Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 4 - Batted Ball Distribution (Hitters)

Fly balls can turn into home runs. Ground balls never do. It would seem as though fantasy owners want their batters to hit nothing but flies, yet this is not the case. Why would this be? The answer, of course, comes down to batted ball distribution and the manner in which batters make contact. In […]

Top 420: Points Leagues Tiered Staff Rankings (January)

Welcome back RotoBallers. Today we are here to start looking at points leagues and head-to-head (H2H) formats. In this column, you will find our staff's preliminary 2019 fantasy baseball points league rankings for January and the top 420 players. Over the next few days, we will also be publishing individual tiered rankings analysis columns for each […]

Jake Cave - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

Bouncing around from the Yankees to the Reds before he found a home in Minnesota, Twins outfielder Jake Cave made his MLB debut in 2018. After a 2017 season where he had a .305/.351/.542 slash line in the minors with the Yankees, Cave was sent to Triple-A with the Twins after he was acquired, posting […]

Freddy Peralta - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Freedy Peralta only had a 6-4 record and 4.25 ERA after being called up from the minor leagues in 2018. In his 14 starts, he allowed at least three earned runs in seven of them and walked multiple batters in 11 starts. All of that being said, Peralta is lauded as […]

Nick Mariano's 2019 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 […]

Jorge Soler - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

You’ve probably heard this one before, but for the umpteenth time, Kansas City Royals outfielder Jorge Soler is officially on sleeper watch. The 26-year-old has been flirting with a breakthrough ever since he made the move to the American League in 2016. Amid their World Series run, the Cubs were happy to part ways with […]

Jung Ho Kang - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

Is there a better feeling in fantasy sports than drafting or claiming a guy that no one else even sniffs, but he pans out to be a valuable contributor to your roster? Aside from winning your league, finding that stud sleeper is what makes your countless hours of research and prep time well worth it. […]

Ross Stripling - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

As fantasy baseball managers, we all love the sleeper. There’s always that gratifying feeling at season's end where you can go back and say “I told you so!” Every year there are endless amounts of articles and debates on who will emerge as a top-tier player from out of the shadows and into the limelight. […]

Ronald Guzman - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

Texas Rangers first baseman Ronald Guzman was regarded as another one of the powerful young lefty bats in Texas (see: Joey Gallo and Nomar Mazara), even though he had never hit more than 16 home runs in the minors (2016 in Double-A/Triple-A). While the power was not there in the minors, Guzman did have a […]

Brian Dozier - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

Washington Nationals second baseman Brian Dozier entered the 2018 season bolted in as a top-five 2B in fantasy baseball after posting four consecutive seasons with 100 or more runs scored, 20 or more homers, and at least 12 stolen bases. While there was a bit of a step back in the power department for Dozier […]

Lourdes Gurriel - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

There are a multitude of reasons to like what Lourdes Gurriel has to offer at his currently very low draft price. The 25-year-old shortstop from Cuba is entering just his second MLB season after spending 2017 and about half of 2018 accelerating through Toronto’s minor league system. He definitely impressed in his brief taste of […]

Merrill Kelly - The 30-Year-Old Rookie Sleeper

It’s almost becoming a trend for players to travel overseas to play baseball after struggling to make it in the MLB, only to end up back in the Majors better than before. In 2017 it was Eric Thames and last year it was Miles Mikolas. You can now add Merrill Kelly to the list. The […]

2019 Bullpen Outlooks - National League Central

Now that the National League East and all their moves have been covered, it's time to look at the NL Central and discuss the lack of movement in that division. Several teams in the NL Central could benefit from strengthening their relief corps, yet only one team has made any noise in free agency or […]

Steven Souza Jr. - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

Earlier this offseason, I wrote about the sleeper value of Luke Voit and how believing in him was a conscious decision to move on from a blind spot I had for Greg Bird for a couple of years. Well, in this article I am going to break down a player who I do not think […]

Mallex Smith - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a safe speed option on your fantasy roster that doesn’t completely drain all your other roto categories. With the sport changing to selling out for power instead of hitting for average and playing small ball, stolen bases have been a lost art. Not counting the strike-shortened 1981 and 1994 […]

Is It Legit? Marco Gonzales' Breakout

We're back with another edition of "Is It Legit?" to discuss another surprising breakout performer from the 2018 MLB season in order to assess his value heading into 2019. With so many players seemingly becoming fantasy baseball darlings overnight, it can be challenging to sift through the multiple hype trains and determine which players are […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Peter Alonso and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Prospecting can be an excellent way to find value on draft day and beyond, but every year a couple are hyped to the point that you need them to reach their full upside just to break even on your investment. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. seems to be that guy in 2019, as he is currently being […]

AL Rookies to Target in 2019 Mixed Redraft Leagues

As the New Year has finally come, and fantasy football is over, at last, fantasy baseball draft season is right around the corner. With that comes mock drafts, draft previews, ADP analysis, and of course, player recommendations. This article will help owners get ready by looking to the American League All-Star team of rookies to […]

NL Rookies to Target in 2019 Mixed Redraft Leagues

As the New Year has finally come, and fantasy football is over, at last, fantasy baseball draft season is right around the corner. With that comes mock drafts, draft previews, ADP analysis, and of course, player recommendations. This article will help owners get ready by looking to the National League All-Star team of rookies to […]

Andrew Heaney - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

While we not all define the term exactly the same, we're always searching for the coveted "sleeper." These are the players flying under the radar, presenting an opportunity for you to swoop in on draft day and pluck them from the player pool abyss, making you look like a genius at the end of the […]

Kevin Gausman - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

No pitcher benefited from a mid-season trade more than Kevin Gausman in 2018. During his time in Baltimore, Gausman had posted a 4.43 ERA, five wins, and a 1.52 HR/9. Following his move to Atlanta, those numbers changed to an ERA of 2.87, five wins, and 0.75 HR/9. Albeit, the Atlanta metrics came in half […]

An Open Letter to Kyler Murray

Oklahoma dual-sport athlete Kyler Murray declared for the NFL Draft on Monday, just seven months after being selected by the Oakland Athletics with the ninth overall pick in the MLB Draft. This doesn’t mean he will necessarily choose to play football, but it allows him to keep his options open. There were conflicting reports regarding […]

Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 3 - Statcast for Hitters

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. […]

2019 Outfielders - Early Fantasy Baseball Rankings

Outfield is a unique position in the fantasy world. The best of the best reside in the outfield, with our consensus top two picks and nine of the top 25 overall players making this list. On the other hand, it is by far the deepest and easiest to gain late-round value if you choose to […]

Willy Adames - The Breakout Is Coming

Major League Baseball is becoming dominated by young talent. Every year a new crop of players come into the league and show off their mouth-watering skill set. Just take a look at RotoBaller’s positional rankings, and you see players that are in their mid-20s or younger are among the top of every position. The youth […]

DJ LeMahieu to Yankees - Fantasy Impact

The Yankees needed to fill a void in their infield with Didi Gregorius likely to miss the first four months of the season and Troy Tulowitzki being unreliable to say the least. New York was (and still is?) heavily linked to superstar Manny Machado, but it was another former All-Star that the Yankees inked on Jan. […]

2019 Relief Pitchers - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

A tough position to evaluate is that of relief pitchers, as a lot of success for closers comes from success from teams. There are also a lot of bullpens by committee these days, further stifling the value of closers. That being said, only four of the pitchers that ranked in the top-10 in saves in […]

AL-Only Deeper League Draft Targets

Objectively, deep-league AL or NL-only fantasy baseball is the best format to play this summer. For one, NL-only leagues are the original formats of fantasy baseball. If readers are not into history, the strategy should also convince them to jump in. With both an expanded and limited player pool, the unique challenges of balancing depth […]

2019 Third Basemen - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

We continue our fantasy baseball tiered rankings analysis with the third base position. Even though it is only January, RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, Chris Zolli, and I have come up with our initial pre-draft rankings to give you a sense of player values as early as possible. As the offseason progresses, these rankings […]

2019 Starting Pitcher - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

We continue our fantasy baseball tiered rankings analysis with the second base position. The sun is still rising on 2019, but RotoBaller writers JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Chris Zolli and myself are here with our initial pre-draft rankings to give you a sense of player values as early as possible. As the offseason progresses, these […]