Eric Thames (1B/OF, MIL) - Week 12 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 43% of Leagues ANALYSIS: After missing seven weeks from left thumb surgery, Eric Thames had a quiet return to the Milwaukee Brewers, going 1-for-10 with six strikeouts. He came alive on Sunday, bombing two home runs, collecting four RBI and a steal. The big day brought his […]

Statcast Pitcher Risers/Fallers - Full Count Inefficiency (Week 11)

Welcome back to RotoBaller's series using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over data to examine pitching performances. The weekly series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings and enlighten ourselves on the information and tools at our disposal. As a pro-pitcher fantasy enthusiast and dedicated streamer, I regularly tune into starts hoping […]

Yolmer Sanchez (2B, 3B, CHW) - Week 11 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 16% of Leagues ANALYSIS: Playing in the depths of the Southside, Yolmer Sanchez has quietly had a well-rounded season, slashing .276/.313/.413 with 24 runs scored and 27 RBI. He's also gone yard three times and is 5-for-7 in stolen base attempts. Sanchez primarily plays third base but […]

Statcast Pitcher Risers/Fallers - Monthly xwOBA Splits (Week 10)

Welcome back to Rotoballer's series using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over data to examine pitching performances. The weekly series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings and enlighten ourselves on the information and tools at our disposal. All savvy fantasy players know that when we scour the trade block or waiver […]

Statcast Pitcher Risers/Fallers - O-Swings-and-Misses (Week 9)

Welcome back to Rotoballer's series using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over data to examine pitching performances. The weekly series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings and enlighten ourselves on the information and tools at our disposal. For the first two months of the season, the baseball community has fixated on […]

Statcast Pitcher Risers/Fallers - Poor-Contact ISO (Week 8)

Welcome back to Rotoballer's series using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over data to examine pitching performances. The weekly series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings and enlighten ourselves on the information and tools at our disposal. We've surpassed the quarter mark of the 2018 baseball season and with each additional […]

Statcast Pitcher Risers/Fallers - Early-Inning SLG (Week 7)

Welcome back to Rotoballer's series using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over data to examine pitching performances. The weekly series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings and enlighten ourselves on the information and tools at our disposal. One of fantasy baseball's most gut-wrenching feelings is tuning into your pitcher starts only […]

Statcast Pitcher Risers/Fallers - Two-Strike xBA (Week 6)

Welcome back to Rotoballer's series using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over data to examine pitching performances. The weekly series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings and I enlighten myself on the information and tools at my disposal. For Week 6, we'll continue our theme from last week arguing that by […]

April All-Bummer Team - Studs With Sluggish Starts

We've turned the calendar to May and, amazingly, 2018's baseball season is already 1/6 complete. We've seen some surprising team starts (Phillies, Pirates) and a few out-of-the-blue players rising to fantasy relevance (Christian Villanueva, Jarlin Garcia). But we're all wondering the same thing: where in the world is John Lackey? Nothing is worse in fantasy […]

Statcast Pitcher Risers/Fallers - wOBA - xwOBA (Week 5)

We continue our RotoBaller series using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over data to examine pitching performances. The weekly series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings and I enlighten myself on the information and tools at my disposal. With a month of baseball in the books, most starting pitchers have logged […]

Statcast Pitcher Risers/Fallers - Exit Velocity (Week 4)

We continue our RotoBaller series using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over data to examine pitching performances. The weekly series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings and I enlighten myself on the information and tools at my disposal. My predictive confidence face-planted over the weekend as two of my calls in […]

Yangervis Solarte (2B, 3B, SS, TOR) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickup

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 50% of Leagues ANALYSIS: Judging by his ownership, many didn't trust Yangervis Solarte as a late-round draftee. Fair, other sleepers like Aaron Altherr, Ryan McMahon and Carlos Gomez were more interesting and readily available. Doh! Through April 17, Solarte is slashing .280/.393/.520 and has appeared in 14 […]

Statcast Pitcher Risers/Fallers - BABIP (Week 3)

RotoBaller embarks on a new series this year using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over data to examine pitching performance. The weekly series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings and I enlighten myself on the information and tools at my disposal. This week we'll focus on a popular batted-ball metric, Batting […]

Dexter Fowler (OF, STL) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickup

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 47% of Leagues ANALYSIS: It makes me feel like an old fantasy player when Dexter Fowler has become a boring forgettable veteran. As a youngster in Colorado, Fowler's irresistible 20/20 potential never came to fruition, but now a 32-year-old in his 11th season, Fowler might just be […]

Predicting Pitching Performance With Statcast - Barrel % (Week 2)

This year, RotoBaller is embarking on a new series using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over box scores to examine pitching performance. I'm honored to take the reins on this new endeavor. The structure of the series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings weekly and I gradually make myself smarter about […]

Dellin Betances (RP, NYY) - 2018 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~230 CURRENT ADP: 278 ANALYSIS: At his current ADP, Dellin Betances is going undrafted in many standard leagues. While not currently a closer, Betances contributes meaningfully in strikeouts, ERA and WHIP. Since 2014, he ranks fourth with a 14.44 K/9 amongst all pitchers. He's been flat-out dominant out of the bullpen with […]

ADP Rankings Debate - Robbie Ray vs. Yu Darvish

RotoBallers Andrew Le and Matt Wilkes recently faced off to discuss two strikeout-savvy pitchers, Robbie Ray and Yu Darvish. ADPs for both pitchers are eerily close and we hope the following battle helps fantasy managers make a (slightly) more educated decision. In the red and black jersey playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks, standing 6'2" and […]

Deeper Third Base Sleepers - Undervalued ADPs

Hooray! Another sleeper article! The RotoBaller team recently updated our third base rankings and commented on the depth of third base this year. Today, we'll go deeper, and deeper into the well. Waaaayy, way down. No argument, there's plenty to like about the upper crop of third basemen. If you're in standard-sized leagues, you should […]

Travis Shaw - The Mayor of Ding Dong City Deserves Your Vote

After beating out the esteemed Pablo Sandoval in Boston for starting third baseman in 2016, Travis Shaw had a decent season for the BoSox (.242/.306/.421, 16 HRs, 63 runs, 71 RBI) but was quickly forgotten by the fantasy community. As he quietly departed for Milwaukee before 2017, Shaw was barely a rumor on draft boards […]

Leading Indicators - First Pitch Strikes and Strikeout Risers

Conventional baseball wisdom harps on the importance of the first-pitch strike (F-strike%). As pitchers get ahead in counts, they gain an advantage on hitters and have more pitch choices at their disposal. However, smart people discovered a hitter's average with a 0-1 count (.321) is only marginally worse than a 1-0 count (.337). The pitch […]

Points League Primer - Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategy

When discussing fantasy baseball, an often neglected but entertaining format is the points league. These exist in both season-long cumulative and weekly head-to-head leagues. While existential debates about scoring categories and their true depiction of player worth are endless, points leagues arguably get closest to the objective of sabermetrics. Points leagues attempt to define a […]

ADP Rankings Debate - Andrew Benintendi vs. Marcell Ozuna

RotoBallers Andrew Le and Sean Scampton recently did their best Celebrity Deathmatch impression by debating between Andrew Benintendi (Andrew) and Marcell Ozuna (Sean). Interestingly, Benintendi and Ozuna face an odd occurrence where one player has the ADP advantage while the other is being ranked higher overall and at their position. As always, arguments about players […]

Joe Panik (2B, SF) - 2018 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~295 CURRENT ADP: 385 ANALYSIS: Over the past two seasons, Joe Panik has put up eerily similar numbers, averaging 10 homers, 64 runs and 58 RBI. The only fluctuation was his batting average, where an unlucky .245 BABIP in 2016 resulted in a significantly lower .239 BA versus his career .282. Now […]

Austin Hedges (C, SD) - 2018 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~220 CURRENT ADP: 266 ANALYSIS: Regarded as a top-shelf defensive catcher, Austin Hedges bucked his one-sided reputation in 2017 by hitting 18 homeruns, tied eighth-best for signal-callers. Unfortunately, the power did not translate into other fantasy-useful categories. Hedges finished outside the top-20 for backstops with a meager 36 runs, 55 RBI and […]

Vince Velasquez (SP, PHI) - 2018 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~280 CURRENT ADP: 363 ANALYSIS: Vincent Velasquez turned heads in 2016 when he posted a solid 10.44 K/9, satisfactory 4.12 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. Expected to leap forward, Velasquez face-planted in 2017 and regressed meaningfully. An August finger injury mercifully ended his season. Velasquez finished with a 2-7 record, 5.13 ERA and […]

ADP Sleepers and Busts - AL Relief Pitchers

The early days of draft season typically result in volatile ADP data, as values adjust rapidly to a growing sample size. Eventually, players fall much closer to their intrinsic worth as fantasy owners become inundated with news, analysis and pundit commentary. So, I'm here today to serve as another voice to the copious reams of […]

Should Fantasy Managers Swipe Left and Chase Steals?

Steals are an important statistic in fantasy baseball. They represent 10% of scoring categories in 5x5 leagues and earn an equivalent value or more to singles, runs and RBI in points leagues. Comparing runs and stolen bases, the fantasy significance of a steal is certainly overvalued versus its real baseball relevance. The Run Expectancy table […]

Judge or Bellinger - Goliath versus Goliath?

Let’s set the table before we dig in: choosing between Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger is like deciding between bacon or chicken wings. Both are delicious. And to put this analogy in overkill, let’s assume anyone that dislikes bacon and chicken wings just isn't a baseball fan. Judge and Bellinger are two faces of baseball’s […]

January Expert Mock Analysis - Rounds 16-23

From the middle rounds, we segue into the tail-end of our early bird mock draft. The 12-team draft was done by RotoBaller’s MLB writers with order as follows: Chris Zolli, Harris Yudin, Troy Klauder, Kevin Luchansky, Pierre Camus, Max Petrie, Nick Mariano, Max Brill, Connor McEleney, Kyle Bishop, Mario Hernandez, and Andrew Le. As mentioned […]

January Expert Mock Analysis - Rounds 10-15

Spring training is getting closer and the RotoBaller MLB team opened up our first bags of peanuts and cracker jacks with a 12-team mock draft last week. For consideration, this 23-round mock draft was a traditional 5x5 league consisting of nine pitcher spots and the rest starting offensive slots (including two catchers). The lack of […]