AL Rookie of the Year Candidates - Fantasy Baseball Outlooks for Masataka Yoshida, Josh Jung, Hunter Brown, Anthony Volpe

Four strong candidates have surpassed the opening-day favorite, Gunnar Henderson, to win American League Rookie of the Year. Masataka Yoshida, Josh Jung, Hunter Brown, and Anthony Volpe. Let’s discuss the type of production we can expect to see for the remainder of the year and who will most likely hit the rookie wall.  We could... Read More

Florio's Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report - A's Keep Changing, Yankees Going Committee?

Each week on RotoBaller Radio -- which you can listen to on Sirius XM Fantasy Sundays from 3 to 5 pm ET -- Scott Engel and I talk about relievers you can nab off the waiver wire. One thing that we always preach is that you should not overlook closers on “bad” teams.  Often, the... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts From MacKenzie Gore and Bryce Miller

Welcome back to "Are You For Real?", a weekly column where we take starting pitchers who had surprisingly good starts over the past week and put them under the microscope to determine whether they're legit or just smoke and mirrors. We've got a treat this week, as we saw exceptional performances from two young interesting... Read More

Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds - Advanced Metrics Leaders for SIERA (Week 7)

Welcome back to another edition of RotoBaller’s Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds article series! Each week, I will select one advanced metric, choose two pitchers with strong values and two with poor values, and analyze what those values may mean for future performance. With just over a month of data, I think it's time to... Read More

Top Hitter Streamers: Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups and Starts For Week 7

Hey, RotoBallers! It's that time of the week again to check on the waiver wire. We have reached the 1/5th mark of the season, and there are still a little under 130 games left to play. The standings haven't endured any significant changes since last week, other than the recent outbreak of the Dodgers (7-3... Read More

Statcast Hitter Studs and Duds: Using Average Exit Velocity to Predict Regression (Week 6)

Welcome to the second edition of Statcast Hitter Studs and Duds for the 2023 fantasy baseball season! Be sure to also check out all of our Statcast analysis for fantasy baseball, including the weekly series by Connelly Doan about Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds. We're still early enough into the 2023 MLB regular season that... Read More

Potential Breakout Hitters for Fantasy Baseball - 2023 Exit Velocity Gainers

We're now a month into the season, which means that some of these hot starts aren't just hot starts but legitimate gains and breakouts. As stats begin to stabilize, we can get a sense of which players have truly changed something about who they are as a hitter and separate them from the players who... Read More

Overvalued, Undervalued Trade Targets - Buy/Sell for Fantasy Baseball (Week 6)

Making the right trades can be crucial to championship success in fantasy baseball, almost as much as the draft, if not more. While most trades can have a significant impact on your fantasy team, it’s the deals where you acquire undervalued players and then see their production improve that can really tip the scales in... Read More

Florio's Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report - Iglesias Nearing, Dodgers Going Committee

Every week on RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (Sundays from 3-5 pm ET), Scott Engel and I go over names to grab off the waiver wire in fantasy baseball. One thing I preach weekly is that not every waiver wire pickup needs to be a league winner or even someone that you roster for the entire... Read More

The Rest of the Reds Hitters - Fantasy Baseball Streamers, Pickups, and Sleepers

The Cincinnati Reds are just two years removed from a winning record (83-79 in 2021) and only three from a postseason berth. Now, six out of their top eight leaders in WAR from 2021 are on different teams, with longtime Reds first baseman Joey Votto and former NL Rookie of the Year Jonathan India being... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Vince Velasquez and Jose Suarez

Welcome back to "Are You For Real?", a weekly column where we take starting pitchers who had surprisingly good starts over the past week and put them under the microscope to determine whether they're legit or just smoke and mirrors. This week we've got two interesting arms to break down. First, we'll look at Vince... Read More

Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds - Advanced Metrics Leaders for BABIP (Week 6)

Welcome back to another edition of RotoBaller’s Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds article series! Each week, I will select one advanced metric, choose two pitchers with strong values and two with poor values, and analyze what those values may mean for future performance. Over the last two weeks, I looked at different components of pitchers'... Read More

Fantasy Baseball Prospects Report - MLB Rookie Risers and Fallers for Week 6

Welcome to this year's iteration 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. We have already seen a huge number of high-impact... Read More

Top Hitter Streamers - Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups and Starts for Week 6

Hey, RotoBallers! Another exhilarating week of baseball is in the books! Balls are flying, and Drew Maggi finally gets the call. Baseball is moving to Mexico City, and Nick Castellanos is the biggest jokester in the game. Now that we've covered the fluff topics, it's time to take a sneak peek at Week 6, running... Read More

Hot MLB Prospect Hitters and Potential Call-Ups - Mining the Minors for Fantasy Baseball

Welcome to the second season of this series where I comb through the minor league leaderboards to see who is having a particularly impressive start to the season. I then try to break down whether the performance is for real and whether or not this player should be somebody that we should have on our... Read More

Overvalued, Undervalued Trade Targets - Buy/Sell for Fantasy Baseball (Week 5)

Making the right trades can be crucial to championship success in fantasy baseball, almost as much as the draft, if not more. While most trades can have a significant impact on your fantasy team, it’s the deals where you acquire undervalued players and then see their production improve that can really tip the scales in... Read More

Pitchers With New Pitches - Should We Care for Fantasy Baseball? (Part Four)

Welcome to the third season of the FSWA-award-winning series Pitchers with New Pitches (and Should We Care) where we take the simple premise that not every new pitch should be greeted with praise. A new pitch, like a shiny new toy, might be exciting on its own, but it also needs to be a complement... Read More

Florio's Bullpen Report - Changes With the Phillies, A's, Angels Pen (Week 5)

Every week in the bullpen report, I go over bullpens that have had some clear changes, some that may be changing, and then some non-closers that are worth picking up in fantasy baseball. The closers tend to get all the hype in fantasy baseball. Sometimes picking up an elite non-closer, especially if they are in... Read More

Fantasy Baseball Buys/Sells - Using Expected Statistics to Find Regression Targets

Using expected offensive statistics such as xBA, xwOBA, and xSLG, we can locate some hitters who could be heading for major regression (positive or negative). Statcast is not a perfect science as there are nuances to batted balls that don't account for human abilities and or limitations. xBA is typically lower for speedsters who can... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Drew Smyly and Joey Lucchesi

Welcome back to "Are You For Real?", a weekly column where we take starting pitchers who had surprisingly good starts over the past week and put them under the microscope to determine whether they're legit or just smoke and mirrors. It was good to be a lefty last week, and we'll be breaking down two... Read More

Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds - Advanced Metrics Leaders for Launch Angle (Week 5)

Welcome back to another edition of RotoBaller’s Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds article series! Each week, I will select one advanced metric, choose two pitchers with strong values and two with poor values, and analyze what those values may mean for future performance. Last week, I wrote about average exit velocity (EV), and this week,... Read More

Top Hitter Streamers - Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups and Starts for Week 5

Hey, RotoBallers! April is coming to an end, but that means we turn another page in the calendar year. The month of May is just around the corner and the weather is only improving, which could be helpful to an MLB team's offense. The Cinderella stories of the Pirates and Diamondbacks have gone on for... Read More

Potential Breakout Hitters for Fantasy Baseball - Early Plate Discipline Improvers

Early in the fantasy baseball season, it's so easy to overreact to what we see on the field. We want every early home run barrage or max velocity to be a sign of a pending breakout, but the truth of the matter is that a lot of it is just noise less than 20 games... Read More

MLB Prospects Breakout Watch for Fantasy Baseball - Matthew Liberatore, Nolan Jones, Brandon Pfaadt, Michael Busch and more

With the passing weeks, we get more and better data to use. This year, we have more and better data for all of AAA (that is the International League and the Pacific Coast League). With the International League adding in the Statcast infrastructure, we can now know a whole lot more about the players down... Read More

Overvalued, Undervalued Trade Targets - Buy/Sell for Fantasy Baseball (Week 4)

Making the right trades can be crucial to championship success in fantasy baseball, almost as much as the draft, if not more. While most trades can have a significant impact on your fantasy team, it’s the deals where you acquire undervalued players and then see their production improve that can really tip the scales in... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Domingo German and Johan Oviedo

Welcome back to "Are You For Real?", a weekly column where we take starting pitchers who had surprisingly good starts over the past week and put them under the microscope to determine whether they're legit or just smoke and mirrors. We've got some exciting players to break down this week. We'll  be looking at Domingo... Read More

Pitchers With New Pitches - Should We Care for Fantasy Baseball? (Part Three)

Welcome to the third season of the FSWA-award-winning series Pitchers with New Pitches (and Should We Care) where we take the simple premise that not every new pitch should be greeted with praise. A new pitch, like a shiny new toy, might be exciting on its own, but it also needs to be a complement... Read More

Florio's Bullpen Report - Figuring Out Early Season Closer Confusion (Week 4)

The only thing consistent with early bullpen usage is change. There are still many teams that are figuring out which relievers they can trust in late-inning situations. While it is still essential to keep a close eye on those situations, it is also important not to overreact to one save opportunity.  My favorite way to... Read More

Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds - Advanced Metrics Leaders for Exit Velocity (Week 4)

Welcome to the second edition of RotoBaller’s Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds article series! Each week, I will select one advanced metric, choose two pitchers with strong values and two with poor values, and analyze what those values may mean for future performance. With plenty of home runs being hit and high-scoring games, I will... Read More