-Star break. Daniel Palka of the White Sox tied Miguel Andujar for the rookie lead in home runs despite recording 156 fewer at-bats. Miami's Brian Anderson crossed the plate 87 times, good for 18th among all outfielders league-wide. If you're not paying attention, you're going to miss the boat on guys like these.

And so my last bit of advice is simple: don't get complacent. Everyone in your league is going to be looking for the next Acuna, the next Soto, the next Torres. Maybe you'll beat your league mates to the punch on guys like those, and you'll be well off because of it. But if you want to separate yourself from your adversaries, you have to be the owner in your league who knows to look for the next Adames, Palka or Anderson as well.

By now, I hope you feel well-prepared for this aspect of your fantasy baseball season and confident that you're going to make the right calls when the time comes. Just remember to put in the preparation, have some faith in yourself, and be sure to check back here at RotoBaller as draft season gets into full swing for updates on prospects around the league.

More 2019 Fantasy Baseball Advice




LINEUP RESOURCES

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Pickups & Streamers
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

WIN MORE IN 2024

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Pickups & Streamers
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

ROTOBALLER PLAYER NEWS

RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
Alexis Diaz fantasy baseball closers rankings draft sleepers waiver wire pickups

MLB Closers and Saves: Fantasy Baseball Depth Charts

Saves are an important component for many fantasy baseball leagues. Closers are one of the most volatile positions in fantasy baseball, and one of the highest turnover positions in MLB. Each year, closers drop like flies and many MLB teams make in-season changes due to injuries or poor performance. In addition to closers and saves, relief... Read More


Do These Prospects Matter for Fantasy Baseball?

The 2023 fantasy baseball season has been highlighted by the promotion of nearly two-dozen top prospects to the major leagues to impact fantasy rosters. This week's edition features one player who was called up as the piece was being written. Will these strong performers join the ranks of those who have moved to the majors... Read More


clayton kershaw fantasy baseball rankings draft sleepers MLB injury news

articles report test

this is a test


Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Welcome back! It's Week 24 of our fantasy baseball Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups series! There are just two precious weeks left, and every start is becoming more and more important as most of the fantasy baseball world is in playoff matchups. If you've made it this far, there's a good chance you don't really... Read More


Aaron Nola - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, DFS Lineup Picks

Starts & Sits for MLB Week 23 - All Starting Pitcher Matchups for Fantasy Baseball

Welcome back RotoBallers! Big week in fantasy leagues as we approach the end of the season and playoffs! As always, we are here with our starting pitcher starts and sits series to help you set those winning lineups for the week ahead! For those who are not familiar, RotoBaller puts out a weekly grid of... Read More


Gunnar Henderson - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Prospects, Draft Sleepers

Points League Hitters: Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Welcome to Week 24 and our fantasy baseball waiver wire hitters. We'll be doing this roundup of points leagues every week here at RotoBaller, with waiver wire targets and streaming pitchers being evaluated in terms of the different scoring systems of ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, and Fantrax. Player values can vary wildly from platform to platform,... Read More


Brayan Bello - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Yo, it's Jon Anderson, continuing to run the show here in terms of late-summer fantasy baseball writing. There are just two weeks left of streaming pitchers, so let's make it count! This weekly fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups column aims to identify starting pitchers expected to make two starts in the upcoming fantasy baseball week,... Read More


Fantasy Baseball Week 24 Injury News and Updates: Tyler Glasnow, Ozzie Albies, Starling Marte, Anthony Rizzo, Zack Wheeler

September is now more than half over. The baseball season is slowly coming to a close. At this point, fantasy players are pushing for their league titles or just playing for pride. Major League Baseball teams continue to do the same and injuries continue to happen, now with the dreaded term "done for the season"... Read More


Joe Musgrove - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Free MLB Betting Picks - Today's Best Bets, Expert Predictions, Odds (9/17/22)

Happy Saturday, RotoBallers, we're back for another weekend of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More


DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (9/17/22): Today's Top MLB DFS Lineups

Today's MLB slates are split up as is the norm for September baseball. Half the guys I think will play will not, so you have to be as flexible as Gumby to play MLB DFS in September, but that also means that there is a lot of money out there should you dare to dive... Read More


Max Fried - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Free MLB Betting Picks - Today's Best Bets, Expert Predictions, Odds (9/15/22)

Happy Friday, RotoBallers, we're back for another weekend of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More


Robbie Ray - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, Draft Sleepers

DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (9/16/22): Today's Top MLB DFS Lineups

Fridays are big MLB DFS days and offer a nice respite from the NFL, who command our attention on Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays. This slate, like most Friday slates, is a big one as all MLB teams are in action today and 28 of those teams are on tonight's 14-game DFS slate. This was a... Read More


kyle farmer fantasy baseball rankings draft sleepers MLB injury news

Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

There are only two weeks left of fantasy baseball! It's going to be very sad when the season comes to an end, but the impending end of the season means that these are the most important, and therefore most fun weeks of the year – for those of you still competing, at least. I have... Read More


TODAY’S MOST VIEWED PLAYERS

rotating JS ad test

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
derrick henry fantasy football rankings news NFL DFS lineup picks

test publish 5 mins in future

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


PrizePicks NFL DFS Picks - Monday Night Football

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


D'Andre Swift - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL DFS Lineup Picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL RBs: Updates for Aaron Rodgers

Warning: Undefined array key "amp_post_template_footer" in /var/www/rotoballer.com/wp-content/plugins/php-code-for-posts/Classes/Shortcode.php(91) : eval()'d code on line 6 Warning: foreach() argument must be of type array|object, null given in /var/www/rotoballer.com/wp-content/plugins/php-code-for-posts/Classes/Shortcode.php(91) : eval()'d code on line 6 Featured Promo: Get any full-season NFL Premium Pass for 50% off and win big in 2022. Exclusive access to our Premium articles, 15 lineup... Read More


derrick henry fantasy football rankings news NFL DFS lineup picks

PrizePicks NFL DFS Picks - Monday Night Football

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


Justin Jefferson - Fantasy Football Rankings, DFS Lineup Picks, NFL Injury News

NFL DFS Prop Picks for Monkey Knife Fight - Monday Night Football

Welcome to NFL Monday Night Football, where we have two games scheduled between the Minnesota Vikings vs. Philadelphia Eagles and the Tennessee Titans vs. Buffalo Bills.  Monday's games mean our friends at Monkey Knife Fight are offering some fantastic props for us to play once again! The good people at Monkey Knife Fight offer some... Read More


D'Andre Swift - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL DFS Lineup Picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL RBs: Week 2 Updates for Najee Harris, J.K. Dobbins, D'Andre Swift, Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram

Below you will find our fantasy football injuries report for running backs in Week 2, as of September 17. The injury statuses for various NFL running backs are up in the air for Week 2 including D'Andre Swift, Najee Harris, Alvin Kamara, J.K. Dobbins, and more. The fantasy football season may be just getting underway,... Read More


michael pittman jr. fantasy football rankings NFL DFS lineup picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL WRs: Week 2 Updates for Michael Pittman Jr., Mike Evans, Tee Higgins, Allen Lazard, Julio Jones

Welcome to Week 2 of the fantasy football season and the Saturday edition of our WR injury reports! Below you will find our fantasy football injuries report for wide receivers in Week 2 as of September 16th. The injury statuses for various NFL wide receivers are up in the air for Week 2, including Michael... Read More


justin herbert fantasy football rankings NFL DFS lineup picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports for QBs: Week 2 Updates for Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Jameis Winston, Mac Jones

Below you will find our updated fantasy football injuries report for quarterbacks in the days before Week 2 of the 2022 NFL season as of Friday, September 16. There are a few NFL QBs dealing with injuries, including Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Jameis Winston, and Mac Jones. Being up-to-date on NFL injury news can give... Read More


Trey Lance - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Key Starters and Tough Calls - Lineup Spotlights for Fantasy Football Week 2

Every week, I share some of my favored choices and players to go with when dealing with challenging lineup decisions. These selections are based on my Premium Weekly Lineup Rankings, available as part of the RotoBaller NFL Premium Pass. Enter promo code KING at checkout for a discount and get access to my ranks in all formats, plus... Read More


Saquon Barkley - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Injury News, Draft Sleepers

Week 2 NFL Pick Em Selections for No House Advantage

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is underway and that means our friends over at No House Advantage have a TON of great DFS plays we can look to take advantage of. No House Advantage is a unique DFS prop picks site where you do not have to play against the house to... Read More


Wide Receiver Matchups to Target in Week 2: Greg Dortch, Terry McLaurin, Christian Kirk

Week 1 made some things come to light as we got some clarity on some murky situations. Unfortunately, many of our WR targets for DFS last week were victims of this. Robert Woods finished the game with one reception for 13 yards, as the Titans used the rookie receivers much more than him. Brandon Aiyuk... Read More


Carson Wentz - Fantasy Football Rankings, Waiver Wire Pickups, Draft Sleepers

Thunder Dan's NFL Betting Picks for Week 2: Top NFL Player Props Bets

Football season is back! Whether you like to bet game totals, sides, or player props, I have something in here for you, and try to cover a little bit of everything! This year, I started my own free sports betting newsletter, and the good people here at RotoBaller are allowing me to share my picks... Read More


Fantasy Football IDP Injury Reports For NFL Defensive Players: Week 2 Updates for T.J. Watt, Jamal Adams, Jalen Thompson, Ed Oliver

T.J. Watt owners, you know the feeling... I had T.J. Watt in my home league last season. He was constantly checking out of games early with nagging minor injuries, but he must have led every IDP manager who started him to the playoffs. I went back to the well and drafted him early this year.... Read More