The King's Fantasy Baseball Insider Report: Marlins, Mets
Each 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 situations, and Scott provides his fantasy baseball viewpoints on the commentaries. These reports... Read More
Trey Mancini Released From Hospital
Baltimore Orioles outfielder Trey Mancini has been released from the hospital but will undergo more testing, according to general manager Mike Elias. Mancini had a malignant tumor removed from his colon last week, and there is no timetable for his return to baseball activities. On the bright side, the slugger has a chance to be... Read More
Shaun Anderson, Steven Duggar Optioned To Triple-A
The San Francisco Giants optioned relief pitcher Shaun Anderson and outfielder Steven Duggar to Triple-A on Thursday. Anderson was expected to be part of a closer committee in San Francisco with Tony Watson, Trevor Gott and Tyler Rogers, but he'll now start the 2020 season in the minor leagues. The 25-year-old should be up in... Read More
WPC+ Videocast: Deep Draft Sleepers
Pierre Camus and Nicklaus Gaut reveal their deepest sleepers for 2020 fantasy baseball drafts. These players are among their favorite late-round targets and undervalued picks. 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 RotoBaller Radio... Read More
Giancarlo Stanton Takes Batting Practice On Wednesday
New York Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton (calf) took batting practice both inside and outside on Wednesday with hitting coach Marcus Thames. Thames reported that Stanton looked good, and the outfielder continues to make encouraging progress as he recovers from a calf strain. Stanton was diagnosed with a calf strain on Feb. 26, and although he’s... Read More
Rick Lucks's Bold Predictions for 2020
While the coronavirus has delayed the start of the MLB season, Bold Prediction season is in full-swing here at Rotoballer. Not knowing how many games will actually be played makes numerical positions difficult, as 30 HR are a lot more impressive over 100 games than 162. That said, I've tried to base the predictions below... Read More
CBS Undervalued and Overvalued for H2H Points Leagues
Over the past week at RotoBaller, we've introduced a brand new approach to preparing for Points Leagues. Typically, analysts give you general points league rankings. We have those as well at RotoBaller. However, this approach falls short. Analysis and ranks must be platform specific, because every platform (ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, NFBC, Fantrax) has wildly different scoring settings... Read More
Finding Over/Undervalued Third Basemen Using Expected Draft Values
A couple weeks ago, we introduced our Expected Draft Values and explained how they would help us identify both over and undervalued players of all types. Power, speed, power+speed, batting average+power, and so on, with pitchers as well. Today, we'll look at four third basemen and our site projections for them. Stay tuned over the... Read More
WPC+ Videocast: Fantasy Implications of Opening Day Postponement
Pierre Camus and Nicklaus Gaut discuss the end of spring training and delay to the Major League Baseball regular season from a fantasy baseball perspective. Could some injured players potentially rise in ADP based on the later start? Who could lose out on a roster spot now that the preseason is over? How does this... Read More
Willie Calhoun To Start Light Workouts Soon
Texas Rangers outfielder Willie Calhoun (jaw) is back in Texas and will be able to resume light workouts soon in his recovery from a broken jaw suffered in spring training. Calhoun had surgery the day after he was hit by a pitch to insert a plate and stabilize his jaw. He believes he'll be ready... Read More
Adjusting Fantasy Baseball Projections for a Delayed Opening Day
With a heavy heart I write this column. I truly wish that there would have not been a reason to write this column. Coronavirus (COVID-19) has now postponed the 2020 Major League Baseball season. In an effort to employ social distancing, local governments have made the tough call to forbid the gathering of large crowds.... Read More
Failure to Launch? Decreasing Launch Angles
Earlier this week, I looked at the biggest launch angle changes in hopes of uncovering some players who made clear adjustments last season that could lead to sustained growth in 2020. However, for every story of positive growth and potential value, there are cases that cause some doubt or worry. Below is the bottom 15... Read More
ESPN Undervalued and Overvalued for H2H Points Leagues
Over the past couple weeks at RotoBaller, we've introduced a brand new approach to preparing for Points Leagues. Typically, analysts give you general points league rankings. We have those as well at RotoBaller. However, this approach falls short. Analysis and ranks must be platform specific, because every platform (ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, NFBC, Fantrax) has wildly different scoring... Read More
Aaron Judge, James Paxton, Giancarlo Stanton Could Be Ready
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone reported on Monday that starting pitcher James Paxton (back) and outfielders Aaron Judge (ribs) and Giancarlo Stanton (calf) could all be ready for Opening Day. With season unlikely to start until June at the earliest, the injured Yankees should have plenty of time to heal. As a result, the... Read More
Brett Gardner (OF, NYY) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleeper
BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~250 CURRENT ADP: ~304 overall ANALYSIS: Brett Gardner is trying to re-invent himself as his speed begins to dry up. He hit only 11 home runs in the entire first half of 2019, but it's clear that he made a conscious launch angle adjustment in the middle of the summer. On July... Read More
MLB Season Won't Start On April 9
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Monday that the regular season will not start on April 9. Owners are still hopeful that there will be a full schedule of games in 2020. Teams are limiting informal workouts but aren't locking spring camps in response to the coronavirus pandemic. It's unknown when exactly the... Read More
Victor Reyes (OF, DET) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleeper
BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~400 CURRENT ADP: ~445 overall ANALYSIS: Reyes was a semi-popular sleeper since late last year after he batted .304 and stole nine bases in 69 games for Los Tigres. That excitement abated a bit when the organization signed veteran Cameron Maybin, who is essentially the same type of player at the same... Read More
Clint Frazier (OF, NYY) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleeper
BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~300 CURRENT ADP: ~349 overall ANALYSIS: Between Aaron Judge's rib, Giancarlo Stanton's calf, and Aaron Hicks being Aaron Hicks, there are plenty of opportunities for a reserve Yankees outfielder to make an impact in 2020. Will it be Frazier, Mike Tauchman, Miguel Andujar or all of the above? While there may be room for all three on fantasy... Read More
2020 Fantasy Baseball ADP Analysis: Late Round Relievers to Dominate Ratios
Host Anthony Aniano of RotoBaller Radio discuss the 2020 fantasy baseball season and keeps you updated with all the latest news and analysis. Be sure to tune into RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (channel Sirius 210, XM 87) - every weekday morning between 6-7 AM ET, every weekday afternoon from 1-2 PM ET and Saturday nights from 9-11 PM... Read More
Outfielders Ready to Break Out in 2020
Spring training is no more and the season has been delayed. That may unfortunately delay the ascent of budding young stars who were performing well this preseason and cementing a role on their team's Major League roster. Every fantasy baseball manager yearns to find the coveted breakout star; each of these players could potentially fit... Read More
Jamie Steed's Bold Predictions for 2020
Bold predictions can be the key to fantasy seasons. Predicting players who will outperform or underperform expectations by extreme amounts can win leagues. Bold predictions can also be entirely unhelpful, speculative thoughts that are just fun to consider. With that in mind, I do think that each of these predictions has a legitimate chance of occurring... Read More
ADP Champ or Chump: Michael Conforto and Mike Clevinger
In the wake of the coronavirus, Major League Baseball games won't be starting on schedule. While there are obviously more important things going on right now than fantasy baseball, we baseball junkies have to do something to distract ourselves from losing one of our favorite hobbies. One way to do this is to try and... Read More
The King's Fantasy Baseball Insider Report: Phillies, Braves
The award-winning Fantasy Baseball Insider Series continues on RotoBaller, this time with a look at the NL East. 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... Read More
MLB Season Could Be Pushed Back To Memorial Day
There's a possibility that the 2020 Major League Baseball season could be delayed until Memorial Day weekend or even longer due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, according to two MLB executives. Players, executives and coaching staffs have started to head home from their respective spring training facilities. It's unlikely that a full 162-game schedule... Read More
Randal Grichuk (OF, TOR) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleeper
BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~240 CURRENT ADP: ~268 overall (From March 1st to present) ANALYSIS: Randal Grichuk slashed .232/.280/.457 with 31 HR and 80 RBI in 2019. While the .232 average is not ideal, the home run and RBI production he provided for the Blue Jays cannot be understated. The RBI production came in large... Read More
Miguel Andujar (OF/3B, NYY) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleeper
BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~250 CURRENT ADP: ~270 overall ANALYSIS: Andujar was a non-factor for the Yankees in 2019 as he only played in 12 games due to a shoulder injury. However, in 2018, Andujar slashed .297/.328/.527 with 27 HR and 92 RBI. It was a tremendous season from the rookie and placed him second... Read More
Mark Canha (OF, OAK) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleeper
BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~200 CURRENT ADP: ~231 overall (From March 1st to present) ANALYSIS: Mark Canha had a solid 2019 campaign in which he slashed .273/.386/.517 with 26 HR and 58 RBI. He had a surge in home runs in 2019 by hitting 26 after never hitting more than 17 in four previous seasons.... Read More
September Power Surges That Might Be For Real
As we all sit and overanalyze spring training at-bats and pitch mixes, it's important to remember that the small sample sizes of a few half-games against essentially AAAA talent can often be misleading. Instead, I find it's far more telling to use late-season changes from the year before to try to identify who has made... Read More
Four 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 that are expected to score plenty of runs. Now, this may... Read More
Brandon Nimmo Was Turning Heads In Spring Training
Before MLB spring training was suspended, New York Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo had reportedly been turning scouts' heads based on his performance. Over 11 Grapefruit League games, Nimmo put up an impressive slash line of .379/.455/.552 in 29 at-bats. Following a strong 2018 campaign, a neck injury limited Nimmo to just 69 games in 2019.... Read More