Early Plate Discipline Standouts for 2022

In 2019, I introduced a new (yet simple) index statistic for pitchers – mPDI, which was inspired by a famous quote by Hall of Fame pitcher, Greg Maddux: “The key to pitching is to have the ability to throw a strike when they’re taking and throw a ball when the hitter is swinging.” Maddux’s simplistic […]

Florio's Bullpen Report: Grab Rowan Wick, Joe Mantiply and Jason Adam

As some bullpens settle in and have set guys in set roles, others are as wild as ever before. Not only are we seeing more committees than ever when it comes to save situations, but over a month into the season we are starting to deal with injuries piling up and effecting bullpens. Plus, teams […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 6

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 another fun week of baseball as we saw two no-hitters from top prospects, […]

Hitter Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - xwOBA Leaders for Week 6

We're far enough into the season that we can dive into expected stats with some sense of reliability. Let's begin with everyone's favorite - xwOBA! Its given name is expected weighted on-base average and what it represents is the quality of each at-bat by a hitter. Statcast uses a combination of exit velocity, launch angle, […]

Pitcher Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - BABIP For Week 6

Welcome back to 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 took a look at different components of pitchers' batted-ball […]

Mining the Minors for Hot Prospect Pitchers - Max Meyer, Grayson Rodriguez, Ryan Pepiot and more

If you've played even one year of fantasy baseball, you know that predicting minor league call-ups can be a frustrating endeavor. We have to weigh not only the talent of the player and the potential lineup opening in his major league organization, but also the relative competitiveness of that organization and any financial or service […]

Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Fantasy Baseball - Week 6

We are now a month in the baseball season, yet it still feels like we have many more questions than answers. Will teams like the Red Sox, White Sox, Braves, and Phillies start performing up to par? When will struggling stars get back on a groove? What is the baseball going to look like in […]

Starting Pitcher Standouts: MLB's Best Pitch Arsenals

After watching Shane McClanahan just absolutely dominate with all four of his pitches on Wednesday night, I got to thinking. I wanted to take a look at the full-pitch arsenals that the leagues' starting pitchers are throwing and try to identify the players that are doing the most to dominate hitters with multiple offerings. It's […]

Fantasy Baseball Trade Targets - Buy/Sell For 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 […]

Fantasy Baseball Rookie Report - Prospect Risers and Fallers for Week 5

Welcome to RotoBaller’s Recently Promoted Prospects series for fantasy baseball! Here I discuss some recently-promoted top 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. In the past two weeks, we have seen a few more high-impact rookies […]

Florio's Bullpen Report: Stick With Rafael Montero and Jhoan Duran

I usually start this article by explaining just how volatile bullpens can be. Sometimes a change can happen with no indication prior, but more often than not, if you keep a close eye on bullpens you can see the tide start to turn. There is always a benefit to keeping a close eye on bullpens […]

Pitchers With New Pitches - Should We Care For Fantasy Baseball? Part Three

Welcome to another episode in this FSWA-award-winning series Pitchers with New Pitches. We take the simple premise that not every new pitch should be greeted with praise. The new pitch, like the shiny new toy, might be exciting on its own, but it also needs to be a complement to what a pitcher already has. […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 5

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're looking at two former first round right-handers from the AL West, breaking […]

Hitter Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - Swing & Take Leaders for Week 5

Admittedly, it's as exciting to measure 'swing and take' metrics as it would be to look at something like Barrels. One of them often results in a long fly ball that leaves the ballpark and puts runs on the scoreboard. The other can be a player staring at the umpire after watching a pitch hit […]

Pitcher Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - Launch Angle For Week 5

Welcome back to 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 took a look at exit velocity, and this week I will analyze […]

Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Fantasy Baseball - Week 5

As I sit down to write this article, only one thought comes to mind: Shohei Ohtani remains an absolute marvel. Not only did he pitch seven scoreless innings with no walks, 11strikeouts, and 29 whiffs, but he also led off for a team that scored eight runs, having the highest exit velocity for the game […]

Starting Pitchers Breaking Out for Fantasy Baseball - The New Strikeout Kings

We are nearly one month into the season and most starting pitchers have three or four starts under their belt. Some big names have dominated out of the gates, while others have faltered. And some lesser-known pitchers have made a splash by piling up some big strikeout totals. I do daily strikeout projections for DFS […]

Fantasy Baseball Trade Targets - Buy/Sell For 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 […]

Changes to the Baseball in 2022 (And What To Do About It In Fantasy)

Offensive production has been down quite a bit early on in the season, and there has been plenty of grumbling about the state of the baseball, including from some Major League players. At the time of this writing, the league triple-slash line (AVG/OBP/SLG) sits at .232/.306/.370 and we have seen a significant reduction in homers […]

Finding Breakout Hitters for Fantasy Baseball: Chase Rate Early-Season Metrics

In an earlier article on Blast Rate, I mentioned that this was the time of year that some hitting metrics start to stabilize. While many of us want to focus on exit velocity and hard-hit rate because they lead to more exciting outcomes, I think focusing on plate discipline metrics can be just as important. […]

Florio's Bullpen Report: Add Ryan Helsley and Michael King While You Can

The popular fantasy baseball strategies this draft season were to load up on offensive players and those elite relievers who can safely get all the save chances. So far in the first month, offense is historically down and we have seen more bullpens change than stay the same. This is not me knocking the strategies, […]

Early-Season Minor League Hitter Breakouts - Fantasy Baseball Prospect Risers

With almost one month of minor league games complete, many prospects have taken steps forward. This article highlights a small group of prospects likely to be big risers on midseason top 100 lists. The following group shares important traits making their breakouts likely to stick and rocket them up midseason top 100 lists throughout the […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 4

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. April is behind us, which officially means all numbers are real. Anyone on a hot […]

Pitcher Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - Exit Velocity Changes For Week 4

Welcome back to 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. Statcast has a cool year-to-year change feature for a host of metrics, and this week […]

Hitter Advanced Metrics Studs and Duds - Average Exit Velocity for Week 4

We can finally start extrapolating something from one of the easiest Statcast metrics to decipher - exit velocity. This stat stabilizes after approximately 70 plate appearances or 45 batted-ball events. Last week, we looked at early leaders in maximum exit velocity because it doesn't take long to take something away from that metric. Keep in […]

Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Fantasy Baseball - Week 4

When will the offense pick back up? At the moment, the league-wide OPS is just .675. Meanwhile, home runs have become much more scarce this season, leading to a lot of lower-scoring affairs. Whether it's the baseball, the effect of humidors being in every stadium, or hitters needing to get back up to speed, runs […]

Finding Breakout Hitters for Fantasy Baseball: Blast Rate Early-Season Metrics

It's about that time in the season when we start getting antsy about slow starters, or wondering if players off to hot starts on the fantasy baseball waiver wire might be for real. While it's still important to keep in mind that we're dealing with small sample sizes, there are some stats that have begun […]

Homer Run Risers and Fallers: Batted-Ball Profile Changes for Fantasy Baseball

We are closing in on the end of April, which means we have a pretty decent-sized data sample for hitters now. The league leaders will clear 100 plate appearances in the next week or so, which gives us a lot of good stuff to look into. A lot of times we find a breakout or […]

Mining the Minors for Hot Prospect Hitters and Call-Ups - Nolan Gorman, Triston Casas, Luis Garcia, and more

If you've played even one year of fantasy baseball, you know that predicting minor league call-ups can be a frustrating endeavor. We have to weigh not only the talent of the player and the potential lineup opening in his major league organization but also the relative competitiveness of that organization and any financial or service […]