Hitter Advanced Metrics Leaders - Expected Home Runs for Week 13
Home runs, we all love 'em. We've been told long ago that a certain sub-population fancies them even more than expected. It's time to figure out which hitters have been outperforming their expected home run totals and who may be underachieving and potentially due for positive regression. This week, I'll look at the biggest differences... Read More
Pitcher Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - WAR For Week 13
Welcome back to RotoBaller’s Statcast pitcher Studs and Duds article series! Each week, I will select one advanced metric, choose two pitchers with strong values and two with poor values, and analyze what those values may mean for future performance. As we near the All-Star break, I decided it would be a good idea to... Read More
Breakout Hitters to Watch for Fantasy Baseball Week 13
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
Exploring Minor League Plate Discipline for Top Prospects - Jarred Kelenic, Jo Adell, Corbin Carroll, and more
This article looks at plate discipline metrics for minor league hitters including contact % and swing % to help fantasy leaguers evaluate contact and patience skills among hitting prospects. Swing % and contact % are among the quickest, if not the quickest, metrics to stabilize for hitters. ‘Stabilization’ is a term used to indicate a... Read More
Hitter Advanced Metrics Leaders - Sweet Spot% for Week 12
This week, we'll dig down to a more micro level in order to see what we can take away from the leaderboard in sweet spot rate. That's essentially the goal for all hitters when they initiate a swing - to get that ideal trajectory that often results in a base hit and is necessary to... Read More
Pitcher Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - wOBACON For Week 12
Welcome back to RotoBaller’s Statcast pitcher Studs and Duds article series! Each week, I will select one advanced metric, choose two pitchers with strong values and two with poor values, and analyze what those values may mean for future performance. I wrote about the expected weighted on-base average (xwOBA) for the first article of the... Read More
Breakout Hitters to Watch for Fantasy Baseball Week 12
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
Hitter Advanced Metrics Risers and Fallers - Sprint Speed for Week 11
Enough with the hitting stats, let's turn to something a little different this week and measure running. Steals are still an integral part of the fantasy baseball universe but it can be hard to determine who is capable of helping out in that category on a regular basis. That said, I'll provide some analysis on... Read More
Pitcher Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - HR/FB% For Week 11
Welcome back to RotoBaller’s Statcast pitcher Studs and Duds article series! Each week, I will select one advanced metric, choose two pitchers with strong values and two with poor values, and analyze what those values may mean for future performance. Some metrics are more intricate than others, but that doesn't mean that they all can't... Read More
Pitchers With New Pitches - Should We Care For Fantasy Baseball? Part Five
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 has.... Read More
Breakout Hitters to Watch for Fantasy Baseball Week 11
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
Starting Pitcher Risers and Fallers - Luck Analysis for Fantasy Baseball
We have completed more than one-third of the season, which means we have a significant amount of data on starting pitchers this year. I thought it was a good time to check on some pitching luck metrics to see which pitchers have over and underperformed so far this year. We'll hit a few different categories... Read More
Hitter Skill-Searching: Hard Contact Frequency Analysis
What we are looking for in a hitter, despite all of the advanced and complex numbers, is pretty simple. We want a hitter to hit the ball very hard, and we want them to hit the ball on a high percentage of their swings. This is the best formula for success in the Majors Leagues... Read More
Hitter Advanced Metrics Risers and Fallers - Barrel Rate for Week 10
It's finally time to roll out the barrels and there will be Brewers involved! Now that qualified hitters have well over 200 plate appearances under their belts, we can dive into the Statcast numbers to see who is making the biggest splash over the wall. It goes without saying (but here goes anyway) that you... Read More
Pitcher Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - xERA For Week 10
Welcome back to RotoBaller’s Statcast pitcher Studs and Duds article series! Each week, I will select one advanced metric, choose two pitchers with strong values and two with poor values, and analyze what those values may mean for future performance. There are many ERA skill indicator metrics that fantasy managers can use to understand how... Read More
Breakout Hitters to Watch for Fantasy Baseball Week 10
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
Starting Pitcher Breakouts and Sell Highs for Fantasy Baseball: K-BB% Risers
Now that we're a couple of months into the season, we have the ability to track month-to-month changes to see if any players are making adjustments. Sometimes these changes can manifest in a clear difference in results, while other times we can start to see some changes under the surface that have not yet shown... Read More
Pitcher Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - Brls/BBE% For Week 9
Welcome back to RotoBaller’s Statcast pitcher Studs and Duds article series! Each week, I will select one advanced metric, choose two pitchers with strong values and two with poor values, and analyze what those values may mean for future performance. With two months in the books, fantasy managers can start building more accurate profiles of... Read More
Hitter Advanced Metrics Risers and Fallers - xSLG for Week 9
Rolling windows are one of the most effective ways to discern who the biggest risers and fallers are in a given area. Since power is at a premium this year, it seems only natural to examine expected slugging. For reference, here's the official definition according to MLB.com: "Expected Slugging Percentage (xSLG) is formulated using exit... Read More
Breakout Hitters to Watch for Fantasy Baseball Week 9
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
Pitcher Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - K-BB% For Week 8
Welcome back to RotoBaller’s Statcast pitcher Studs and Duds article series! Each week, I will select one advanced metric, choose two pitchers with strong values and two with poor values, and analyze what those values may mean for future performance. This week, I will take a look at a metric that is not as complex... Read More
Hitter Advanced Metrics Risers and Fallers - FB/LD Exit Velocity for Week 8
In order to get to stats like barrels and hard-hit rate, you have to start with exit velocity. Exit velocity begins to stabilize after 45 batted-ball events. We're going to get more specific in this edition by focusing on exit velocity for fly balls and line drives because that's where power is found. You could... 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
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
Pitcher Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - SIERA For Week 7
Welcome back to RotoBaller’s Statcast pitcher Studs and Duds article series! Each week, I will select one advanced metric, choose two pitchers with strong values and two with poor values, and analyze what those values may mean for future performance. With about a month and a half of data, I think it's time to take... 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
Breakout Hitters to Watch for Fantasy Baseball Week 7
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
Early Plate Discipline Standouts for 2022
In 2019, I introduced a new (yet simple) index statistic for pitchers – mPDI, which was inspired by a famous quote by Hall of Fame pitcher, Greg Maddux: “The key to pitching is to have the ability to throw a strike when they’re taking and throw a ball when the hitter is swinging.” Maddux’s simplistic... Read More