Statcast Hitter Studs and Duds - Whiff Rate for Week 4

We're back in the swing of things, literally, with a closer look at hitters who are making quality contact and those who aren't. This week, our Statcast focus is Whiff Rate entering Week 4 of the 2021 fantasy baseball season. Whiffs are simply calculated as the number of swings and misses divided by the total […]

Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds - Exit Velocity for Week 4

Welcome to the first edition of Statcast pitchers analysis this season! I covered this series two seasons ago and am very excited to be back at the helm. Statcast provides a ton of interesting and insightful advanced metrics that we can use to predict future fantasy performance. Each week I will select one of these […]

The Cut List: Week 4 - 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. 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... for now. We'll also revisit the previous week's […]

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. […]

Statcast Hitter Leaderboard: Maximum Exit Velocity

Although we technically got Statcast data as soon as the first pitch of the 2021 season was thrown, any good sabermetrician knows that sample size matters. It's still quite early in the season but we can't wait to start digging into the stats, so let's start this year's iteration of the Statcast Hitter Leaderboard by […]

Fantasy Baseball Closers to Target

Diving head-first into relievers who have converted saves early in the season is typically fine but whatever is going on this season is very, very odd. If my math is correct, there are now 35 different relievers who have at least 1 save so far this year. After one week of games. Crazy. — Greg […]

The Cut List: Week 3 - Time to Let Go?

Welcome to the Cut List. This is our weekly article looking at players who fantasy managers should consider cutting from their teams. 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... for now. Moving forward, we'll also revisit the previous […]

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, […]

Finding Over/Undervalued Outfielders Using Expected Draft Values

Welcome to the FSWA-nominated Expected Draft Values series, where we look at historical data to identify both overvalued and undervalued players of all types. Whether you're targeting power, speed, power+speed, batting average+power, and so on, we've got you covered. We're onto the outfield now as we make our way through our 2021 draft prep. Today, […]

Overcoming Recency Bias on Draft Day

With all the draft analysis and sabermetrics being thrown at fantasy managers these days, I think it's time we take a step back and focus on the most important thing to dissect before your draft - YOU. A few months ago, I covered some of these cognitive biases for fantasy football season. Now, I believe […]

2021 Fantasy Baseball Busts - RotoBaller Staff Picks

As you prepare for fantasy baseball drafts in 2021, it's crucial that you avoid the dreaded bust that could sink your team. As we did with draft sleepers yesterday, our staff came together to share their thoughts on preseason ADP values, this time on their least favorite picks. Let's find out who our experts have […]

Nick Mariano's H2H Points Leagues Early-Round Avoids (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Fantasy baseball drafts (and their articles) are almost all about finding the next superstar and unearthing talent late, but we can't forget that surrendering value by over-drafting can be just as crucial. There's insight out there for most anything, but coverage of points leagues […]

Finding Over/Undervalued Third Basemen Using Expected Draft Values

Last year we introduced our Expected Draft Values and explained how they would help us identify both over and undervalued players of all types. Power, speed, power+speed, batting average+power, and so on, with pitchers as well. Today, we'll look at four third basemen and our site projections for them. Stay tuned over the next couple […]

J.D. Martinez: Bounce-Back or Fantasy Bust?

It's easy to forget that just three short years ago, J.D Martinez was considered the best hitter in baseball. He slashed an incredible .330/.402/.629 with 43 home runs and 130 RBI, taking home the AL Hank Aaron Award. Martinez followed up that season with a very solid 2019, but his production completely fell off in […]

Finding Over/Undervalued Second Basemen Using Expected Draft Values

Welcome to the FSWA-nominated Expected Draft Values series, where we look at historical data to identify both over and undervalued players of all types. Whether you're targeting power, speed, power+speed, batting average+power, and so on, we've got you covered. We now head to second base as we make our way around the diamond for 2021. […]

Finding Over/Undervalued Shortstops Using Expected Draft Values

Welcome to the FSWA-nominated Expected Draft Values series, where we look at historical data to identify both overvalued and undervalued players of all types. Whether you're targeting power, speed, power+speed, batting average+power, and so on, we've got you covered. We'll start at first base and make our way around the diamond to begin the 2021 […]

Finding Over/Undervalued First Basemen Using Expected Draft Values

Welcome to the FSWA-nominated Expected Draft Values series, where we look at historical data to identify both overvalued and undervalued players of all types. Whether you're targeting power, speed, power+speed, batting average+power, and so on, we've got you covered. We'll start at first base and make our way around the diamond to begin the 2021 […]

Nick Mariano's 2021 Early-Round Overvalued List (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Fantasy baseball drafts (and their articles) are almost all about finding the next superstar and unearthing talent late, but we can't forget that surrendering value by over-drafting can be just as crucial. In order to evaluate overvalued players here, we're going to utilize Average […]

KC Bubba's 2021 Best Ball Draft Avoids (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. The fantasy baseball season is here! For those fantasy players looking to get an edge on their 2021 leagues, Best Ball formats are a great way to get a head start on the competition. By jumping in best ball leagues, fantasy players can get […]

ESPN ADP Advantages - Overvalued / Undervalued Players

A quick way to get ahead in your league is to take advantage of bad pre-rankings. In every online draft room, the pool of players is ranked for players to choose from. These pre-ranks have a huge influence on how drafts go. Lots of managers choose when to pull the trigger on the players they […]

NL Outfielders - Draft Avoids for 2021

MLB players have reported for Spring Training and plenty of big offseason moves have taken place; it's beginning to feel a lot like baseball season! Big-league players are not the only ones getting ready for the start of the season at this time, though. Fantasy players are now putting the work in to prepare for […]

Third Basemen Set to Bust in 2021

The hot corner is loaded with talent once again in 2021, and of the two classic infield power positions, third base is measurably deeper than its traditional slugger counterpart across the diamond. With such depth, it’s even more important to nail your third base pick on draft day, otherwise you’ll be fitting an uphill battle […]

Shortstops Set to Bust in 2021

The MLB is stockpiled with talent at the shortstop position. Some drafts are seeing six shortstops selected in the first two rounds of 12-team leagues. Heck, 12 are being taken in the top 100 picks and 20 in the top 200 picks! With so many rapidly going off the board, it's easy to feel the […]

Failure to Launch: Hitters With Falling Launch Angles

Launch angle is important. There is a sweet spot for launch angles and the hitters that hit the highest shares of their batted balls in those angles will have more success than the rest of the league. The reverse is also true. If you are consistently hitting the ball straight in the air or directly into […]

First Basemen Set to Bust in 2021

When it comes to fantasy baseball strategy, there's typically one thought motivating any owners' desire to draft a first baseman or select one off the waiver wire: to be a run producer. Even if they're not going to help much in the batting average or steals category, all can be forgiven if they're hitting home […]

Relief Pitchers Set To Bust In 2021

Projecting relievers is notoriously tricky, and that’s especially true after an irregular 2020 season. As is prone to happen in small samples of performance, otherwise strong relievers sometimes have down seasons that are not entirely in their control. Still, some relievers are more likely to bust than others, and fantasy managers would do well to […]

2020 Schedule Outliers - NL and AL Central Starting Pitchers

One of the many weird things about the 2020 MLB season was how the schedule was re-done. In case you have forgotten, every team played all 60 of their regular-season games against teams in the same division or corresponding geographical division as them. That resulted in some natural advantages. It seemed pretty obvious at the […]

NL Starting Pitchers Set to Bust in 2021

We made it, you guys. It was touch-and-go there for a little bit, but February is actually here. Major League Baseball teams appear to be reporting to Spring Training within the next couple of weeks, and unless the world ends again right before Opening Day, the regular season is just two short months away.  As […]

AL Outfielders Set to Bust in 2021

While there are plenty of MLB free agents who still need a home, the return of baseball for 2021 is much closer than it currently feels. As long as nothing goes off the rails over the next few weeks, there will be big-league players taking the field at Spring Training complexes in Florida and Arizona in […]