Dominic Smith Back In Mets Lineup Sunday

New York Mets first baseman/outfielder Dominic Smith (wrist) is back in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Nationals. Smith had been dealing with wrist soreness, though it was never believed to be a serious issue given that he was able to take batting practice on Friday. The 25-year-old broke out in a big way […]

Todd Frazier Out Of The Lineup With Back Tightness

Pittsburgh Pirates first/third baseman Todd Frazier (back) won't suit up on Sunday against the Red Sox. Frazier is experiencing some back tightness, though it's unclear if it will affect his potential availability for Opening Day, should he make the roster. The veteran infielder is having a strong spring, as he has a .935 OPS with […]

Nate Lowe Breaks Out With Two Hits, Homer

Texas Rangers first baseman Nate Lowe broke out of his spring-long slump with two hits, which included a home run, on Saturday against the Seattle Mariners. Acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays last year, he was hitting just .160 with a BB-K of 2-11 before Saturday's game. The homer was his first of the spring […]

Dollar-Day Targets - Salary Cap League Values

Players who go for just $1 in salary cap leagues are guys who lack outside confidence. Not a lot of managers trust that they will be useful on a roster. In standard leagues, many of these players will go entirely undrafted and float around the waiver wire until they produce enough to be picked up […]

Finding Hitter Clones At Cheaper ADPs

One of the most useful algorithms in the machine learning world is that of data clustering. Clustering, in this case, is defined as: grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group (called a cluster) are more similar (in some sense) to each other than to those in other groups […]

Jon Anderson's 10 Bold Predictions For 2021

Today, I am honored to take my turn giving you my 10 bold predictions for the 2021 season here at RotoBaller. It's a thrill to be featured on this site, and I look forward to continuing to put out content for you all over the 2021 season and beyond. This was not an easy post […]

Late-Round Fliers for RBI Production

RBI production is a valuable stat in all fantasy baseball formats, but it is not always an easy stat to predict. Locating solid RBI production late in drafts becomes even more difficult. Ideally, you want players who will hit in the middle of lineups, which are expected to score plenty of runs. Now, this may […]

Multi-Position Assets For All Fantasy Leagues

With such a short season in 2020, many starting pitchers weren't able to throw more than 60 innings, so it's unlikely that they take the massive jump this season that would allow them to get to the 170-180 innings we usually expect. To work around this, many teams have discussed implementing six-man rotations and even […]

Eric Hosmer Scratched From Lineup Saturday

San Diego Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer (stomach) was scratched from the lineup on Saturday with a stomach ailment, according to Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Heilbrunn reports that Hosmer was feeling nauseous and dealing with stomach problems when he arrived at the facility Saturday morning. He told manager Jayce Tingler that his […]

C.J. Cron Makes Rockies' Opening Day Roster

Colorado Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron will make the Opening Day roster after having his contract purchased by the team on Saturday, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. With Brendan Rodgers being sidelined for at least the first month of the season due to a hamstring injury, Cron will take over at first base in Colorado […]

Prospect Sleepers for 2021 Redraft Leagues

This time last year, I provided RotoBaller readers with some sleeper prospect names for 2020 redraft leagues. The advice aged quite well despite the stunted major league season and lack of minor league games. Among my predictions, I spoke glowingly about Tony Gonsolin — a pitcher that had not received much love from others. However, […]

Engel's Insider Angles: An MLB Scout's Eye on Bauer, Guerrero, Bohm And Many More

The Fantasy Sports Writers Association award-winning Fantasy Baseball Insider Series returns on RotoBaller.com! Every year during fantasy baseball draft season, Scott Engel talks to prime MLB sources to get exclusive nuggets of information. On the condition of anonymity, former and current players, executives, scouts and media members provide their unfiltered insights on key players and […]

Miguel Sano Could Make Starts At Third Base In 2021

Minnesota Twins first/third baseman Miguel Sano could spend some time at a familiar spot in 2021- the hot corner. A converted-first baseman, Sano could make starts at third as well, given the Twins' plan to rest starter Josh Donaldson more frequently, with manager Rocco Baldelli noting that it wouldn't just be "in case of emergency." […]

September HR Surgers Who Could Power Up in 2021

In what was the most unique baseball season of our lifetimes, it is important to remember that it may have taken some players longer to get into the full swing of things after such a long layoff. As it turns out, there were many hitters that performed better in the final month of the season […]

Anthony Rizzo Has Three-Hit Day In Friday's Win

Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo continued his strong spring in Friday's win over the Athletics. Rizzo collected three hits, driving in two runs for the Cubs on a two-out double and a single. The 31-year-old is batting .400 with 10 hits, three home runs, and eight RBI in 10 Cactus League games. Rizzo had […]

Spencer Torkelson Headed To Minor League Camp

Detroit Tigers prospect Spencer Torkelson has been reassigned to the team's Minor League camp. Torkelson struggled this spring, going 1-for-20 with a single and three walks against 12 strikeouts. Manager AJ Hinch complimented the 21-year-old on his talent and makeup, not ruling him out for any more appearances this spring as a replacement. Torkelson split […]

Todd Frazier Launches Third Homer Of Spring In Loss

Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Todd Frazier slugged his third home run of the spring on Friday, as he finished 1-for-3 with three RBI in the loss to the Orioles. He hasn't been hitting for a high average so far, but he's shown pop as four of his five hits have gone for extra bases. It […]

Christian Walker Launches Fourth Homer Of Spring Friday

Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker slugged his fourth home run of the spring on Friday, as he finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a stolen base. It was his second home run in his last three games, and he now sports a .704 slugging percentage in 10 games. Home runs and a good-not-great average […]

Luke Voit Collects First Extra-Base Hit Of Spring

New York Yankees first baseman Luke Voit went 1-for-3 with a double, a sacrifice fly, and an RBI in Friday's 4-1 loss to the Phillies. Voit collected his first extra-base hit of the spring on a check-swing double- then later notched his fourth Grapefruit League RBI on a sacrifice fly. The 30-year-old is batting just […]

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Records Seventh Straight Hit

Toronto Blue Jays infielder Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is 7-for-7 with two doubles and a triple over his last two games. Playing third base on Friday against the Detroit Tigers, he recorded three singles. He's now 12-for-20 (.600) with four extra-base hits and a BB-K of 5-2 this spring. Guerrero Jr. produced a 112 wRC+ in […]

Nick Mariano's H2H Points Leagues Targets (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Fantasy baseball drafts (and their articles) usually cater to the biggest stars or the deepest sleepers, but there are very few articles that simply discuss the mid-round targets that deserve a boost in points league formats (even if points veterans will laugh at some […]

Yankees Option Mike Ford

New York Yankees first baseman Mike Ford was optioned to the minor leagues by the team on Friday. Ford's demotion comes as no surprise as the Yankees have a crowded competition to fill out the remaining spots on their bench, but it's disappointing to see Ford lose his MLB playing time after posting a .909 […]

Nick Mariano's H2H Points Leagues Early-Round Avoids (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Fantasy baseball drafts (and their articles) are almost all about finding the next superstar and unearthing talent late, but we can't forget that surrendering value by over-drafting can be just as crucial. There's insight out there for most anything, but coverage of points leagues […]

Connelly Doan's Bold Predictions for 2021

Welcome to the 2021 fantasy baseball season everybody! Spring Training is in full swing and fantasy drafts are well under way. One of the most satisfying things throughout the season (and in life in general) is to be right, especially when others don’t agree with you. Of course, putting your contrarian opinions out in the […]

H2H Points Leagues Draft Primer

We recognize that some of our readers may be new to fantasy baseball and interested in trying a points league for the first time. The goal here is to outline the traditional format scoring while offering up suggestions for draft strategy. Below is a pretty generic Head-To-Head Points Format scoring outline. You will need to […]

Points League Players and the Platforms Who Hate Them

Trust. Whether in roto, point leagues, or otherwise, players should be able to trust that the rankings and values they choose to rely on will be accurate and specific to their league format. That standard seems to be a bit fuzzy when it comes to points leagues, even though point leagues should be fantasy baseball's […]

Jose Abreu Has Productive Day At The Plate

Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu had a productive day at the plate in Thursday's win over the Royals. Abreu went 2-for-3 with an RBI, a run scored, and a walk. The 2020 AL MVP has yet to hit his first spring homer, though he had gotten off to a similarly slow start in […]

Keston Hiura Strikes Out Three Times On Thursday

Milwaukee Brewers second/first baseman Keston Hiura continues to struggle at the plate this spring. Hiura went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts against the Angels, lowering his Cactus League average to just .154 with 11 total punchouts to just one walk. Three of his four hits so far have gone for extra bases, though it's hard to […]

Dominic Smith Close To Returning To Action

New York Mets outfielder Dominic Smith (wrist) took batting practice on Friday, one day ahead of his schedule to do so. Smith has been held out of the Mets' past few Grapefruit League games due to a sore right wrist. The injury does not appear to be serious and reports indicate that Smith should be […]

Later-Round Category Targets - Home Runs

Welcome back to my series of posts where I take us through a standard fantasy baseball category, break it down statistically and then locate some targets for 2021 to help you out in that category. We've already examined how to get an advantage in batting average. Today we will talk about home runs. You can also […]