Post Hype First Basemen Set to Breakout in 2018

A true breakout isn’t hard to predict. Luckily for us, the breakout formula is rather simple: opportunity + talent + efficiency = breakout. The first basemen listed below are players who I think will have top-100 draft stock in 2019 drafts, or, at the very least, will be drafted higher next year because they check […]

Leading Indicators - First Pitch Strikes and Strikeout Risers

Conventional baseball wisdom harps on the importance of the first-pitch strike (F-strike%). As pitchers get ahead in counts, they gain an advantage on hitters and have more pitch choices at their disposal. However, smart people discovered a hitter's average with a 0-1 count (.321) is only marginally worse than a 1-0 count (.337). The pitch […]

Best Ball Sleepers and Late Round Targets for Fantasy Baseball

Best ball leagues are one of the latest variations of fantasy baseball that are quickly growing in popularity. Draft day is the only day of the year where owners will have control over their roster. There is no waiver wire and there are no trades. Owners won't even set daily lineups, as they will instead […]

ADP Myth Busters - Debunking Myths in the AL East

This series will attempt to help fantasy baseball owners make informed opinions on players whose ADP may not be in line with their value for the 2018 season. As fantasy owners, we can fall into a "group think" mentality and start to overlook certain teams and players. If we aren't careful, those ideas can turn […]

ADP Sleepers and Busts - NL Starting Pitchers

With the inherent injury risk to pitchers and innings management becoming more prevalent in baseball, nailing starting pitchers becomes even more important on draft day. After the big four of Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, and Corey Kluber are off the board, seemingly every pitcher has some sort flaw or concern going into 2018. […]

Points Leagues Starting Pitchers - Overvalued and Undervalued

As we’ve discussed before, points leagues are a bit of a different animal from the more popular head-to-head and rotisserie formats. One of the most obvious differences between them is how pitchers are valued. In a points league, the top pitchers routinely outearn the top hitters. Most analysis will tell you to favor bats in […]

Points Leagues Outfielders - Overvalued and Undervalued

As we’ve established, player values can fluctuate pretty widely between points leagues and the more popular, traditional rotisserie and head-to-head formats. If this is your first experience with a points league, you may be wondering how to identify players whose contributions make them more or less appealing for that particular scoring system. You've come to […]

ADP Sleepers and Busts - NL Relief Pitchers

Early-season drafts do not always tend to be reflective of a player's actual value. Average draft position does not tend to stabilize until closer to Opening Day but that does not stop people like myself (and presumably you as well if you're reading this) from drafting well before then. The ADP of relief pitchers is […]

Points Leagues Shortstops: Overvalued and Undervalued

As we’ve discussed before, points leagues are a bit of a different beast than the more popular head-to-head and rotisserie formats. One of the easiest and best ways to ensure that you’re making a smooth transition between these disparate styles is to identify players whose values change most. Luckily for you, you don’t have to go it […]

Points Leagues Third Basemen: Overvalued and Undervalued

Most fantasy baseball analysis is geared toward rotisserie and head-to-head formats. Given the popularity of those setups, that's understandable. But plenty of folks out there play in points leagues, and player values can change quite a bit in that format compared to the more mainstream variants. This series is aimed at identifying some of the players […]

ADP Myth Busters - Debunking Myths in the NL West

This series will attempt to help fantasy baseball owners make informed opinions on players whose ADP may not be in line with their value for the 2018 season. As fantasy owners, we can fall into a "group think" mentality and start to overlook certain teams and players. If we aren't careful, those ideas can turn […]

Points Leagues Second Basemen: Overvalued and Undervalued

Points leagues are less popular than the traditional rotisserie or head-to-head scoring formats. Consequently, most fantasy analysis is geared toward the latter styles. As anyone who’s played in a points league before knows, though, player values can be quite a bit different under those settings. All week, I’ll be offering my thoughts on potential points […]

ADP Sleepers and Busts - AL Relief Pitchers

The early days of draft season typically result in volatile ADP data, as values adjust rapidly to a growing sample size. Eventually, players fall much closer to their intrinsic worth as fantasy owners become inundated with news, analysis and pundit commentary. So, I'm here today to serve as another voice to the copious reams of […]

Points Leagues First Basemen: Overvalued and Undervalued

As we’ve discussed before, points leagues are a bit of a different animal from the more popular head-to-head and rotisserie formats. One of the easiest and best ways to ensure that you’re making a smooth transition between these disparate styles is to identify players whose values change most. Fortunately, you don’t have to go it […]

Pitchers Who Changed Scenes for 2018

When getting back into the fantasy baseball groove, one important task fantasy owners need to accomplish is tracking the offseason moves. Here at Rotoballer, we help you prepare for the new season providing you with some of the names you need to know for draft day and some you need to avoid. We've already covered some of […]

ADP Myth Busters - Debunking Myths in the NL Central

This series will attempt to help fantasy baseball owners make informed opinions on players whose ADP may not be in line with their value for the 2018 season. As fantasy owners, we can fall into a "group think" mentality and start to overlook certain teams and players. If we aren't careful, those ideas can turn […]

ADP Sleepers and Busts - First Basemen

RotoBallers, it’s that time of year when we’re starting to really get into the grind of draft season. With that comes plenty of early ADP data that will either have you jumping for joy or scratching your head. With this article, we aim to bring you a few first basemen who we believe are either […]

Nick Mariano's 2018 Dynasty Sleepers List (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. The term "sleeper" remains a volatile one, but when you add the dynasty-league wrinkle to it then you really open yourself up to a can of worms. Some people are in 12-team dynasties with a rather healthy stable of prospects available for the picking, […]

ADP Sleepers and Busts - Third Basemen

Take a quick look at the NFBC ADPs of third basemen. What do you notice? Is Manny Machado going too high? Is Joey Gallo the boom-or-bust pick of the year? Is Josh Donaldson the best early-round value pick? Third base might just be the deepest infield position in fantasy this year, so it's important to […]

Relief Pitchers Set to Breakout in 2018

Drafting relief pitchers is always tough. Should you go for the elite closers and try and secure saves, or are you better off using those high picks on a hitter or starting pitcher and adding cheap saves later? The reality is no strategy is better than the other 100% of the time, but the old […]

Second-Year Pitchers Poised for a Breakout

The first year in the big leagues is full of ups and downs for most players, particularly pitchers. Adjusting to the best hitters in the world simply takes time, and many hurlers need multiple seasons to find their footing. Thus, identifying breakout candidates among second-year pitchers is no easy task, as the league has time […]

ADP Sleepers and Busts - Catcher

Catcher is generally considered the weakest position in fantasy baseball. That is exactly why getting reliable production from the position is so important. There won’t be many good options on the waiver wire to replace a bad pick. This article looks at some catchers that are undervalued and overvalued based on their NFBC ADP (as […]

Nick Mariano's 2018 Late-Round MLB Fliers (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. It can […]

Post-Hype Outfielders Set to Breakout in 2018

Fantasy owners are way too quick to cast aside players who initially underperform their talent level. It's safe to say we’re too obsessed with age-adjusted production. If a rookie shows up with a ton if hype and busts early, fantasy gamers have no problem tossing the player aside in search for a shinier untested asset. […]

Nick Mariano's 2018 Draft Sleepers List (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. It's everyone's favorite pre-draft word to throw around and likely threatens to take the top spot on some Google Analytics the closer we get to that premier fantasy baseball draft season. Yup, we're talking about sleepers. But let's just get this out of the way: […]

Using xwOBA for Predictive Purposes in Pitchers

When it comes to predictive metrics, MLB's statcast has afforded the baseball community a wealth of data since its league-wide installation in 2015. One of the more intriguing metrics is expected wOBA, or xwOBA. This statistic gives us the expected wOBA for a player based on the hit probability of batted balls, calculated using exit […]

Three Up, Three Down - 2018 Catcher Prospects

It's time to do some catching up with catcher prospects. Every year it seems that catcher prospects have the most dramatic changes — both positive and negative — in their perceived value and potential out of any other position player prospects. This year is no different, as some former first-round picks now teeter on the […]

2018 Home Run Risers and Fallers - What We Learned

Drafting sluggers is absolutely imperative in fantasy baseball. With homers on the rise, fantasy owners must be sure to prioritize the long ball this season. It seemed like every other fantasy-viable batter hit over 25 HR last year, didn’t it? At the same time, however, sluggers like Mark Trumbo (23 HR), Miguel Cabrera (16 HR), […]

NL Rookies Ready to Leap into Starting Lineups in 2018

Drafting rookies is always a tricky proposition. There are usually several first-year players who make a huge impact on fantasy teams, but they aren't always the ones we expect. Last year's NL rookie class featured studs like Cody Bellinger and Rhys Hoskins, as well as solid producers such as Josh Bell and Ian Happ. On […]

AL Rookies Ready to Leap into Starting Lineups in 2018

Conventional wisdom dictates that you can't win your league at the draft. You definitely can't, but good drafting of under-the-radar guys and youngsters can put you streets ahead of your competition. Last season gave us rookies in the American League such as Aaron Judge, Matt Olson and his teammate Matt Chapman, Mitch Haniger (until he […]