2018 Prospects: Top 30 Impact Rookies for Fantasy Leagues (Week 4)

Hello everyone, and welcome to my weekly Top-30 Fantasy Rankings for Impact Rookies! In this series, I will be going over the top prospects in baseball and discussing which ones figure to have an impact for the rest of this fantasy baseball season. This was a big week for prospect promotions. Sure, Franklin Barreto was... Read More

Statcast Pitcher Risers/Fallers - Exit Velocity (Week 4)

We continue our RotoBaller series using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over data to examine pitching performances. The weekly series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings and I enlighten myself on the information and tools at my disposal. My predictive confidence face-planted over the weekend as two of my calls in... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts (Week 4)

Welcome to our surprising starts series. Every week we’ll be going over a few surprising starting pitcher performances around the majors to determine whether these starts were smoke and mirrors or something more. This week we're looking at a pair of NL East hurlers that have put up some eye-popping strikeout numbers, as well as... Read More

How Superior Setup Men Provide Value to Closers - AL Focus

The goal of the previous column in this series was to propose that the home runs allowed by relief pitchers have a significant impact on fantasy teams, even when those pitchers do not make the roster. While a baseball truism on some levels, home runs given up late in games tend to diminish the number... Read More

Hitter Streamers (Week 4) - Head-to-Head Leagues

Welcome back to my hitting streamers column for Week 4, taking a look at hitters to add or stream off the waiver wire for this week's scheduled games. To keep things simple, I pick from players who are 50% owned or less and who play at least seven games in the week.  If someone jumps... Read More

Buy or Sell - Underowned and Overowned Players for Week 4

Is it time to overreact yet? This is what many fantasy owners are asking themselves and our writers at RotoBaller, but it's not the question you should be asking. It may be the early portion of a long season, but clearly some trends are forming. The question is: how much longer are you going to... Read More

Statcast Pitcher Risers/Fallers - BABIP (Week 3)

RotoBaller embarks on a new series this year using Statcast to extrapolate, dig into, and commiserate over data to examine pitching performance. The weekly series will be dynamic as we fine-tune our findings and I enlighten myself on the information and tools at my disposal. This week we'll focus on a popular batted-ball metric, Batting... Read More

2018 Prospects: Top 30 Impact Rookies for Fantasy Leagues (Week 3)

Hello everyone, and welcome to my weekly Top-30 Fantasy Rankings for Impact Rookies! In this series, I will be going over the top prospects in baseball and discussing which ones figure to have an impact for the rest of this fantasy baseball season. It continues to be the waiting game for Atlanta to call up... Read More

Week 3 Points Leagues - Strategy, Pickups and Cuts

I hope you are coming off of a week two victory and flying high at 2-0 in your league. Whether you're crushing, or sitting at 0-2, I am here to help you notch that Week Three victory. This article is tailored to points leagues more than traditional 5x5 leagues. While every points league is different,... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts (Week 3)

Welcome to our surprising starts series. Every week we’ll be going over a few surprising starting pitcher performances around the majors to determine whether these starts were smoke and mirrors or something more. This week we'll be going over a couple good starts from Padres hurlers Joey Lucchesi and Tyson Ross, as well as a... Read More

Hitter Streamers (Week 3) - Head-to-Head Leagues

Welcome back to my hitting streamers column for Week 3, taking a look at hitters to add or stream off the waiver wire for this week's scheduled games. To keep things simple, I pick from players who are 50% owned or less and who play at least seven games in the week.  If someone jumps... Read More

Buy or Sell - Underowned and Overowned Players for Week 3

If your fantasy baseball team looks anything like most of mine, then you've got a couple of injured players occupying bench spots because your DL positions are already full. That didn't take long did it? The 10-day DL has been both a blessing and a curse for the fantasy world. On the one hand, it... Read More

How Superior Setup Men Provide Value to Closers - NL Focus

The era of the home run has been a bit of a double-edged sword for fantasy owners. On the one hand, the bench bat drafted in the 27th round can emerge as a 20+ HR hitter, adding value from an unexpected source. On the other side, pitcher ERAs are up, and the value of the... Read More

Dylan Bundy Has Been Unleashed, Is Kevin Gausman Next?

It has become a trend among starting pitchers with one dominant pitch to throw it earlier in counts and to throw it more often. This defies conventional baseball wisdom, but several starting pitchers have found or recaptured success by featuring breaking balls more heavily. Rich Hill, fighting for his baseball life, began using his curveball... Read More

2018 Prospects - Top 30 Impact Rookies for Fantasy Leagues (Week 2)

Hello everyone, and welcome to my weekly Top 30 Fantasy Rankings for Impact Rookies! In this series, I will be going over the top prospects in baseball and discussing which ones figure to have an impact for the rest of this fantasy baseball season. The Shohei Ohtani train keeps rolling along. He’s quickly become a... Read More

Relief Pitchers Deeper Dive - Week 2

Today and every Tuesday moving forward throughout the 2018 MLB season, we will take a deep dive into some of the lesser-owned relief pitchers on the market that are worth keeping tabs on. This can be a good tool for those in deeper holds leagues, although any pitcher in a position to make a move on... Read More

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts (Week 2)

Welcome to our surprising starts series. Every week we’ll be going over a few surprising starting pitcher performances around the majors to determine whether these starts were smoke and mirrors or something more. This week we'll be going over Sean Newcomb's dominance at Coors Field, and great two-start performances from Reynaldo Lopez and Andrew Triggs.... Read More

Hitter Streamers (Week 2) - Head-to-Head Leagues

Welcome back to my hitting streamers column for Week 2, taking a look at hitters to add or stream off the waiver wire for this week's scheduled games. To keep things simple, I pick from players who are 50% owned or less and who play at least seven games in the week.  If someone jumps... Read More

Buy or Sell - Underowned and Overowned Players for Week 2

The first week of the season is officially over, so it's time to start trading assets! That actually may not be the best idea since we've yet to get a firm grasp on trends or values, although the start of the season could be the best time to acquire assets cheaply in some cases. Cutting... Read More

Hot Starts to Watch from Traditionally Slow Starters

If the Major League season were to end today, two of the favorites for the World Series (Cleveland and Los Angeles) would not be making the playoffs, and Pittsburgh would be a top seed. Not that we can put much stock into six games, they still serve as the beginning of some insight into the... Read More

Could Your Pitching Staff Use a Jakob Junis?

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Jakob Junis raised some eyebrows at the end of the 2017 season, boasting an increased strikeout rate and a 3.61 ERA in the final two months. It wasn't enough to put him on many draft boards in shallow fantasy baseball leagues this past March, but his first start in 2018... Read More

2018 Prospects - Top 30 Impact Rookies for Fantasy Leagues (Week 1)

Hello everyone, and welcome to my weekly Top-30 Fantasy Rankings for Impact Rookies! In this series, I will be going over the top prospects in baseball and discussing which ones figure to have an impact for the rest of this fantasy baseball season. What a debut for Shohei Ohtani? Aside from a rough second inning,... Read More

Are You For Real? A Look at Surprising SP Starts

Welcome to our surprising starts series. Every week we’ll be going over a few surprising starting pitcher performances around the majors to determine whether these starts were smoke and mirrors or something more. This week we’ll look at the debut performance of Shohei Ohtani, as well as Kyle Gibson’s domination of the Orioles and Ty... Read More

What to Make of Jose Martinez, Matt Davidson, and a Couple Other Quick Starts

Even though it's barely 50 degrees in Brooklyn, it feels like spring is finally nigh now that the 2018 MLB season is underway. As a Yankees fan, I'd been especially looking forward to opening day ever since Giancarlo Stanton was signed. He certainly didn't disappoint when he launched an opposite field home run at 117... Read More

Week 1 Waiver Wire: 25-50% Owned Pickups

First, winter was here and the night was truly dark and full of terrors. But now, now it's Opening Day and the ills of the world are all invited to screw off. I love you all, what a great day! In light of this, let's give that free agent pool one last look over before... Read More

Top 30 Impact Rookies for Fantasy Leagues (Preseason)

Hello everyone, and welcome to my weekly Top-30 Fantasy Rankings for Impact Rookies! In this series, I will be going over the top prospects in baseball and discussing which ones figure to have an impact for the rest of this fantasy baseball season. This might be one of the most star studded prospect lists to... Read More

Post-Hype Middle Infielders Set to Break Out in 2018

Scouting prospects who will be future big-league stars is an inexact science. Middle infielders can be hard to project because defense often outweighs offense at those positions. For every player who went on to become a superstar right away like Corey Seager or Francisco Lindor, there’s another one who never panned out like Dustin Ackley... Read More

Deeper NL Starting Pitcher Sleepers - Undervalued ADPs

Nothing helps deepen a fantasy rotation like scooping up late-round values. Having a few sleepers in your back pocket allows for a heavier investment in hitting earlier in the draft, and gives you some names to target once the player pool gets thin. For those who love to do last-minute drafts, start their league a... Read More

Later-Age Fantasy Breakouts for 2018

Common wisdom used to suggest that a hitter’s true prime was his age-27 season, but in recent times that seems to have shifted to a younger age as more and more players break into the league earlier. That said, we’ve still seen our fair share of late breakouts over the last number of years, with... Read More

On the Rebound - Starters Coming Back from Injury in 2018

As owners prepare for draft day, one strategy many owners will use is drafting pitchers who are returning from significant injuries. These pitchers will likely be undervalued because of their injuries, and if they can return to their pre-injury norm they can end up being a steal in a draft. For the following starters working... Read More