Statcast Season Review: 2020 Barrel Leaders (Hitters)
The 2020 MLB season will always be one for the record books, even if everything that took place will have multiple asterisks attached to it. Evaluating Statcast numbers is a nice way to find hot and cold hitters, as well as underachievers and overachievers. Now that the regular season is over, let's reflect on the... 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
Statcast Starting Pitcher Leaders - wOBA Underachievers
The last days of the baseball season are almost upon us. Those who are still here reading up on advanced sabermetrics are undoubtedly scouring for the best information to make a final push to win their fantasy leagues (thanks to Rotoballer!) or are simply baseball junkies. Either way, I'm glad you're here. As usual, this... Read More
Statcast Starting Pitcher Leaders - Hard Hit Rate
The 2020 MLB season is now nearing the playoff stretch, both in real-life and fantasy. Sad as that may be, the next two weeks are crucial to all contenders. Luckily, due to the extremely short season, those in need of help with pitching ratios in 5x5 leagues can still turn things around as opposed to... Read More
Statcast Starting Pitcher Leaderboard - xSLG Underachievers
We go back to expected statistics for this week's iteration of Statcast pitcher review. Previously, we looked at xwOBA risers and fallers to determine who may be due to improve or decline. This time, we'll compare xSLG (expected slugging percentage) to SLG (actual slugging percentage) to find the biggest underachievers. Simply because a player's expected stats... 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
Statcast Starting Pitcher Leaderboard - CSW%
More starting pitchers bite the dust each week and fantasy baseball managers are forced to turn to the waiver wire for streamers more than ever. The other approach is to stock up on relievers and rely on a couple of high-end starters, assuming you have any left. Either way, it's crucial to find pitchers who... Read More
Statcast Starting Pitcher Leaderboard - Pitch Movement
In this chaotic year, MLB starting pitching is just one of the many things that make our lives as fantasy managers difficult. As if we don't have enough to worry about in these days and times, keeping a healthy rotation intact or keeping your ratios from imploding on any given night is becoming harder by... Read More
WPC+ Videocast: Buy, Sell, or Hold Sluggers Based on K%?
Pierre Camus and Nicklaus Gaut evaluate Statcast data for Week 5 of the 2020 MLB season by looking at hitters whose strikeout rates have spiked in the early going. Like and subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get all our latest podcasts and catch us on iTunes and BlogTalkRadio as well! Be sure... 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
Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds - xwOBA
The season rolls on and we have more data to digest by the day. Since many regular starting pitchers have taken at least three or four turns in the rotation, I will focus on Statcast data for those who have faced a minimum of 50 batters so far. This narrows the field to 101 pitchers,... 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
Plate Discipline Standouts for 2020
Last year, I unveiled a new weighted index statistic for hitters – mPDI, which mirrors 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.” If we consider the inverse... Read More
Batting Stance Adjustments Leading to Early Breakouts
It has been a wild and crazy season, to say the least, to start 2020. With samples still very small, the numbers are off a lot of the time in one direction or the other. This is why diving in and finding tangible change can be the difference in the production sustaining or it being... Read More
Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds - Exit Velocity
It's fair to say we have enough Statcast data now to dig into the numbers and start identifying early risers and fallers. Many starting pitchers have only taken two turns in the rotation, so the safest place to start is with average exit velocity numbers. In future installments, we'll get to barrels, expected stats, and... 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
WPC+ Videocast: Week 3 Statcast
Pierre Camus and Nicklaus Gaut evaluate Statcast data for Week 3 of the 2020 MLB season by looking at exit velocity risers and fallers for hitters. Like and subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get all our latest podcasts and catch us on iTunes and BlogTalkRadio as well! Be sure to also tune... Read More
Early Week 1 Exit Velocity Hitter Studs and Duds
We're off and running on our Statcast Hitter Analysis! Each week, I will select a different metric to evaluate unexpected names at the top and bottom of the Statcast Leaderboards. Even if you aren't well-versed in Statcast, you know exit velocity. Even the crustiest of old-school baseball announcers has incorporated this term in his vernacular... Read More
Exit Velocity Hitter Studs and Duds Heading Into 2020
Welcome to this year's first iteration of Statcast Hitter Analysis. Each week, I will select a different metric to evaluate unexpected names at the top and bottom of the Statcast Leaderboards. Even if you aren't well-versed in Statcast, you know exit velocity. Even the crustiest of old-school baseball announcers have incorporated this term in his... Read More
Statcast Sleepers - Relief Pitchers to Target
This is the first edition of our weekly series on Statcast Pitcher Analysis. Normally, I will select a different sabermetric evaluation method to identify undervalued and/or overvalued pitchers. Since we have less than a week's worth of data under our belt for 2020, let's take one more look back at last year's Statcast data to find... Read More
WPC+ Videocast: Opening Weekend 2020 Recap
Pierre Camus and Nicklaus Gaut recap the action from Opening Day and the first weekend of MLB action for 2020. They identify early risers and fallers, review Statcast numbers, and discuss major injuries. Like and subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get all our latest podcasts and catch us on iTunes and BlogTalkRadio... Read More
Sauceda's Slants: Finding POWA in the Infield
We recently introduced our new hitter metric, POWA (which stands for Prediction of wOBA Attempt), to more appropriately align and weight new Statcast metrics to better predict future performance. You can read the introductory piece for the full details and a 2019 POWA leaderboard, but the gist of it is: POWA is nearly 10% more... Read More
Underpriced Hitters According to ATC Projections
While nothing is guaranteed, we can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel. Baseball is back, baby! Summer camp (I refuse to call it Spring Training 2.0) has now begun and Opening Day is set for July 23/24. Coming with the return are seismic changes; a universal DH, limited opponents, a... Read More
Overpriced Hitters According to ATC Projections
RotoBaller is fortunate to have 2019's most accurate ranker, Ariel Cohen, to give us his updated ATC projections. I have taken those projections and turned them into fantasy dollars, ranking them accordingly. By comparing these rankings to the latest NFBC ADP data, we can see which players ATC likes at their draft price, and who should... Read More
Underpriced Pitchers According to ATC Projections
While nothing is guaranteed, we can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel. Baseball is back, baby! Summer camp (I refuse to call it Spring Training 2.0) has now begun and Opening Day is set for July 23/24. Coming with the return are seismic changes; a universal DH, limited opponents, a... Read More
Batters on a Diet: Sweet-Spot% Fallers
Last week, we talked about players who increased their proclivity to hit the ball between eight and 32 degrees in a stat known as sweet spot percentage. This week, we focus on some players whose sweet spot percentage decreased. But not all decreases in a stat are made equal. The players below all saw their... Read More
Evaluating OAA for Pitchers Changing Teams (AL and NL-Only)
Earlier this preseason, I looked deeper into Statcast’s new Outs Above Average (OAA) leaderboard, which identifies the best defensive infielders in the league. I used 2019 OAA to look at how a pitcher's new defense will affect his value in the 2020 season. The first article evaluated pitchers drafted inside the top 300 picks, so this... Read More
Kings of Candy: Sweet-Spot Risers
Sweet spot percentage (SwSp%) is not the best-known Statcast measurement. It doesn't care how hard you hit the ball, just at what trajectory. Well, it doesn't care about that either, it's just a statistic, it has no capacity to care about anything. But what it measures is the number of times a hitter's contact is between... Read More
Evaluating OAA for Pitchers Changing Teams (12-Team Leagues)
Last week, I looked at Statcast’s new Outs Above Average (OAA) leaderboard, which they’ve used to identify the best defensive infielders in the league. My initial exploration of the metric was designed to identify pitchers who might have been lucky or unlucky last year as a way of mining for bounceback value or avoiding potential... Read More