Which Pitchers With New Pitches Should We Care About? Part Four

Throughout all Spring Training, we hear about pitching adding new pitches, or making major changes to their pitch usage. We even get to see those new pitches in action and dream about their potential impact. However, when the regular season starts, those changes can be abandoned and pitchers go back to what they do/know best. So... Read More

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... Read More

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... Read More

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... Read More

Pitch Mix Exam Room - Casey Mize

Eric Samulski of RotoBaller does a deep dive on Casey Mize. He analyzes the Detroit Tigers starting pitcher and his pitch mix, explaining why fantasy baseball managers should be a bit wary of his fast start. Be sure to also tune into RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (channel Sirius 210, XM 87) - every weekday morning between 6-7... Read More

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... Read More

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... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 2

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 2 brought even more surprising starts, and with... Read More

Why You Need to be More Aggressive with Prospects This Year

The 2020 season brought two major changes for baseball's minor leagues: the cancellation of the MiLB season and MLB’s decision to cut 40 teams from its MiLB affiliates. That combination has reduced the player pool, increased the MiLB talent levels, and left us with a vacuum of information about prospect development. That last item means that... Read More

Which Pitchers With New Pitches Should We Care About? Part Three

Throughout all Spring Training, we hear about pitching adding new pitches, or making major changes to their pitch usage. We even get to see those new pitches in action and dream about their potential impact. I even covered some of those potential changes here and here. However, when the regular season starts, sometimes those changes... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 1

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. Major league baseball is back and in full swing... Read More

Pitch Mix Exam Room - Freddy Peralta

Eric Samulski of RotoBaller does a deep dive on Freddy Peralta. He analyzes the Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher and his pitch mix, explaining why fantasy baseball managers should possibly avoid him in his new role. Be sure to also tune into RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (channel Sirius 210, XM 87) - every weekday morning between 6-7 AM... Read More

Which Pitchers With New Pitches Should We Care About? Part Two

Spring Training is coming to a close, and we're inching closer to getting to the "real thing." That means an opportunity to see which players' offseason changes can lead to true breakouts or perhaps which guys will fall back on old habits. As the games have been going on, I've been keeping track of pitchers... Read More

Week 1 Waiver Wire Pickups - After The Draft

Draft season is over which means it's already time to shift your attention to the waiver wire! We'll break down the top options at every position throughout the 2021 fantasy baseball season but before the first pitch, here is an all-encompassing waiver wire piece to cover all the top options widely available. For our purposes,... Read More

RotoSurgeon's Bold Predictions for 2021

For more than one reason, 2020 sucked. Obvious reasons come to mind but specifically, for the fantasy sports world, there were dozens of random occurrences that could not have been predicted whatsoever due to COVID being so fresh and protocols so flimsy. Guys like Austin Meadows and Eduardo Rodriguez lost a potentially very good season... Read More

Later-Round Relief Pitchers and Closers - Targets and Avoids

Once you reach the middle-to-late rounds of drafts, everyone wants to draft some upside fliers that can provide a great return on value. You can take a risk or two on a variety of different players, including a prospect, forgotten veterans, players returning from injuries, or even players with skills but have playing time concerns.... Read More

Later-Round Starting Pitchers - Targets and Avoids

Once you reach the middle-to-late rounds of drafts, everyone wants to draft some upside fliers that can provide a great return on value. You can take a risk or two on a variety of different players, including a prospect, forgotten veterans, players returning from injuries, or even players with skills but have playing time concerns.... Read More

Later-Round Shortstops - Targets and Avoids

Once you reach the middle-to-late rounds of drafts, everyone wants to draft some upside fliers that can provide a great return on value. You can take a risk or two on a variety of different players, including a prospect, forgotten veterans, players returning from injuries, or even players with skills but have playing time concerns.... Read More

Later-Round Third Basemen - Targets and Avoids

Once you reach the middle-to-late rounds of drafts, everyone wants to draft some upside fliers that can provide a great return on value. You can take a risk or two on a variety of different players, including a prospect, forgotten veterans, players returning from injuries, or even players with skills but have playing time concerns.... Read More

Later-Round Second Basemen - Targets and Avoids

Once you reach the middle-to-late rounds of drafts, everyone wants to draft some upside fliers that can provide a great return on value. You can take a risk or two on a variety of different players, including a prospect, forgotten veterans, players returning from injuries, or even players with skills but have playing time concerns.... Read More

Deeper Shortstop Draft Sleepers

This year could be the most fantasy friendliest for the shortstop position with six having an ADP of 25th or lower (according to current NFBC draft data) and nine with an ADP of 42nd or lower. You may be forgiven for thinking that you don't need to look deep into drafts for a shortstop. While... Read More

2021 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers - Yusei Kikuchi

Eric Samulski of RotoBaller analyzes Yusei Kikuchi as a 2021 fantasy baseball sleeper and undervalued draft pick. He breaks down Kikuchi's pitches, improvements from 2020, and other factors that could make him a sneaky late-round starting pitcher breakout candidate. Fantasy players should consider drafting Kikuchi for their drafts this MLB Season. Be sure to also... Read More

National League Outfield Draft Sleepers

The outfield position is deep in fantasy baseball. However, if you play in an NL-only league, or draft a team in a league where you need to start five outfielders the position can thin out rather quickly in the later rounds of deep league drafts. Traditionally, some of baseball’s best all-time sluggers have been outfielders.... Read More

Which Batters Are Being Overlooked in 2021?

Pre-season analysis has achieved peak velocity, and at this point, we've started to hear certain names mentioned again and again: Jarred Kelenic, Andrew Vaughn, Randy Arozarena. Those three examples follow the expected pattern: young, exciting players whose potential outstrips the established knowledge. Put more simply, there are interesting things to say about Kelenic, Vaughn, and Arozarena. But... Read More

Second Base Draft Sleepers

As you probably know by now, second base is not a loaded position this year. It’s top-heavy with D.J. LeMahieu, Ozzie Albies, and Whit Merrifield but gets pretty dicey after that. I think it’s deeper than the casual observer may think, though. You can find batting average, OBP, stolen bases, and some pop down the... Read More

Finding Breakout Power Hitters Using Barrel Rates

In part one of this article, I explained how important Statcast is to determining surface stats and the usefulness of barrel rates. Before continuing, I would recommend checking out that article if you're interested in learning how Statcast metrics affect surface stats and player outcomes, and which Statcast metrics are the best predictors of success (hint:... Read More

Seattle Mariners Sleepers to Watch in 2021

In a division with the star-studded Angels and Astros and the ever-consistent Athletics, it's easy to overlook the Mariners and Rangers in the American League West. And while you may have good reasons to look past the Rangers, the Mariners have several intriguing fantasy players for the 2021 season that could be going a bit... Read More

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,... Read More

2021 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers - RotoBaller Staff Picks

As the 2021 MLB season approaches, it's time for the RotoBaller staff to once again reveal their favorite preseason draft sleepers. We recently asked some of our top fantasy baseball writers to get their take on which hitters and pitchers they are targeting the most in the later rounds of fantasy drafts. While you've likely... Read More