The Baller Ranks: Weekly Top 101 Starting Pitcher Rankings

Rejoice, for we have reached May! Cry, for we've also lost Dustin May. The injuries are rolling over all of us, but we must breathe and try to be grateful that we get to play our little game within a game. Frustration is natural and you have to let yourself vent it out, but then […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 5

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. With April behind us, the numbers are beginning to […]

The Cut List: Week 6 - Time to Let Go?

Welcome back to the Cut List. This is our weekly article looking at players who fantasy managers should consider cutting from their teams and struggling players who need a closer peek. We'll look at players who are worthy of a drop, worth monitoring for replacing and someone on the hot seat who is worth holding on […]

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers: Week 6

Going outside the world of fantasy baseball for a moment, can I just say how great it is to be able to go back to games this year? I've managed to get out to a Brewers and a White Sox game this month, I snagged my first ever live ball at a game (an Andres […]

Franmil Reyes Is a League-Winner Hidden In Plain Sight

The San Diego Padres signed Franmil Reyes to their organization all the way back in November of 2011. It took the Padres almost eight years and a season-and-a-half of playing time to move on from him, as they opted to include him in the Trevor Bauer/Yasiel Puig/Taylor Trammell three-team trade that included the Indians and […]

Rookie Report: Prospect Risers and Fallers for Week 5

Welcome to the latest edition of RotoBaller’s Recently Promoted Prospects series for fantasy baseball! Here I discuss some recently promoted MLB prospects and rookies - making note of what I think their upside could be for fantasy baseball managers, and whether they are potential risers or fallers. It’s early in the season and we’ve already […]

Closers and Saves Report - Week 6 Waiver Wire

Another week gone by, and a lot went down in the AL bullpens while the NL bullpens mostly had a straightforward week. The Tigers and Reds bullpens are still their own messes. The Royals may have a new closer already. The Mariners may be moving to a new guy too. The Blue Jays bullpen might […]

Early Plate Discipline Improvers

Early season data is never very reliable. When you are still in the first month of the season, one game can have a big impact on a player's stat line in most categories. That makes it somewhat foolish to look at the data until you at least get a month or so of games out […]

The Baller Ranks: Weekly Top 70 Relief Pitcher Rankings

We are gathered here today for April's final edition of my 2021 Relief Pitcher Baller Ranks, where we take a weekly peek at my top 70 relievers moving forward. This is geared towards traditional 5x5 roto leagues with the understanding that RPs are as volatile as it gets. I decided to leave off most injured […]

Bullpen Report: Figuring Out Changing Bullpens

There have been a lot of shakeups in Major League bullpens, even in the last few days. Most notable among them are Minnesota, Cincinnati, and Kansas City, all of which we will explore in detail below. This article will help you stay up-to-date on closer situations and some speculative adds you can grab before they […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 4

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. As April comes to a close, the days of […]

Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Prospects for Week 5

When the spring began, I would have been called crazy for suggesting that players like Yermin Mercedes, Akil Baddoo, and Adolis Garcia would be among the top rookies for the month of April. But here we are. The hitters are starting to outshine the pitchers now that a number of big arms have graduated from […]

Points League Waiver Wire Pickups - Week 5

We'll be doing this roundup of point league happenings every week here at RotoBaller, with waiver wire targets and streaming pitchers being evaluated in terms of the different scoring systems of ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, and Fantrax. Player values can vary wildly from platform to platform, so we'll make sure to highlight where players are the […]

The Cut List: Week 5 - Time to Let Go?

Welcome back to the Cut List. This is our weekly article looking at players who fantasy managers should consider cutting from their teams and struggling players who need a closer peek. We'll look at players who are worthy of a drop, worth monitoring for replacing and someone on the hot seat but worth holding on to... […]

Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Week 5

Welcome to the top hitter streamers column for Week 5 of the MLB season (4/26 through 5/2). 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 an edge on your […]

Digging Deeper: Hitter Batted Ball Analysis

The word "barrel" entered the fantasy baseball lexicon in 2015 and has quickly become one of the most often-referenced statistics to describe hitter performance. You will see barrels, barrel rate, and barrels per plate appearance talked about all over websites like this fine one. This is for good reason. Prior to the onset of Statcast, we […]

The Baller Ranks: Weekly Top 70 Relief Pitcher Rankings

Welcome to the first version of my 2021 Relief Pitcher Baller Ranks, where we take a weekly peek at my top 70 relievers moving forward. This is geared towards traditional 5x5 roto leagues, with the understanding that RPs are as volatile as it gets. You'll notice that I leave off most injured players because throwing […]

The Baller Ranks: Weekly Top 101 Starting Pitcher Rankings

Another week, another update to my 2021 Starting Pitcher Baller Ranks, where we take stock of my top 101 SPs moving forward. This is the first "full" version of the year where the ranks table below comes with this google sheet that accompanies the table and adds a smattering of stats. Do note that I […]

The Big Picture - Backstops Balling Early

A necessary evil. A statistical sinkhole. A dark cloud hanging over your roster. That's how the catcher position is largely viewed these days. Much like the tight end position in fantasy football, if you don't grab one of the top three or four performers on draft day, you might as well just wait it out […]

Rookie Report: Prospect Risers and Fallers for Week 4

Welcome to the latest edition of RotoBaller’s Recently Promoted Prospects series for fantasy baseball! Here I discuss some recently promoted MLB prospects and rookies - making note of what I think their upside could be for fantasy baseball managers, and whether they are potential risers or fallers. It’s early in the season and we’ve already […]

Early Season Report Card - Starting Pitchers

It's now been three weeks since Opening Day and the majority of teams have played 16 games representing 10% of the season. That also means, for the most part, Opening Day starters and teams' aces have made between 10-12.5% of their starts. There are some exceptions of course due to postponements, largely COVID-related, which have […]

Hot Fantasy Prospects To Watch For Week 4

This week I want to start off by giving a shoutout to a guy who just missed making the cut for this column, but has still gotten off to a good start. Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Luke Raley hit his first career home run on Friday, and is currently slashing .267/.313/.533 through the first seven […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 3

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 3 was another good one in the baseball […]

Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Prospects for Week 4

We are now four weeks into the MLB season and some interesting trends are beginning to emerge with the rookie class of 2021. The pitching has been better than expected, but the hitters have been a disappointment outside of a handful of (unexpected) players. There have been fewer than 10 hitters that have produced better-than-average […]

Points League Waiver Wire Pickups - Week 4

We'll be doing this roundup of point league happenings every week here at RotoBaller, with waiver wire targets and streaming pitchers being evaluated in terms of the different scoring systems of ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, and Fantrax. Player values can vary wildly from platform to platform, so we'll make sure to highlight where players are the […]

Lineup Takeaways - Week 3 Lineup Trends

Week three of the MLB season is in the books. There are new injuries, players landing on the COVID IL, and much more that are causing lineups to alter. Let’s try to figure out what is noise and what really matters. Just a reminder, I have added a 'Fantasy Fallout' section to the team breakdowns. […]

Bullpen Report: Shaking Things Up in Week 3

We have already seen a lot of FAAB spent on pitchers that have been named the closer. It happens every year. Whenever a new closer is named, especially if it is one that can miss bats – fantasy players love a pitcher that can miss bats. And the logic behind spending up on a pitcher […]

Rookie Report: Prospect Risers and Fallers for Week 3

Welcome to the 2021 edition of RotoBaller’s Recently Promoted Prospects series for fantasy baseball! Here I discuss some recently promoted MLB prospects and rookies - making note of what I think their upside could be for fantasy baseball managers, and whether they are potential risers or fallers. It’s early in the season and we’ve already […]

The Big Picture - Closer Committees Are Here to Stay

The fireman has morphed into a fire department. We've seen this trend coming in recent years but it appears that the days of a Major League team having a single definitive closer are all but over. The instability that came with the 2020 season brought an increased reliance on middle relievers to spread out innings. […]