Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 8

As regular readers may already be aware, in addition to this and my other weekly columns, I manage RotoBaller's Waiver Wire List. During the construction of this week's edition, it hit me: We're at the point of the season where the number of quality pitchers on the waiver wire is at one of its lowest... Read More

The Cut List (Week 8) - Time to Let Go?

May is half over. That's scarcely believable, but it's true. Much more believable but equally true: there are plenty of players that should be axed. April showers can't bring May flowers for everyone, and some players even got that proverb mixed up: they are following up April flowers with damp May production. This analogy is... Read More

The Waiver Wire Watch List: Week 8

As important as it is to be active on the waiver wire, snagging that next hot bat or pitcher on a roll before anyone else can, let's be honest--there are only so many roster spots. That's why your watch list is just as important as your waiver wire activity, and perhaps even more so. Throughout... Read More

Closers and Saves Report - Week 7 Waiver Wire

Let's talk about a Crazy Little Thing Called Saves. (Count it ✔) The Braves might have accidentally stumbled into one of the best closers in baseball. The Twins and Mariners continue to play the messy bullpen game, but it looks like maybe the Rays are settling into some kind of routine? The top two relievers in... Read More

Week 7 Starts & Sits - All Starting Pitcher Matchups

Mid-May marks the fantasy baseball season's quarter pole, which can be exciting as data becomes robust, but also frightful for pitching as warmer air leads to long flies. Are you keeping tabs of park factors, team stats and pitchers tweaking with their repertoire? Well, we here at RotoBaller are, with the aim to ease your... Read More

Contact Rate Risers and Fallers for Week 7 - Buy or Sell?

Welcome to Contact Rate Risers and Fallers for Week 7! Our premium tools allow us to get out ahead of trends in player performance, including contact rate. Every Wednesday, we'll be looking at some players that have seen an increase in contact rate and some that have seen it decline. Contact rate can foretell a... Read More

Top 30 Impact Prospects for Redraft Leagues (Week 7)

Another week, another whack of promotions from the Top 30 list. In his eighth pro season, outfielder Harold Ramirez finally earned a shot with the last-place Marlins after hitting .355 in 31 Triple-A games. The Indians have finally turned to Oscar Mercado for help with their beleaguered outfield. With Collin McHugh struggling to a 6.37 ERA... Read More

Hot Prospects To Watch - Riley Rising, Dalbec Raking, Pearson Impressing

If you missed it, the Brewers called up their top prospect Tuesday morning -- hitting prodigy and second baseman Keston Hiura -- to make his major league debut this week. The ninth overall pick of the 2017 draft was hitting .333 with a .408 on-base percentage, 1.106 OPS, 11 homers and 26 RBI in 37... Read More

Statcast xSLG Studs and Duds for Week 7

Welcome back to RotoBaller’s pitchers advanced stats and StatCast studs and duds article series! Each week we will select an advanced stat, choose two studs and two duds, and analyze what those stats could mean for future fantasy output. The next stat we will use is one that utilizes exit velocity and launch angle to... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 7

Welcome back to "Are You For Real?" Each week, we look at lower-owned starting pitchers who have performed unexpectedly well in their last outing(s). This week we're looking at two pitchers that were on nobody's radar coming into the season, Chris Bassitt of Oakland and Adam Wainwright of St. Louis. Ownership is based on Yahoo leagues... Read More

Streaming Pitchers To Fill The Void in 2019

To say that the starting pitcher position has been underwhelming to start the year is an understatement. What was hoped to be a strength for many teams has yet to come to fruition. Part of the reason is that starters haven’t been as effective as desired. That frustration will potentially get rectified once the weather... Read More

The Cut List (Week 7) - Time to Let Go?

The 2019 season is now one-fifth over for every team in MLB, and one-quarter over for some. By the end of the month in just under three weeks time, it'll be one-third finished. If you've hung on to a certain player in a certain roto league, depending on how often you played or benched them,... Read More

Sauceda's Slants - Six Hitters to Buy for Today's Environment

Pitching days can be pure euphoria — firing up the games to watch your pitchers (hopefully) mow down the opposing team for several innings. Catching one of your hitters’ at-bats just doesn’t create that same lasting feeling. Or, at least that’s what I used to say. Nowadays, I find myself bracing for dear life whenever... Read More

H2H Category Streamers - Week 7 Waiver Wire

There are plenty of strategies that fantasy managers explore in hopes to get an advantage over their opponent. Heavy lineup, heavy starting pitchers, no catcher, all (or mostly) reliever staff, no reliever staff, etc. Even if you play a balanced lineup, injuries can cause holes. A few weeks without a key player won’t kill a... Read More

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers: Week 7

Well, seven weeks in and I'm already struggling to come up with a decent intro. I'm calling a mulligan on the intro this week and let's just get into the recap of the last two weeks. Julio Teheran is the winner in Week 5 despite going 0-1 in his two starts. After allowing four runs... Read More

Closers and Saves Report - Week 6 Waiver Wire

Some pretty important moving and shaking went on this week in the bullpens across the league. Craig Kimbrel is still looking for somebody to love him (Queen reference in intro: ✔), and I'm still recommending anyone holding him in fantasy leagues without an NA spot lets him go. Thought it would be good to get... Read More

Rest of Season Shortstop Rankings (May Update)

The calendar's turned to May and we're whipping it around the horn for a Rest-of-Season update of our mixed rankings analysis. RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, Bill Dubiel and Scott Engel want you to crush the competition and know that rankings can't end on draft day. Check out our fantasy baseball rankings dashboard for the... Read More

Pablo Lopez, Miami's Other Breakout Starter

Miami Marlins right-hander Pablo Lopez quietly dominated the Braves on Sunday, tossing six scoreless innings with one walk and six strikeouts. That was his second scoreless outing in his last three appearances, and it lowered his season ERA to 4.03 - along with a 1.08 WHIP and a 25% strikeout rate. Lopez's 4.03 ERA, even... Read More

Rest of Season Outfielder Rankings (May Update)

The calendar's turned to May and today we'll look to the outfield for the next part of our Rest-of-Season rankings update and analysis. RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, Bill Dubiel and Scott Engel want you to crush the competition and know that rankings can't end on draft day. Check out our fantasy baseball rankings dashboard... Read More

Rest of Season Starting Pitcher Rankings (May Update)

The calendar's turned to May and we're heading out to the mound for a Rest-of-Season update of our mixed rankings analysis. RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, Bill Dubiel and Scott Engel want you to crush the competition and know that rankings can't end on draft day. Check out our fantasy baseball rankings dashboard for the... Read More

The Cut List (Week 6) - Time to Let Go?

Welcome to May. Whether you've hung on to a player since draft season, or picked up a hot bat early on, there are always going to be players on your chopping block. Below are some of them. Stats are through Friday, May 3. As we say every week: Remember that these recommendations are for standard... Read More

The Waiver Wire Watch List: Week 6

As important as it is to be active on the waiver wire, snagging that next hot bat or pitcher on a roll before anyone else can, let's be honest--there are only so many roster spots. That's why your watch list is just as important as your waiver wire activity, and perhaps even more so. Throughout... Read More

H2H Category Streamers - Week 6 Waiver Wire

There are plenty of strategies that fantasy managers explore in hopes to get an advantage over their opponent. Heavy lineup, heavy starting pitchers, no catcher, all (or mostly) reliever staff, no reliever staff, etc. Even if you play a balanced lineup, injuries can cause holes. A few weeks without a key player won’t kill a... Read More

Closers and Saves Report - Week 5 Waiver Wire

Last week I made a joke about this article somehow playing Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" but now this week I want to make the same joke because, well, because another one bit the dust. The Rangers will have someone new on the mound in the ninth inning when they're trying to hold onto... Read More

Contact Rate Risers and Fallers for Week 5 - Buy or Sell?

Welcome to Contact Rate Risers and Fallers for Week 4! Our premium tools allow us to get out ahead of trends in player performance, including contact rate. Every Wednesday, we'll be looking at some players that have seen an increase in contact rate and some that have seen it decline. Contact rate can foretell a... Read More

Week 5 Starts & Sits - All Starting Pitcher Matchups

With roughly one month of the 2019 MLB season in the books, fantasy owners should have a sense of their team and needs relative to their leaguemates. Are you already way ahead or behind on projected innings in roto leagues or always losing strikeouts in your weekly H2H matchups? We here at RotoBaller set out... Read More

Power Risers & Fallers for Week 5 - Buy or Sell?

Welcome to this week's Power Hitting Risers & Fallers. All stats are full season through Monday, April 29th (unless otherwise noted). Several "on pace" numbers just use 6x as a shortcut (one month done, five to go). Your weekly reminders: When a Statcast ranking is mentioned, a minimum of 25 plate appearances is needed to... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 5

Welcome to our Surprising Starts series, where every week we look at lower-owned starting pitchers who have performed unexpectedly well in their last outing(s). We had lots of big strikeout numbers this week, as two AL hurlers racked up punchout totals in the teens. We're breaking down Mike Minor's 13 strikeout performance on Saturday and... Read More

Sauceda's Slants - Is Carlos Rodon McCullers-ing?

Maybe this isn’t the best time to write this. He just gave up eight earned runs (ER) in a wild game at home against the Detroit Tigers, a team that currently ranks 27th in runs per game and 25th by weighted on-base average (wOBA). Or maybe that makes this the perfect time to write this, because... Read More