Deeper Draft Sleepers - First Base

Don't look now, but baseball season is on the horizon. Actually, go ahead and look as it is beautiful to see the calendar shrink as each day brings us closer to the crack of the bat and, hopefully, the roar of the crowd as America (and Toronto!) creeps back towards normalcy. It's never a bad idea […]

Five Players Set to Break Out at Second Base

When defining a breakout, I look at it as players that can take a step forward to a level they never reached before. This leaves most of the top targets at the position unavailable for this discussion. Today, we bring you five players at the second base position that can take that next step and […]

Diamonds in the Pen - Deep Reliever Draft Targets

When it comes to building a pitching staff in fantasy, most managers focus solely on starting pitchers and closers. And that makes sense. In standard scoring, those pitchers are the ones who are going to make the greatest contributions to wins, strikeouts and saves. A guy that comes in and tosses a scoreless frame in […]

Power Sleepers - Noteworthy 2020 Barrel Leaders

As we've continued to progress in the MLB offseason, I've been looking at barrel rates from 2020 in the hopes of finding players whose breakouts during the shortened season were real or those who may still have breakouts looming. As I've mentioned previously, I'm a firm believer that finding the barrel regularly is an incredibly […]

Second-Year Hitters Ready to Break Out

Every season there are hitters entering their second year in the big-leagues that have a solid break-out campaign. In 2020, these were players like Eloy Jimenez, Cavan Biggio, and arguably, Fernando Tatis Jr. Some will say Tatis Jr. broke out in 2019, but he really burst on the scene in 2020 and became a household […]

Catcher Draft Targets for All Leagues

Enough with the catcher slander! As fantasy baseball drafts heat up, all I keep reading about is how we're "forced" to draft catchers and how they can tank your roster. Catchers are people too! I could use thousands of words writing about the value of catchers and how the grind of their defensive job and […]

Hitter Targets Under $10 - Salary Cap League Values

Snake drafts are the more common method, but salary cap leagues offer a more complex flavor to your draft day. That's not for everyone, and that's fine; part of the beauty of fantasy baseball lies in its high degree of customizability. Salary cap drafts take longer, and they're much less straightforward than snakes, but for […]

Deeper League Sleepers at Second Base

When focusing on sleepers for deeper leagues, playing time really matters the most. You also might want to pair playing time with certain stats as you get deeper into the player pool. Below are five names that offer secure playing time and many come with a stat that helps them stand out from others at […]

Yimi Garcia (RP, MIA) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

2020 was an odd season for all of Major League Baseball but the Miami Marlins’ odyssey stands out as one of the most bizarre. Miami played their first series of the season before a full-blown COVID-19 outbreak postponed their next eight games. They ended up putting 17 players on the injured list and resumed play […]

Keegan Akin (SP, BAL) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

Keegan Akin made his MLB debut for the Baltimore Orioles during the 2020 season and the former second-round draft pick didn't disgrace himself. Akin ended the season with a 4.56 ERA and 1.44 WHIP from his eight appearances (six starts) as well as striking out 35 batters in 25.2 IP. Akin is expected to start the […]

Jared Walsh (1B, LAA) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

Jared Walsh burst onto the Minor League scene in 2019 after hitting 36 homers in 98 games and received a call up to the Angels. Prior to that, Walsh had 49 homers in 361 Minor League games so his power outburst came as a surprise. Walsh didn't have a great start to his MLB career […]

David Fletcher (2B/SS/3B, LAA) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers

Analyzing David Fletcher is an exercise in extremes. No qualified batter swung-and-missed less frequently than Fletcher did in 2020, and no qualified batter posted a lower hard-hit rate than Fletcher’s 17.8% mark. In an era of hitters who tend to be more power-oriented, Fletcher stands out as a contact-focused hitter with unremarkable power. Fletcher’s ability […]

Dylan Carlson (OF, STL) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in a couple of weeks, which means fantasy baseball draft season is ramping up. We do not know if there is a universal DH or a full 162-game season. What we do know is we will draft teams regardless and we will need some fantasy sleepers. Some sleepers […]

Best-Ball Late-Round Targets - Outfield

With best-ball drafts gaining steam, we are pumping out more best-ball content at RotoBaller. I wrote the Best-Ball Targets and Best-Ball Fades for the premium draft guide and will now produce a three-part series on late-round targets. Part one focused on late-round infield targets, and now we head to the outfield for some late-round targets.  […]

MLB Spring Training Notebook (3/18) - Montgomery, Alcantara Surging

Welcome to the 2021 edition of RotoBaller's Spring Training Notebook. Thankfully, we have real, live baseball being played every day again, and while it doesn't count for anything, these exhibition games gives us the smallest glimmer into players and teams heading into the new season. We're into our third week of spring training games and […]

2021 Starting Pitcher Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Leagues (Part 2)

We now move on to starting pitcher in our mixed-league rankings analysis series. If you missed them, here is our review of Catcher, First Base, Second Base, Third Base, Shortstop, Outfield, and of course, Starting Pitcher Part One. RotoBaller's rankers, JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Nick Mariano, and Ariel Cohen have updated our 2021 Mixed League rankings once more based on […]

Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball: Ballpark Factors

If you have ever selected a streamable pitcher based on home park or benched an otherwise must-start arm at Coors Field, you already know how much a stadium can impact a player's bottom line. Ballpark Factors quantify the influence each stadium has, allowing you to make the most of your fantasy team's real-life schedule. However, […]

Manuel Margot (OF, TB) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

When you get to the middle to late rounds of drafts, it becomes increasingly difficult to find stolen bases. Many of the options that are available will end up hurting fantasy owners in at least a couple of other categories. Therefore, it's important to either have a plan in place to attack steals early, or […]

Andres Gimenez (2B/SS, CLE) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

Andres Gimenez burst onto the scene in the shortened 2020 season. Originally expected to spend the year at the alternate training site for the New York Mets, Gimenez worked his way into a roster spot in spring training with his baserunning instincts and highlight-reel defensive plays, and then soon overtook the slumping Amed Rosario to […]

Tanner Houck (SP, BOS) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

The Red Sox haven’t developed a legitimate MLB starting pitcher since Clay Buchholz, but Tanner Houck has the potential to be just that. Houck was the Red Sox’s first-round pick back in 2017 and steadily climbed the system since then, never putting up eye-popping numbers but always holding his own at every level he was […]

MLB Live Chat @ 4 PM - Draft Prep Q&A

It's officially draft season... do you know who to draft? RotoBaller's Eric Samulski (@SamskiNYC) will be hosting a live Q&A chat session on Thursday March 18th at 4:00 pm ET. Come join in on the fun and get your fantasy baseball questions answered, or just stick around for some MLB talk! All throughout the MLB preseason, […]

Bubba and Bat Flip 75 - Relief Pitcher Review - Benched with Bubba (Episode 352)

Bubba (@bdentrek) is joined by Bat Flip Crazy (@BatFlipCrazy). With the position reviews almost over, the guys wrap them up with their relief pitcher review. They go over some ADP debates, some questionable bullpen situations, a bunch of listener questions, and more. Be sure to subscribe to the Benched With Bubba Podcast, part of RotoBaller Radio's Podcast […]

MLB Live Chat @ 12 PM - Draft Prep Q&A

It's officially draft season... do you know who to draft? RotoBaller's Doug Goldring (@DougGoldring) will be hosting a live Q&A chat session on Thursday March 18th at 12:00 pm noon ET. Come join in on the fun and get your fantasy baseball questions answered, or just stick around for some MLB talk! All throughout the MLB preseason, […]

Daily MLB Injury Roundup for March 18th, 2021

RotoBaller has assembled a list of daily MLB injury updates to help you prepare both your seasonal and daily fantasy baseball (DFS) lineups, every day of the MLB season. Below is our updated list of injured MLB players for March 18th, 2021. Only players on teams that are scheduled to play today will appear below […]

Home League Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategies: Ep. 25 of The Operating Room

Host Kev Mahserejian (@RotoSurgeon) and Nick Pollack (@PitcherList), founder of PitcherList, link up to discuss fantasy baseball and the strategies that should go into typical of home leagues. Be sure to also tune into RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (channel Sirius 210, XM 87) - every weekday morning between 6-7 AM ET, and Saturdays from 8-10 AM ET. […]

Sam Chinitz's 10 Bold Predictions For 2021

The 2021 MLB regular season is less than one month away, so it’s time for some bold predictions. Last year’s bold predictions didn’t pan out too well for me; if we’re being generous, two out of the ten predictions hit -- and that’s including Corey Kluber posting a sub-3.00 ERA (which technically happened, even if […]

MLB Spring Training Notebook (3/17) - Jorge Polanco Leaves Game

Welcome to the 2021 edition of RotoBaller's Spring Training Notebook. Thankfully, we have real, live baseball being played every day again, and while it doesn't count for anything, these exhibition games gives us the smallest glimmer into players and teams heading into the new season. We're into our third week of spring training games and […]

Starter Prospects that Could be Impact Relievers in 2021

In many ways, Major League Baseball is getting back to normal in 2021. Most importantly for sports fans and fantasy baseball fanatics, this means that the season will be 162 games after experiencing a stunted 2020 season. However, the sudden spike back to 162 games from 60 contests creates headaches for MLB managers. Lance Lynn […]

2020 Breakout Infielders Who'll Keep Improving

In a recent article, I outlined a methodology to determine which breakout 2020 seasons from hitters would be built off of into 2021. Upon further reflection, however, I’m unconvinced that that methodology the best way to spot breakouts that will continue to improve, in large part because of its reliance on evaluating the stickiness of […]