Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 2

Welcome to the 2021 edition of "Are You For Real?" This is a weekly column where we dissect surprisingly good starts from under-rostered and unheralded hurlers to try and determine whether they can maintain their performance, or if it was just a flash in the pan. Week 2 brought even more surprising starts, and with... Read More

The Baller Ranks: Weekly Top 101 Starting Pitcher Rankings

Welcome to the first iteration of my 2021 Starting Pitcher Baller Ranks, where we take a weekly peek at my top 101 SPs moving forward. Since this is the first version of the year, it won't be "full" because much of the punch hinges on movement from the prior week and a reliable set of... Read More

Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups - Week 3

We are almost two turns through the rotation for most teams, and we have seen a lot of things early on this year. Pitching has come out hotter than a lot of people have thought, and pitch counts really have not been nearly as deflated as was expected. Right now is the best time to... Read More

Outfield Waiver Wire Pickups For Week 3

We’re only nine days into the 2021 regular season, but there has already been plenty of roster shuffling and player movement this year. Although fantasy managers shouldn’t make decisions based exclusively on less than two weeks of samples, there is one notable league-wide issue worth exploring before diving into this week: the ball. As you... Read More

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers: Week 3

Welcome to overreaction time, where your fantasy season is already over and the Orioles are going to win the AL East. For those of you whose seasons are still going though, you're going to want to know about the two-start pitcher streamers for Week 3 - April 12th through April 18th. If you grabbed one... Read More

Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Week 3

Welcome to the top hitter streamers column for Week 3 of the fantasy baseball season - April 12th through April 18th. This weekly piece should be helpful for anyone looking to gain an edge in their league. If you need a fill-in for an injured player or want to exploit some plus matchups to gain... Read More

Why You Need to be More Aggressive with Prospects This Year

The 2020 season brought two major changes for baseball's minor leagues: the cancellation of the MiLB season and MLB’s decision to cut 40 teams from its MiLB affiliates. That combination has reduced the player pool, increased the MiLB talent levels, and left us with a vacuum of information about prospect development. That last item means that... Read More

Week 2 Starts & Sits - All Starting Pitcher Matchups

Opening Day is almost here, and we couldn't be more excited! Welcome back everyone to our starting pitcher starts/sits column for Week 2. We are thrilled to be publishing this article, finally! RotoBaller is back again this year with our weekly starting pitcher matchups and recommendations. In case you missed it, this is our ninth year... Read More

Early Injury Replacements To Target On Waivers

Now we've already had some major injuries this spring. Closers Kirby Yates and Jose Leclerc are both out for the year with Tommy John surgery, another closer candidate in Nick Anderson will miss the first half of the season with an elbow injury, and outfielder Eloy Jimenez will be out for most of the year... Read More

Hot Fantasy Prospects To Watch For Week 2

So how are you all feeling after Opening Weekend? I mean we all expected Baltimore to sweep Boston right? And the White Sox would lose two of three to the Angels? And Detroit would be tied at the top of the AL Central and the Nationals will still not have started their season by Tuesday? But... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 1

Welcome to the 2021 edition of "Are You For Real?" This is a weekly column where we dissect surprisingly good starts from under-rostered and unheralded hurlers to try and determine whether they can maintain their performance, or if it was just a flash in the pan. Major league baseball is back and in full swing... Read More

Outfield Waiver Wire Pickups For Week 2

Baseball is back, and with it came room for fantasy managers to gain edges in their leagues through the waiver wire. Playing the waiver wire well can take a poorly drafted team into championship contention or help shore up an already strong team, and waivers generally represent one of the best ways for fantasy managers... Read More

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers: Week 2

This week, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, "Opening Day should be a national holiday as far as I'm concerned," and let me just say I wholeheartedly agree. Man, isn't it great that meaningful baseball is back? On the Opening Day of the 2021 season, Shane Bieber had 12 strikeouts against Detroit, old man Miguel Cabrera... Read More

Lineup Takeaways - Week 1 Lineup Trends

Week One is wrapping up and we already have a lot of different looks to dissect in lineups. I will be going through all the very early trends. This is to give us an idea of what to watch for going forward because it is too early to take anything as a set in stone.... Read More

Week 1 Starts & Sits - All Starting Pitcher Matchups

Opening Day is almost here, and we couldn't be more excited! Welcome back everyone to our starting pitcher starts/sits column for Week 1. We are thrilled to be publishing this article, finally! RotoBaller is back again this year with our weekly starting pitcher matchups and recommendations. In case you missed it, this is our ninth year... Read More

Spin Rate Studs to Watch Closely in 2021

On August 16, 1920 in the fifth inning of a game against the Cleveland Indians, Yankees right-hander Carl Mays wound up and delivered an unusually moist fastball in his signature submarine delivery. The batter, Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman, lost the errant spitball in the twilight sun and was struck in the head by the pitch.... Read More

Week 1 Waiver Wire Pickups - After The Draft

Draft season is over which means it's already time to shift your attention to the waiver wire! We'll break down the top options at every position throughout the 2021 fantasy baseball season but before the first pitch, here is an all-encompassing waiver wire piece to cover all the top options widely available. For our purposes,... Read More

Later-Round Starting Pitchers - Targets and Avoids

Once you reach the middle-to-late rounds of drafts, everyone wants to draft some upside fliers that can provide a great return on value. You can take a risk or two on a variety of different players, including a prospect, forgotten veterans, players returning from injuries, or even players with skills but have playing time concerns.... Read More

Updated Top 250 Dynasty Prospects Rankings

In just a few short days, the 2021 Major League Baseball season will get underway. Fans of Minor League Baseball will have to wait a little longer with clubs operating their alternate training sites for at least the first month of the 2021 season. As we saw in 2020, prospects can develop and thrive at... Read More

Deeper Shortstop Draft Sleepers

This year could be the most fantasy friendliest for the shortstop position with six having an ADP of 25th or lower (according to current NFBC draft data) and nine with an ADP of 42nd or lower. You may be forgiven for thinking that you don't need to look deep into drafts for a shortstop. While... Read More

Hitters Primed for Comebacks After Injury-Plagued Seasons

Injuries can be tough to manage for fantasy managers, especially coming off of a 2020 season that saw coronavirus have a significant effect. Additionally, injuries can sometimes be freak accidents, and it can be difficult to separate concerning injuries from noise. Still, there are general truths about injuries that can help fantasy managers properly value... Read More

Which Batters Are Being Overlooked in 2021?

Pre-season analysis has achieved peak velocity, and at this point, we've started to hear certain names mentioned again and again: Jarred Kelenic, Andrew Vaughn, Randy Arozarena. Those three examples follow the expected pattern: young, exciting players whose potential outstrips the established knowledge. Put more simply, there are interesting things to say about Kelenic, Vaughn, and Arozarena. But... Read More

Finding Breakout Power Hitters Using Barrel Rates

In part one of this article, I explained how important Statcast is to determining surface stats and the usefulness of barrel rates. Before continuing, I would recommend checking out that article if you're interested in learning how Statcast metrics affect surface stats and player outcomes, and which Statcast metrics are the best predictors of success (hint:... Read More

Updated Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Redraft Prospects for 2021

Opening day is just around the corner. So what better way to celebrate the occasion than to refresh the Top 50 prospects list for 2021 redraft leagues. If you're a habitual prospect watcher then you could have a leg up on your fantasy competition in 2021. Managers around baseball will heavily rely on rookies like... Read More

2021 ATC Projections: Hitter Surprises

By their nature, projection systems don’t typically offer many big surprises. Outside of Lucas Giolito’s ZiPS projection, there aren’t many player projections that jump off of the page this season. Still, even seemingly small surprises can have significant fantasy implications, and it’s worth exploring those surprises. To add an element of objectivity to this analysis,... Read More

2021 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers - RotoBaller Staff Picks

As the 2021 MLB season approaches, it's time for the RotoBaller staff to once again reveal their favorite preseason draft sleepers. We recently asked some of our top fantasy baseball writers to get their take on which hitters and pitchers they are targeting the most in the later rounds of fantasy drafts. While you've likely... Read More

Eric Samulski's Bold Predictions for 2021

It's bold prediction time! Everybody's favorite time of year. Last year I put out my bold prediction article, and it was a doozy. Obviously, publishing it before the shutdown which delayed the MLB season impacted some of the claims, but, actually, no, I'll just blame everything on that. Anyways, I'm back again to plant my... Read More

Nicklaus Gaut: Bold, Bolder, Boldest Predictions

Ahh, the time-honored tradition of making bold predictions is upon us. We hem and we haw; we make outrageous claims like Adalberto Mondesi invented the question mark, and bicker about the proper definition of "bold". In the NotBurtatorium (totally a real word), however, we worry not about this or that definition. Our goals are simple... Read More

Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball: Statcast Exit Velocity

If you've watched a baseball broadcast in the so-called Statcast Era, you have undoubtedly noticed the broadcasters commenting on a batted ball's exit velocity, or EV. Many have taken to using stats like Hard% and Soft% to forecast how a player should be performing, expecting larger Hard% rates to produce larger BABIP and HR/FB figures.... Read More