Is It Too Good To Be True? Buying and Selling Hot Starts

Normally, after only one full week of the fantasy baseball season, we're casually taking stock of our teams, seeing which guys are settling into lineup spots, which teams look like they might be surprising, and generally feeling pretty good about where we're at now. However, there is nothing normal about this season. After one full […]

Deeper Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 3

It is still the early portion of the season, where we still don't know enough about player performances to make a solid judgment, roles are still being figured out, and in some cases, teams are coming back from long layovers. It's definitely a crazy a season, but there is still some value to be found […]

Hot Prospects To Watch: Close Call-Ups and Hot Starters

Perhaps there's nothing more tantalizing in fantasy baseball than drafting an up-and-coming prospect or rushing to the waiver wire to bid on a Triple-A call-up. With no minor leagues this year, our favorite prospects are now playing on taxi squads, making it difficult for us to fantasize about since we can't get eyes on their […]

Statcast Pitcher Studs and Duds - Exit Velocity

It's fair to say we have enough Statcast data now to dig into the numbers and start identifying early risers and fallers. Many starting pitchers have only taken two turns in the rotation, so the safest place to start is with average exit velocity numbers. In future installments, we'll get to barrels, expected stats, and […]

Statcast Hitter Studs and Duds - Barrels (Week 3)

We're off and running on our Statcast Hitter Studs/Duds series! Many fantasy baseball owners are starting to see the value of MLB's Statcast advanced stats in order to help identify potential risers and sleepers. Just as we do for pitchers, this weekly series will examine a handful of hitters who are performing surprisingly well or […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 2

Welcome back to "Are You For Real?" Each week, we look at lower-owned starting pitchers who have performed unexpectedly well in their last outing(s). This week we're looking at a pair of pitchers who disappointed after signing big contracts, but both have shown a little something extra during their first couple starts of the season. […]

Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire - Week 3

11 days of baseball down, hopefully another 58 to go. For all those who picked up Pablo Lopez, or Matt Shoemaker for two starts, it was a rough way to start the season. That’s just the reality of how this year is going to play out. The schedule will take completely unforeseen turns at a […]

Where Have the Steals Gone? (Hint: Not Your Fantasy Team)

A common refrain among baseball analysts and fantasy managers is that the 2020 MLB season is meaningless. We can't extrapolate anything useful from a 60-game season. The numerous injuries, illnesses, and opt-outs make for an unreliable data sample. If you chose to play season-long fantasy baseball, you don't care. You still want to win, asterisks […]

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 3 (8/3-8/9)

Welcome to RotoBaller's weekly article of two-start pitcher streamers for 2020! Successfully streaming pitchers can literally be a game-changer when it comes to fantasy baseball. When it comes to daily leagues, two-start streams aren't that important, since you can stream every day. But when it comes to weekly leagues, two-start streams become exponentially more important. […]

Hitter Streamers for Fantasy Baseball Week 3

Welcome back to the second installment of the hitting streamers column! This edition is for August 3 through August 9. As will be the case every week, I will offer a couple of worthy streamers for each position (catcher, corner infield, middle infield, outfield) based on the number of games the players have for the […]

Early (Over/Under) Reactions for Fantasy Baseball

The first week of the shortened MLB season is officially over and we have several prominent fantasy storylines emerging. Some carry over from 2019 and others have come out of nowhere. My job here is to walk us through those which seem most notable. COVID-19 is one tough customer and has made not even hope […]

Farm to Roster: Potential Call-Ups for Week 2

Every Thursday for the duration of the Major League Baseball season, I'm going to be discussing players on a team's Taxi Squad or Alternate Site Camp who are worth keeping an eye on or stashing in hopes of reaping fantasy goodness. I'll list league sizes where the player could be relevant and give you information […]

Deeper Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 2

The first week of the Major League season is in the books, and fingers crossed, we get to finish out the rest of the season. There aren't many takeaways from just a handful of games, but there are still a good amount of players that are sitting the depths of the free-agent pool that deserve […]

Early Week 1 Exit Velocity Hitter Studs and Duds

We're off and running on our Statcast Hitter Analysis! Each week, I will select a different metric to evaluate unexpected names at the top and bottom of the Statcast Leaderboards. Even if you aren't well-versed in Statcast, you know exit velocity. Even the crustiest of old-school baseball announcers has incorporated this term in his vernacular […]

Exit Velocity Hitter Studs and Duds Heading Into 2020

Welcome to this year's first iteration of Statcast Hitter Analysis. Each week, I will select a different metric to evaluate unexpected names at the top and bottom of the Statcast Leaderboards. Even if you aren't well-versed in Statcast, you know exit velocity. Even the crustiest of old-school baseball announcers have incorporated this term in his […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 1

Welcome back to "Are You For Real?" Each week, we look at lower-owned starting pitchers who have performed unexpectedly well in their last outing(s). This week we're looking at a trio of promising right-handers, all under the age of 28. Sandy Alcantara lit up the Phillies on Opening Day, Brady Singer dazzled in his MLB […]

Statcast Sleepers - Relief Pitchers to Target

This is the first edition of our weekly series on Statcast Pitcher Analysis. Normally, I will select a different sabermetric evaluation method to identify undervalued and/or overvalued pitchers. Since we have less than a week's worth of data under our belt for 2020, let's take one more look back at last year's Statcast data to find […]

Hitter Streamers for Fantasy Baseball Week 2

It is finally time for fantasy baseball, which means it is also time to start scouring the waiver wires for hitting streamers! This first edition of the column is for July 27 through August 2. I will offer a couple of worthy streamers for each position (catcher, corner infield, middle infield, outfield) based on the […]

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 2 (7/27 - 8/2)

Welcome to RotoBaller's first installment of two-start pitcher streamers for 2020! Successful streaming pitchers can literally be a game-changer when it comes to fantasy baseball. When it comes to daily leagues, two-start streams aren't that important, since you can stream every day. But when it comes to weekly leagues, two-start streams become exponentially more important. […]

Champ or Chump: Nate Pearson

The MLB season is finally underway, and a lot of what fantasy owners "knew" before the first pitch has already fallen apart. Juan Soto has tested positive for COVID-19, leaving both the Nationals and a lot of fantasy rosters without a superstar talent for the foreseeable future. Clayton Kershaw was scratched from his Opening Day […]

First Impressions - MLB Opening Day 2020 Fantasy Notes

I can't remember being more excited for an Opening Day than this one. Although Thursday, July 23 was technically the first day of the 2020 MLB season, Friday is when 28 of the 32 teams took the field for the first time for regular-season play. Never have I been happier to fire up MLB Extra Innings […]

Deeper Waiver Wire Pickups - AL and NL-Only Leagues

It is about four months later than expected, but the 2020 season is finally here! That also means it is time to get fantasy seasons underway, and with so many variables to what is surely going to be a strange 60-game season, there are a lot more questions about just how things will shake up […]

Sauceda's Slants: Finding POWA in the Infield

We recently introduced our new hitter metric, POWA (which stands for Prediction of wOBA Attempt), to more appropriately align and weight new Statcast metrics to better predict future performance. You can read the introductory piece for the full details and a 2019 POWA leaderboard, but the gist of it is: POWA is nearly 10% more […]

SP Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues

It still doesn’t feel real, but starting on July 23rd the MLB will embark on a 60 -game sprint to the Playoffs. Then in the blink of an eye, October baseball will be here, culminating in one team lifting the most strangely won pennant in history. With the baseball season taking shape in such an […]

Sauceda's Slants: More POWA to your Outfield

We recently introduced our new hitter metric, POWA (which stands for Prediction of wOBA Attempt), to more appropriately align and weight new Statcast metrics to better predict future performance. You can read the introductory piece for the full details and a 2019 POWA leaderboard, but the gist of it is: POWA is nearly 10% more […]

Why Luis Castillo Will Be a Top Ten Pitcher in 2020

Luis Castillo is an awesome pitcher. He finally put it all together in 2019 and had the season we all have waited for. In 190.2 innings he produced a 3.40 ERA, 3.70 FIP, 18.8 K-BB%, and elite 15.9 SwStr%. Castillo finished the year as the 14th best pitcher in baseball according to Razzball’s player rater. While […]

Historically Fast Starters to Target

The 2020 fantasy baseball season will be unlike any that has existed before. A 60-game sprint to the finish will offer all kinds of unexpected twists and turns. One consequence that seems obvious, though, is that players will not have a chance to round into shape. Guys will need to be on top of their […]

Nick Mariano's 2020 Late-Round Fliers List (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Howdy, RotoBallers! I hope you're ready to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy. We’re here to dig a little deeper into the draft room and look for players that would be wise to take a flier on in the late rounds. 2020 is […]

Closers and Saves Report: Summer Camp Edition 2 - Handcuffs

It's a whole new ball game. Literally. Baseball is going to be weird this season, folks. Only 60 games. (Almost?) all in the same time zone. Tons of games against the same teams. The DH everywhere. Empty stadiums. Cardboard cutouts. Artificial crowd noise. 30-man rosters for a while. Then 28-man rosters for another while. It's […]