Sam Hilliard Goes Yard On Friday

Colorado Rockies outfielder Sam Hilliard went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run in Friday's Cactus League game against the Cleveland Indians. It was Hilliard's first long ball of what has been a solid Cactus League up to this point. The 27-year-old is slashing .257/.366/.371 with one home run, seven RBI, and four stolen bases over […]

Ketel Marte Goes Hitless In Return To Lineup Friday

Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Ketel Marte (ankle) went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in a 9-3 loss to the Brewers on Friday. It was Marte's first game back since exiting Tuesday's game after rolling his ankle going into third base. Despite going hitless, Marte looked fine in the field and the injury should […]

Bryce Harper Draws A Walk In Friday's Win Over Yankees

Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper went hitless in a 4-1 win over the Yankees on Friday. Harper did draw a walk, his third of the spring. The slugger has had a relatively muted Grapefruit League showing so far, though three of his four hits have gone for extra bases, including two long-balls. Most importantly, the […]

Victor Robles Leaves Game With Trainer

Washington Nationals outfielder Victor Robles left Friday's game after awkwardly running while fielding a ball in center. Robles didn't appear to be limping when he walked off the field, though he had his hand on his back. The 23-year-old had scored two runs and collected two hits- including his third home run of the spring […]

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 […]

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 […]

Stephen Piscotty Scratched From Lineup Friday

Oakland Athletics outfielder Stephen Piscotty (wrist) was scratched from Friday's lineup due to left wrist soreness, according to San Francisco Chronicle writer Matt Kawahara. Kawahara reports that Piscotty received a cortisone shot for the ailment, and that he is expected to miss a couple days. Piscotty has struggled this spring with a .150/.280/.150 line and […]

Prospects to Know in 2021 - NL East

Can you feel the excitement in the air? It's Spring Training! We're a few games in now so it's time to overreact about which unknown player is going to be an MVP candidate and which star player is "clearly" washed up. But when we're not overreacting, we shouldn't forget to think about the new faces […]

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 […]

George Springer Expected To Start In Center Field

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder George Springer is expected to make most of his starts in center field for his new team. Springer spent most of his time in Houston as a right fielder, though he's made 276 career starts in center, recording a .997 fielding percentage. Springer signed a monster contract to join an up-and-coming […]

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 […]

Sam Haggerty Steals Two Bases

Seattle Mariners utility man Sam Haggerty just keeps on stealing bases, adding two more Thursday for a spring total of five. Haggerty played third base Thursday against the Giants, and has also appeared at second base, shortstop, and in the outfield. Haggerty is not currently on fantasy draft boards, but he could be the next […]

Taylor Trammell Shines Again Thursday

Seattle Mariners outfielder Taylor Trammell played left field and led off Thursday, and once again made his presence felt. Trammell went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, driving in one run and scoring two. He also stole a base. It is now difficult to imagine that anyone other than Trammell will start the season […]

2021 Points League Rankings - Outfield

February is finally here and that means that draft season is getting into full gear. And here at RotoBaller, we're about more than just roto leagues. We're here to cover your whole fantasy spectrum. So let's do some point ranks, shall we? If you've forgotten from last year, I have strong opinions on point leagues. […]

No Progress Between Mets And Michael Conforto On Extension

The New York Mets have reportedly not made much progress on their extension talks with outfielder Michael Conforto this spring. Conforto is due to become a free agent after the 2021 season and, much like shortstop Francisco Lindor, both the Mets and Conforto have stated they will not negotiate a contract extension after Opening Day. […]

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 […]

Leody Taveras Triples on Thursday

Texas Rangers center fielder Leody Taveras had two hits, including a triple, during Thursday's 12-9 win against the Cincinnati Reds. He's looking to hold off veteran David Dahl for the starting job in center field. Taveras, 22, is now 7-for-28 (.250) with four extra-base hits and a stolen base this spring. Last season at the […]

Franchy Cordero Will See First Spring Action On Saturday

Boston Red Sox outfielder Franchy Cordero will make his spring debut as a designated hitter on Saturday. Cordero tested positive for COVID-19 at the start of spring and wasn't cleared to join the team until last week. He's played in simulated games this week and could be ready to play in the field soon. Red Sox […]

Mookie Betts Opens Up About Boston Years

In an interview with GQ, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts discussed his early professional baseball years coming up with the Boston Red Sox. He said that in his first few years with the organization, he felt that he was "just trash" and added that he "pretty much almost quit baseball." Betts had a rough […]

Ronald Acuna Jr. A Top Preseason MVP Candidate

Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. finished fifth in National League MVP voting in 2019. This year, many pundits believe the 23-year-old Braves star is the favorite to take home the award. 2019 was Acuna's only full MLB season. Over 156 games in 2019, he slashed .280/.365/.518 with 41 home runs, 101 RBI, 127 runs […]

2020 Breakout Outfielders Who'll Keep Improving

With hitters dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and related changes to the MLB season, it’s somewhat surprising that breakouts were unexceptional (if high) in their number. After 45 qualified batters improved their wOBA by at least 0.20 points between 2018 and 2019, 54 hitters managed to do so between 2019 and 2020. That’s not a […]

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 […]

Don't Overpay for Steals, Draft These Guys Instead

Steals are an increasingly precious commodity in roto leagues. If you don't grab a speedster early on, you are forced to find a modest source of steals in the middle and later rounds or just punt the category altogether. Since it's not advised to resign yourself to claiming last place in a category before the […]

NL Outfielders Ready to Break Out in 2021

The top of the outfield class this year is lined with studs. It's hard to go wrong with any of the top-ten or so outfielders in drafts, but after that, it gets a little bit shakier. Players with risky profiles, small sample size success stories, bounceback candidates, and plenty of youngsters make up a lot […]

Later-Round Category Targets - Batting Average

Of all of the fantasy sports, a baseball league using category scoring is the one most requiring manager strategy. You can draft a team full of players that overperform their draft cost but still not win your league if you don't fill up the categories correctly. If I had to give one piece of advice […]

Hitter Targets Under $5 - Salary Cap League Values

It's a cliché to say that those managers who finally dip their toe into salary cap leagues never go back to snake drafts. Snake drafts have their own charm. There is simply more going on, and thus, more fun to have when participating in a salary cap draft. There become no bounds on how one […]

Hidden Gems To Watch - 2021 Outfielder Prospects

When we talk about prospects, almost everybody wants to gravitate to the names at the top of the various lists; the guys like Wander Franco or Julio Rodriguez. The ones we've deemed "generational talents" or determined will "win you your league." But the issue, as we've seen with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., is that predicting prospect […]

Later-Round Category Targets - Stolen Bases

The stolen base is like no other category in the rotisserie game. It is correlated to no other category that is used in fantasy and is influenced by "specialists" (meaning players who only contribute in one category) way more than any other as well. Steal attempts have also been trending downward in recent MLB history, making […]

Undervalued Mixed League Draft Targets in 2021

Finding undervalued players during drafts can make or break your fantasy season. One of the ways we look for undervalued players is to utilize RotoBaller’s Expected Draft Value research developed by my colleague Nick Mariano.  We attempt to identify players who are forecast to return value in 2021 which is greater than the expected value […]