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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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. […]

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. […]

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. […]

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. […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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: […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

Deep Prospects to Stash in Dynasty

Chasing prospects is like playing the lottery. You're going to lose more times than you'll win, but if you win big it'll make up for all your losses. In dynasty leagues, managers are always going to try to be three steps ahead when it comes to identifying the next hot prospect. In this article, we're […]

NL-Only Starting Pitchers: Late-Round Draft Fliers

This year more than ever, starting pitchers are a sought-after position in fantasy drafts. Understandably, with uncertainty about innings limits in 2021, fantasy managers are keen to bolster their rotations with the defacto top-tier starting pitchers available. As important as it is for your top starting pitchers to perform at an elite level, success in […]

First Basemen Set to Break Out in 2021

First base is typically one of the biggest sources of power in a fantasy lineup. First basemen hit more home runs than any other position in 2020, with their combined total of 342 homers accounting for nearly 15 percent of MLB's total. Power comes aplenty at first base, which often means managers will look to […]

Which Pitchers With New Pitches Should We Care About?

There are few things more exciting in Spring Training than learning that a pitcher developed a new pitch. It's a little bit like waking up to find that you've been given a new toy. We're blinded by the possibilities of this new toy. Think of the fun we can have with it. Think of the […]

NL Starting Pitcher Sleepers

Looking at early mock and seasonal drafts results, we see the huge trend of starting pitchers falling off of draft boards at a furious pace in the early rounds. As a result, managers who miss out on rostering the top-tier starters must identify value sleepers they can target in the mid-to-late rounds of drafts. Below […]

AL Starting Pitcher Sleepers

Today I'm bringing you five American League Starting Pitcher sleepers to consider late in fantasy baseball drafts. These players are all being drafted well outside the top 200 picks in recent drafts. Check out other sleeper articles at the bottom of this page or look for my favorite discount draft targets for strikeouts and wins.Be […]

AL-Only Starting Pitchers: Late-Round Draft Fliers

This year more than ever, starting pitchers are a sought-after position in fantasy drafts. Understandably, with uncertainty about innings limits in 2021, fantasy managers are keen to bolster their rotations with the defacto top-tier starting pitchers available. As important as it is for your top starting pitchers to perform at an elite level, success in […]

Pitcher Targets Under $5 - Salary Cap League Values

It's a cliché to say that those managers who finally dip their toe into salary cap leagues never go back to snake drafts. Snake drafts have their own charm. There is simply more going on, and thus, more fun to have when participating in a salary cap draft. There become no bounds on how one […]