Potential Outfield ADP Busts for 2017

We continue our positional avoid series with the outfield today. Outfield is a position that is historically thought of as one of the deepest in fantasy, but when the vast majority of leagues demand five outfielders, the pickings can get slim in the later rounds. As such, you’ll need to make sure you hit on […]

Maximizing Yahoo DL and NA Slots In Your Draft

Most fantasy baseball leagues have at least one DL spot. Many have two, three or even more. While certainly useful during the season when players inevitably get hurt, they can also be part of your draft strategy. Not as widely used and relatively new to Yahoo leagues, NA slots allow you to stockpile difference-makers for the […]

2017 Deeper Outfielder Sleepers - NL

The key to winning a championship in fantasy baseball is to find gems in the late rounds of your drafts. Anyone can draft a top-10 player, but only those who truly prepare can find the diamonds in the rough. Below are some 2017 deep outfielder sleepers for the National League. I will be analyzing five […]

ADP Champs or Chumps - Ender Inciarte & Kevin Kiermaier

If you play in a deeper league, you will quickly discover that your goal in the draft is different. Standard formats do not ask you to worry about playing time for anyone except your sleepers, as there are plenty of starting players in MLB to fill every slot in the fantasy league. Try an NL-only […]

Max Kepler (OF, MIN) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~210 CURRENT ADP: 234 ANALYSIS: Max Kepler burst onto the scene last season, smashing 17 home runs in only 113 games with the Twins. There are still some holes in his approach, but at 24 years of age, there is room for growth. Kepler had stretches of good and bad play; in […]

Jorge Soler (OF, KC) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~265 CURRENT ADP: 294 ANALYSIS: After an exciting start to his career back in 2014, Jorge Soler has not lived up to the expectations of Cubs fans. Between his injuries and blown opportunities, he was never able to pull everything together. Soler was traded to the Royals for closer Wade Davis this […]

Jarrod Dyson (OF, SEA) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~200 CURRENT ADP: 220 ANALYSIS: Jarrod Dyson was dealt to the Mariners this offseason after seven seasons with Kansas City. Over that span, Dyson played in only 550 games (an average of about 79 per season), and stole 176 bases. Despite a part-time role, he still finished with 30 steals in four […]

Scene Change - Four Hitters On New Teams

For those fantasy baseball players who don't follow and analyze every offseason move that occurs between October and March, catching up on those changes is a vital part of draft preparation. Below I'll quickly outline the four hitters who will likely have the most fantasy relevance for different teams in 2017. There doesn't figure to […]

Draft Values: The 2017 All-Bargain Team

This article first appeared on the Metro news publication. Our long national nightmare is nearly over. No, not that one…here we’re referring to the lack of baseball. Opening Day is right around the corner, and not a moment too soon. After last week’s look at the busts, let’s end draft season on a happy note […]

David Peralta (OF, ARI) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers & Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~235 CURRENT ADP: ~273 ANALYSIS: He's having decent spring, hitting .265 in 17 games, with two HR and 11 RBI. Most importantly, he's healthy and ready to man right field on an everyday basis. Last year was a lost cause for Peralta after numerous back and wrist injuries limited him to 48 ineffective […]

Shin-Soo Choo (OF, TEX) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers & Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~227 CURRENT ADP: ~288 ANALYSIS: You might not know it by his innocent .242/.357/.399 triple slash from 2016, but Choo really smoked the ball – when he was on the field. In only 48 games, 210 plate appearances, the 34-year-old clubbed seven homers with six steals with a gaudy 43.2% hard-hit rate. […]

Domingo Santana (OF, MIL) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers & Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~195 CURRENT ADP: ~263 ANALYSIS: Santana’s 43.7% hard-hit rate checked in as the 10th best in the MLB for the month of September, with the three names surrounding him being David Ortiz, Nolan Arenado and Nelson Cruz. His 27.3% line-drive rate wasn’t so bad either, though it actually was lower than his […]

Brandon Drury (2B/3B/OF, ARI) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~225 CURRENT ADP: ~263 ANALYSIS: Drury opened the season with some flash by hitting four homers each in April and May with respective batting averages of .294 and .283, but then dealt with some injuries and didn’t have an everyday job in a crowded Arizona lineup. He will now hold down the keystone […]

Top Power-Metric Gainers - What to Expect in 2017

The baseball universe is really coming into its own when it comes to advanced data metrics that we can parse through, with hard-hit rates, exit velocities, spray charts and batted-ball outcomes all becoming accessible tools to throw in the toolkit before we go digging for answers. Today's piece caps off our short series looking at […]

Three Potential AL Outfielder Busts for 2017 Fantasy Baseball

As much as we all love to find that diamond in the rough who exceeds expectations in the late rounds of our fantasy drafts, we loathe drafting a guy, expecting great things from him and being let down. It’s inevitable that it will happen to some fantasy owners. It’s almost impossible to completely avoid it, […]

Jeff Kahntroff's 10 Bold Predictions for 2017

Just when you thought it was over... this will officially conclude our Bold Predictions series for the fantasy baseball season. Last year was the debut of my 10 bold predictions, and I think I did pretty well. But you should be the judge for yourself and review how I did before deciding how much stock […]

Top Gainers in Fly Ball Rate - What to Expect in 2017

The baseball universe is really coming into its own when it comes to advanced data metrics that we can parse through, with hard-hit rates, exit velocities, spray charts and batted-ball outcomes all becoming accessible tools to throw in the toolkit before we go digging for answers. Today's piece continues the series where we explore some […]

2017 Deeper Outfielder Sleepers - AL

The key to winning a championship in fantasy baseball is to find gems in the late rounds of your drafts. Anyone can draft a top-10 player, but only those who truly prepare can find the diamonds in the rough. Below are some 2017 deep outfielder sleepers for the American League. I will be analyzing five […]

Bill Dubiel's 10 Bold Predictions for 2017

Here at Rotoballer, we truly do believe in the "grand finale" concept--that's why you're getting MY bold predictions after all the other chuckleheads. By chuckleheads I mean my talented and respectable colleagues. Be sure to check out just how wonky we all get this time of year with our entire Bold Prediction Series. I didn't have […]

Top Gainers in Pull Rate: What to Expect in 2017

The baseball universe is really coming into its own when it comes to advanced data metrics that we can parse through, with hard-hit rates, exit velocities, spray charts and batted-ball outcomes all becoming accessible tools to throw in the toolkit before we go digging for answers. Today's piece continues the series where we explore some […]

Outfield (Part 2): Updated March Rankings and Tiers

We rolled out our final update on 2017 rankings this past weekend. While there haven’t been seismic shifts, some players have naturally seen their stocks rise or fall since our initial valuations were made in December. We’re gathered here today to look at part two of our outfield rankings, tiers, and auction values, which have seen a bit […]

Top Gainers in Hard Hit Rate - What to Expect in 2017

The baseball universe is really coming into its own when it comes to advanced data metrics that we can parse through, with hard-hit rates, exit velocities, spray charts and batted-ball outcomes all becoming accessible tools to throw in the toolkit before we go digging for answers. Today's piece kicks off a series where we're going […]

Points League Outfielders: Overvalued and Undervalued

As we’ve discussed, 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. Today we're looking at some potential outfield sleepers and busts, […]

Milwaukee Brewers - 2017 Fantasy MLB Team Preview and Outlooks

As we wrap up our MLB team previews, it's time to preview one of the young, upcoming teams in the National League with the 2017 Milwaukee Brewers Team Outlook. The Brewers finished last season 73-89, but are a team that should be on the rise despite a relatively quiet offseason. We'll take a look at the team's […]

2017 Prospects: Top 30 Impact Rookies for Fantasy Drafts

Hello everyone, and welcome to my pre-season 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 season is not even underway yet, and already there have been some […]

Outfield (Part 1): Updated March Rankings and Tiers

We rolled out our final update on 2017 rankings this past weekend. While there haven’t been seismic shifts, some players have naturally seen their stocks rise or fall since our initial valuations were made in December. We’re gathered here today to look at part one of our outfield rankings, tiers, and auction values, which have certainly seen some […]

Deeper Late Round Draft Fliers for RBI Production

Runs batted in can be a difficult stat to predict given that RBI production isn’t solely up to an individual player and the skills they possess. It goes without saying that in order for there to be opportunities to drive in runs, there must be players on base to drive in. This makes factors such […]

ADP Champs or Chumps - Carlos Correa and George Springer

Every fantasy owner has a blind spot or team(s) that they do not know as much about as they should. Bad teams on the West Coast are likely examples for owners based on the East Coast, as the games are on so late that the weaker teams are just not worth staying up for. This […]

Rick Lucks's 10 Bold Predictions For 2017

Our series of bold predictions continues with my piece. I felt that I was a little bolder than most of my colleagues last season, including the only recommendation I saw for Steven Wright's breakout campaign. I also touted Drew Storen as a top reliever for fantasy purposes. That one didn't work out so well. This […]

Predicting the Top 10 Finishers for RBI

What's up RotoBallers. Welcome back to our series on 2017 predictions for fantasy baseball. In 2016 there were only three players with more than 119 RBI, but 35 players finished the season with 95 or more. While RBI production depends on a player's ability and spot in their team's lineup, the statistic is also largely dependent […]