Five Points League Sleepers for 2017 Fantasy Baseball
In last week’s primer, we covered some useful ground rules for making the mental adjustment from standard head-to-head or rotisserie formats to points leagues. Throughout the month of March, we’ll be putting those guidelines into practice and looking at player values for points leagues. Nick Mariano is breaking down our tiered points leagues rankings, and... Read More
San Diego Padres: 2017 Fantasy MLB Team Preview and Outlooks
We near the end of our MLB team previews with a young team on the rise. It's time for the 2017 San Diego Team Outlook. As part of RotoBaller's ongoing effort to help you win your leagues, we're previewing all 30 MLB teams. In this article, we will examine the team's noteworthy offseason moves, hitting, pitching and prospects. RotoBaller has... Read More
September Surgers: 2017 Fantasy Baseball Draft Values
Experienced fantasy owners know all too well the dangers of reading too much into small sample sizes. More information is almost always better, and it’s easy to fall into the traps of setting arbitrary endpoints and letting them skew your valuation of a player. The difficulty in separating signal from noise is even greater when... Read More
Top 500: Points Leagues Rankings & Tiers (March)
Welcome back RotoBallers. Below you will find our updated fantasy baseball points leagues rankings for March. The MLB season is approaching, and with that comes the excitement of fantasy baseball drafts - coming in a variety of formats. Today's rankings are specifically for points leagues, which have different scoring settings than most. Each statistical category is assigned a point... Read More
Seattle Mariners: 2017 Fantasy MLB Team Preview and Outlooks
Spring training is officially underway, and it's time to get ready for your fantasy draft. As part of RotoBaller's ongoing effort to help you win your leagues, we're previewing all 30 MLB teams. In these articles, we discuss each team's offseason moves, as well as their hitters, pitchers, and prospects. Today's installment covers the 2017 Seattle... Read More
Turning Two: Will Anyone Hit .350 in 2017?
Welcome back to our third edition of Turning Two. We've now discussed who will hit 50 HR, and who will rack up 300 K. This week we flip back to the hitters to discuss a challenge that has not been tackled in seven years; hitting .350 for a season. A .350 batting average is a daunting task. Hell, .330 is... Read More
Mark Trumbo Rankings Debate: Comparing RotoBaller's Rankers
It's the fantasy baseball draft season. To us baseball nerds, few things are more exciting than arguing about player rankings. Today, we'll discuss and compare Mark Trumbo's RotoBaller staff rankings. He was ranked No. 51 overall by Jeff Kahntroff, and No. 136 by Brad Johnson. Throughout this series, we'll be using our February Staff Rankings to... Read More
Manuel Margot (OF, SD) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values
BALLER MOVE: Target ~225 CURRENT ADP: 244 ANALYSIS: Manuel Margot came over in the Craig Kimbrel trade, and is expected to start the season in San Diego. Margot, 22, is ranked No. 24 on the Baseball America Top 100 Prospects list, and has displayed an ability to hit for average in the minors along with... Read More
Travis Jankowski (OF, SD) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values
BALLER MOVE: Target ~260 CURRENT ADP: 288 ANALYSIS: Travis Jankowski has taken advantage of the lack of surrounding talent in San Diego. He drew 130 starts in 2016 and was able to steal 30 bases, although he was primarily a one-cat stat producer. He hit .245 with two homers, 53 R and 12 RBI. Jankowski... Read More
Keon Broxton (OF, MIL) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values
BALLER MOVE: Target ~200 CURRENT ADP: 227 ANALYSIS: Keon Broxton joined the Brewers in the second half of 2016 and was an instant spark plug. In 244 at-bats, he produced 36 steals with a .354 OBP. His strong play has him as the favorite to start in center field, although his fantasy value is stunted... Read More
Rajai Davis (OF, OAK) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values
BALLER MOVE: Target ~230 CURRENT ADP: 246 ANALYSIS: Rajai Davis is on his fourth team in five years, but still has value thanks to his legs. He had 43 steals last season along with a career-high 74 runs and 12 homers. As a result, he earned leadoff duties for an Oakland team that is in constant... Read More
Ender Inciarte (OF, ATL) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values
BALLER MOVE: Target ~210 CURRENT ADP: 237 ANALYSIS: The Braves’ offense was sneaky good to finish 2016, posting a .774 OPS in the second half (third in MLB). The addition of Matt Kemp provided Freddie Freeman solid protection, but the biggest X-factor was Ender Inciarte. Inciarte was a tale of two halves, hitting .227 with... Read More
Predicting the Top 10 Finishers for Batting Average
With the importance of advanced statistics in baseball, one of the traditional stats still carries a lot of weight. You can't watch a baseball telecast, or go to a baseball game without seeing a batting average attached to a player's name. In addition, the number .300 still remains sacred in baseball lore. When it comes... Read More
Arizona Diamondbacks: 2017 Fantasy MLB Team Preview and Outlooks
Spring training is officially underway, and it's time to get ready for your fantasy draft. As part of RotoBaller's ongoing effort to help you win your leagues, we're previewing all 30 MLB teams. In these articles, we discuss each team's offseason moves, as well as their hitters, pitchers, and prospects. Today's installment covers the 2017 Arizona... Read More
San Francisco Giants Top MLB Prospects for 2017 Dynasty Leagues
So it was an ever year last season and just when it looked like the Madison Bumgarner-led San Francisco Giants were going to race all the way back up to the top again, the Chicago Cubs got in their way. But still, even if that was the end of their even-year title pattern, it was... Read More
Outfield: Points Leagues Rankings and Tiers
Welcome to this series of analyzing our site’s points league rankings, compiled by myself and Kyle Bishop. We’re good people, you should get to know us. Today we're taking a look at our tiered outfield rankings for points leagues. Points leagues abide by different rules, with walks and strikeouts usually being of notable importance compared... Read More
Predicting the Top 10 Finishers for Runs
There were 15 players that were nine runs or fewer than being in the top 10 in runs scored in 2016, and I'm guessing that there will be nearly as many if not more this season. In 2015, there were 17 players that were within 10 runs of finishing within the top 10 in runs scored.... Read More
San Francisco Giants 2017 Team Preview and Outlook
Spring training is officially underway, and it's time to get ready for your fantasy draft. As part of RotoBaller's ongoing effort to help you win your leagues, we're previewing all 30 MLB teams. Today's installment covers the 2017 San Francisco Giants Outlook, and previews their potential fantasy baseball contributions. In these articles, we discuss each team's offseason... Read More
Miami Marlins: 2017 Fantasy MLB Team Preview and Outlooks
As part of RotoBaller's ongoing effort to help you win your leagues, we're previewing all 30 MLB teams. Today we continue our MLB team previews with the 2017 Miami Marlins Team Outlook to see how fantasy baseball owners should approach their players this season. In this article, I will break down the team's notable additions, losses, offense, pitching... Read More
San Diego Padres Top MLB Prospects for 2017 Dynasty Leagues
It was another disappointing season for the San Diego Padres in 2016, but they will probably be fine with the big-league results knowing what is on the horizon. They aren’t going to be competitive next season, but they will soon have an outfield of Manny Margot, Hunter Renfroe and Travis Jankowski with guys like Wil... Read More
ADP Champs or Chumps: Aaron Nola & Jon Gray
When streaming starting pitchers, there are generally two criteria to choose the best option. The first is the quality of the opposition, as a lesser offense is less likely to hurt your ratios. The second is venue, as fantasy owners look to maximize innings in Kansas City and Miami while avoiding Coors Field like the... Read More
Nick Mariano's Draft Sleepers List (Premium Content)
It's everyone's favorite pre-draft word to throw around, and likely threatens to take the top spot on some Google Analytics the closer we get to that premier fantasy baseball draft season. Yup, we're talking about sleepers. But let's just get this out of the way: sleepers are not necessarily meant to be names that no one... Read More
New York Yankeees: 2017 Fantasy MLB Team Preview and Outlooks
From the latter parts of the 1990s to the new millennium and onward, October did not exist without the New York Yankees taking the field for playoff baseball. After nine long years (which felt like 90 in Pinstripe Land), a champion was crowned in the Bronx once more in 2009. But since then, after the year... Read More
Los Angeles Dodgers Top MLB Prospects for 2017 Dynasty Leagues
Now is a great time to be a Dodgers’ fan. Sure they didn't beat the Cubs in the NLCS last year, but between current on-field talent and minor league hopefuls, few teams are in a better position than Los Angeles. They’ve got one of the best shortstops in the game in Corey Seager and the... Read More
Jackie Bradley Jr. Rankings Debate: Comparing RotoBaller's Rankings
It's the fantasy baseball draft season. To us baseball nerds, few things are more exciting than arguing about player rankings. Today, we'll discuss and compare Jackie Bradley Jr.'s RotoBaller staff rankings. He was ranked No. 114 by Bill Dubiel, and No. 70 by Kyle Bishop. Throughout this series, we'll be using our February Staff Rankings to debate where... Read More
Colorado Rockies Top MLB Prospects for 2017 Dynasty Leagues
The Rockies weren’t really expected to do much in 2016, but they surprised some in putting up a 75-87 record, finishing third in the NL West. In addition to the typical MVP-caliber performance of Nolan Arenado, D.J. LeMahieu won the NL batting crown, Trevor Story set an NL record for most home runs by a... Read More
2017 MLB Prospect Risers and Fallers: Torres, Bellinger, Fulmer & More
Prospects are like the stock market. One day something looks great, but a day later, that can all change. While there aren't day-to-day fluctuations that might make your outlook on a prospect change so heavily, there are always guys whose stock rises and falls considerably year-to-year and month-to-month. Today I'm here to take a look... Read More
2016 Fantasy Baseball Busts to Avoid in 2017
Each season, a bunch of players produce way above or below expectations, and we spend the entire winter arguing over whether or not the improvement or decline was genuine. Separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to last year’s performances can be the difference between a championship season and bitter, abject failure for your fantasy... Read More
Arizona Diamondbacks Top MLB Prospects for 2017 Dynasty Leagues
Last season was disappointing for Arizona. They finished 69-93, fourth place in the NL West. This coming after quite possibly the overpriced signing of Zack Greinke (6-year, $206.5 million) and the worst trade of all time in acquiring Shelby Miller for Dansby Swanson, Ender Inciarte and Aaron Blair. And unfortunately, their farm system does not... Read More
Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 3: Batted Ball Distribution
Fly balls can turn into home runs. Ground balls never do. It would seem as though fantasy owners want their batters to hit nothing but flies, yet I closed the last piece by stating that this is not the case. Why would this be? Let's take a look, as my series on using sabermetrics for... Read More