Travis Shaw (3B, TOR) - Week 1 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ team leagues OWNED IN: 4% of leagues ANALYSIS:  Travis Shaw is coming off a horrendous year in Milwaukee that saw his average plummet to .157 with only seven home runs in 86 games while battling various injuries. Shaw blamed some of his struggles on a swing change, and there's reason to […]

Fantasy Baseball Strategies for a 60-Game Season

Host Michael Florio of RotoBaller Radio discusses the 2020 fantasy baseball season. In this episode, he brings you his approach in a 60 game fantasy baseball season. Like and subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get all our latest podcasts and catch us on iTunes and BlogTalkRadio as well! Be sure to also tune into […]

Howie Kendrick (1B/2B/3B, WSH) - Week 1 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 30% of leagues ANALYSIS:  Not many players have a career-year at age 36, but that’s exactly what Howie Kendrick did last season in Washington. The veteran infielder hit for a cool .344 with a .966 OPS along with 17 longballs in 370 PA. That performance wasn't a fluke […]

MLB Injury Guide - Week of July 19th

Injuries are commonplace in all sports. Baseball has seen the rate of injury continue to rise over the past few years. In fantasy, if someone is not in the medical field, it is hard to gauge how long a player will be out and whether they need to be replaced in a lineup. Sometimes this […]

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Day-To-Day With Side Discomfort

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (side) is improving from the discomfort he felt in his left side during Friday night’s intrasquad game and is considered day-to-day. The 26-year-old was a late arrival to summer camp, which may have played a factor in the ailment, but he appears on track for Opening Day on […]

Universal DH Beneficiaries - RBI

With the advent of the designated hitter in the National League for 2020, NL lineup production will go up; it's inevitable. Pitchers will have a harder time of things in the NL, and hitters will produce more. It's what happens when a near-zero at the plate is replaced by a Major League hitter. Where that […]

Jed Lowrie Will Not Play In Sunday's Exhibition

New York Mets infielder Jed Lowrie (leg) will not play in Sunday's exhibition against the Yankees. Lowrie, who also sat for Saturday's exhibition, is still sporting a large brace on his left leg that impacts his ability to play. Mets manager Luis Rojas indicated Lowrie is still having trouble with baserunning and movements on defense. […]

Robinson Cano An Option To Bat Third In Mets Lineup

New York Mets second baseman Robinson Cano hit third in the Mets lineup on Saturday against the Yankees. While manager Luis Rojas did not commit to Cano batting third going forward, he did intimate it was an option and that Cano should be featured in the middle of the batting order. Cano hit third 58 […]

DJ LeMahieu May Be Ready For Opening Day

New York Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu may be ready for the start of the season after rejoining the team on Friday from a coronavirus related absence. LeMahieu is scheduled to face live pitching this week and is optimistic that he’ll be prepared to start the season at second base for the Yankees. If LeMahieu […]

Top 700: Updated Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings (July)

Welcome back RotoBallers, we are quickly approaching the start of this crazy 2020 MLB season! The rankings team here at HQ has been adjusting their ranks all off-season, and now we our last major updates in place. Below you will find our staff's updated 2020 fantasy baseball tiered rankings (top 700) for mixed leagues, taking into a […]

Brewers Hope Keston Hiura Can Play Sunday

Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell said he hopes to get second baseman Keston Hiura (arm) into Sunday's intrasquad game. Hiura hasn't played since Tuesday because of soreness and weakness in his throwing arm. The Brewers don't think Hiura's arm issue is anything serious, so he should be good to go for Opening Day, barring any […]

Phillies Release Logan Forsythe

The Philadelphia Phillies have released infielder Logan Forsythe, according to Ken Rosenthal. Forsythe has struggled in recent years, as he hasn't hit above .232 since 2016 with Tampa Bay. He really struggled last season, putting up just a .678 OPS with a career-high 27.2 strikeout rate. Forsythe had his years of usefulness in fantasy, but […]

Platoon Situations to Avoid in a Shortened Season

Fantasy baseball fans, the 2020 season is finally almost upon us, which means it’s time to start thinking about drafting and valuing players all over again! As I am sure you are all aware, the shortened season and rule changes will impact aspects of your fantasy baseball strategies, some more than others. One of the […]

Schedule Factors - Hitters on the Decline

Earlier this week, we took a look at which hitters have been helped the most by the recently announced 60-game schedule. Now it's time to take a look at the hitters who might be hurt the most by it. Remember that in order to fully break down the way in which a schedule may impact […]

The COVID Conundrum - To Drop or Not to Drop?

So….real, actual baseball games are almost upon us. Opening Day is July 23rd. And yet, we are still in the midst of a pandemic. At the time of my writing this, by my calculations, at least 90 players have had COVID-19 or have gone through the COVID Protocol due to players being traced back to […]

Attacking Offensive Categories with Z-Scores

The way to win at fantasy baseball is to generate the most aggregate value on your roster. One cannot win with just an average fantasy team; one must be better than the mean. To accomplish this, owners must spend their fantasy capital efficiently in acquiring talent. Finding and drafting undervalued players is the key. Of […]

One Last Mock! ADP Values and Reaches

As the sun prepares to rise on the 2020 MLB season (I'm all about hopeful metaphors these days), it also marks the end of draft season for fantasy baseball. This weekend will see a flurry of activity from fantasy league owners trying to figure out how to properly value players amid a global pandemic. Good […]

Underpriced Hitters According to ATC Projections

While nothing is guaranteed, we can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel. Baseball is back, baby! Summer camp (I refuse to call it Spring Training 2.0) has now begun and Opening Day is set for July 23/24. Coming with the return are seismic changes; a universal DH, limited opponents, a […]

Top 250 MLB Dynasty Prospects - Final Preseason Update

The 2020 MLB season is going to look very different. But as long as the virus doesn’t rear its ugly head in an apocalyptic fashion, it’s still going to be fun. And to help fantasy managers prepare for this season and for those to come, we’ve updated our Top 250 dynasty fantasy baseball prospects list. […]

Introducing the MLB Baller Ranks

It’s my extraordinary pleasure to introduce The Baller Ranks, an up-to-date rankings sheet for player values. We wanted to roll this out back in March, but 2020 has had other ideas... Ideally, The Baller Ranks are not a set of pre-season rankings or draft recommendations. They are designed to be an in-season set of data-based […]

Schedule Factors - Hitters on the Rise

Now that MLB schedules are finally official, it's time we take a look at which hitters are going to be impacted the most. In order to fully breakdown the way in which a schedule may impact a hitter, we need to keep three things in mind: player talent, strength of schedule, and directional park factors. […]

Overpriced Hitters According to ATC Projections

RotoBaller is fortunate to have 2019's most accurate ranker, Ariel Cohen, to give us his updated ATC projections. I have taken those projections and turned them into fantasy dollars, ranking them accordingly. By comparing these rankings to the latest NFBC ADP data, we can see which players ATC likes at their draft price, and who should […]

Universal DH Beneficiaries - Runs Scored

For the first time in baseball history, the National League will employ the position of designated hitter. Besides making NL games more exciting to watch, this change should have two main effects. First, NL pitchers will see some level of decline in their ratios. It is inevitable when facing superior opposing lineups. The second change will […]

Toronto Blue Jays: Top 10 Dynasty Prospects

The Toronto Blue Jays will be our final stop on the farm to evaluate the best prospects on each MLB team. Once the 2020 MLB season begins, it may turn out that Minor League systems will be more important than usual. Franchises are losing money during the pandemic layoff, so many teams will be looking […]

Aledmys Diaz Should Play Saturday

Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker said that infielder Aledmys Diaz (neck) should play in the team's intrasquad game on Saturday and will travel to Kansas City. Baker wants to give Diaz as many at-bats as he can before the start of the regular season. As long as Diaz doesn't suffer any sort of setback, he […]

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Leaves Intrasquad Game Early

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder/middle infielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (side) left the team's intrasquad game on Friday after his first at-bat of the game when he felt discomfort on his left side. Gurriel will be re-examined on Saturday. The 26-year-old arrived late to camp earlier this week due to undisclosed reasons, too, so there's a chance […]

Atlanta Braves: Top 10 Dynasty Prospects

The Atlanta Braves will be our next stop on the farm to evaluate the best prospects on each MLB team. Once the 2020 MLB season begins, it may turn out that Minor League systems will be more important than usual. Franchises are losing money during the pandemic layoff, so many teams will be looking for […]

Rethinking DFS Strategies for a 60-Game MLB Season

The 2020 MLB season is going to be weird. In a 60-game season, previous in-season game performance holds limited value, making game-to-game projections unusually difficult across the entire season. Consider what some player production looked like 60 games into last season: David Dahl had a .457 BABIP Jose Ramirez had a .202/.303/.307 slash line Jake […]

Cubs Purchase Jason Kipnis' Contract

The Chicago Cubs selected second baseman Jason Kipnis' contract from Triple-A Iowa on Friday. It means that Kipnis will start the 2020 season with the Cubs big league roster, and he should see pretty regular playing time at the keystone after signing a minor league deal with the team in February. In his final season […]

Jeter Downs Added To Red Sox Player Pool

Boston Red Sox prospect Jeter Downs has been added to the team's player pool and will report to the alternate training site in Pawtucket, which will open this weekend. The 21-year-old was a key piece of the blockbuster trade which sent outfielder Mookie Betts and starting pitcher David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers in […]