Troy Tulowitzki Batting Ninth On Opening Day

New York Yankees shortstop Troy Tulowitzki will be batting at the bottom of the lineup on Opening Day against the Baltimore Orioles. The veteran infielder will likely see steady playing time until Didi Gregorius (elbow) is back to full health. The 34-year-old hit .242 across 39 plate appearances in spring training with four home runs […]

Predicting the Top 10 Finishers in Stolen Bases in 2019

Predicting the leaders in steals for the upcoming season may sound like a straightforward task, but it’s not as easy as it seems. There is quite a bit of variance involved, and the league as a whole has seen a sharp decline in stolen base attempts since the 2012 season (about 700 fewer attempts). Past […]

Austin Meadows Leading Off, Brandon Lowe Batting Cleanup

The Tampa Bay Rays have released their Opening Day lineup for the game Thursday against Justin Verlander and the Houston Astros. Outfielder Austin Meadows will hit in the leadoff spot. After a blistering spring campaign and a new contract, second baseman Brandon Lowe earns the cleanup spot and will serve as the designated hitter. This is […]

Franklin Barreto Likely To Be Optioned

Oakland Athletics shortstop Franklin Barreto is likely to start the year in the minors after the team acquired first baseman/designated hitter Kendrys Morales on Wednesday night. The 23-year-old still has time to develop into a decent major league player and should be back with Oakland eventually, but he's hit only .215/.252/.424 with seven home runs […]

Jorge Polanco Expected To Be Fine For Opener

Minnesota Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey said the team has "every expectation" that shortstop Jorge Polanco (arm) will be good to go on Opening Day on Thursday. Polanco and the Twins are facing Indians ace Corey Kluber, so avoiding Polanco in DFS is the right move, especially if he's not 100 percent. The 25-year-old […]

Francisco Lindor Suffers Acute Ankle Sprain

Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor (ankle, calf) suffered an acute ankle sprain while running the bases in a minor league game on Tuesday and received an MRI exam. His timetable for a return is unknown. Lindor, one of the best shortstops in the game and one of the top overall fantasy players, was hoping to […]

After Hours With RotoBaller Radio: MLB Opening Day 2019 Preview

Host Anthony Aniano of RotoBaller Radio discuss the 2019 fantasy baseball season and gets you warmed up for the MLB preseason. This radio show is sponsored by our good friends over at RT Sports. Be sure to check out their Best Ball leagues, drafting every day, and their awesome contest the RealTime Fantasy Sports Baseball Championship with a […]

Finding Under and Overvalued SS Using Expected Draft Values

We've been rolling out our Expected Draft Values series, starting with Nick Mariano's look into some undervalued players and overvalued players.As draft season winds down today, we're going to give you some undervalued and overvalued players who qualify at shortstop. As a quick primer, Expected Draft Value is the value you would historically expect, on average, from […]

FanDuel MLB DFS Lineup Picks (3/28/19): Daily Fantasy Baseball Advice

The 2019 MLB season is finally upon us as opening day is Thurday. Luckily, FanDuel kept this one full slate, and we have 14 games. The games start between 1 and 4 PM EST, and we should have the majority of lineups out by the time the first game begins. With this being such a […]

Francisco Lindor Plays In Minor League Game

Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor (calf) played eight innings in a minor league game on Monday and went 1-for-4 with a home run and four RBI. Lindor could return from the injured list as early as April 4, which means he might only miss the first five games of the year. Lindor's fantasy value has […]

Nick Kingham Named To 25-Man Roster

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Nick Kingham was named to the Opening Day roster, the team announced on Tuesday. Also joining him on the season-opening 25-man roster are relief pitcher Nick Burdi, utilityman Pablo Reyes, and shortstop Kevin Newman. Kingham was fighting for the team's fifth rotation spot this spring but will instead start the season out […]

Luis Urias To Start In Minors

San Diego Padres middle infielder Luis Urias will start the year at Triple-A after the team announced that shortstop prospect Fernando Tatis Jr. had made the Opening Day roster, according to a source. The Friars just didn't have enough room for Urias with Tatis set to start at short and veteran Ian Kinsler at second […]

Carlos Correa Could Miss Opening Day

Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch was non-committal on the status of shortstop Carlos Correa (neck) for Opening Day on Thursday. He hasn't played since last Friday due to neck stiffness. "We've got a couple days to evaluate him, so we'll see," Hinch said. While it might not be a big deal if Correa miss just […]

After Hours With RotoBaller Radio: MLB 2019 Bold Predictions

Host Anthony Aniano of RotoBaller Radio discuss the 2019 fantasy baseball season and gets you warmed up for the MLB preseason. This radio show is sponsored by our good friends over at RT Sports. Be sure to check out their Best Ball leagues, drafting every day, and their awesome contest the RealTime Fantasy Sports Baseball Championship with a […]

Fernando Tatis Jr. Makes The Opening Day Roster

The San Diego Padres have announced that their superstar shortstop prospect, Fernando Tatis Jr., will make the team's Opening Day roster. This news comes at a bit of a surprise with the service time manipulation that most teams follow, but it is no doubt deserving for the 20-year-old. The Padres want to go with "the […]

Carlos Correa Scratched Tuesday

Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa was scratched from Tuesday's lineup with neck stiffness. It's not what you want to see just two days before Opening Day, but the Astros are likely just being extra cautious with a star player that was limited to just 110 games in 2018 due to back issues. Correa disappointed with […]

Trevor Story Continues To Show Patience

Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story finally seemed to catch up to major league pitching last year, at least when it came to making contact. Story's prodigious power had been held back in previous years by his strikeout rate that hovered around 33%, but in 2018, he was able to drop that rate down to 25%. […]

Fernando Tatis Jr. Hopes To Make Opening Day Roster

San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., the team's top prospect and No. 2 overall in baseball, is hoping to make the Opening Day roster after opening eyes in spring training. The Padres intend to push their roster decision on Tatis back until the last possible moment, and it still seems likely that he'll begin […]

Updated Shortstop Rankings - H2H Points Leagues

The RotoBaller Head-to-Head rankings review series continues with a view of shortstop through the lens of our three-man expert panel of fantasy accuracy champ Nick Mariano and premier staffers JB Branson and Bill Dubiel. The position is well-stocked with useful starters, but as you get deeper, the H2H negatives will get exposed more. Near the […]

Jorge Polanco Dealing With Arm Fatigue

Minnesota Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco is battling some arm fatigue, but he served as the designated hitter in a minor league intrasquad game on Monday. Polanco's injury doesn't seem serious enough to keep him from playing on Opening Day this Thursday. The 25-year-old switch-hitter impressed by slashing .288/.345/.427 with six home runs, 42 RBI and […]

Rays Consider Extensions For Willy Adames, Brent Honeywell

The Tampa Bay Rays have reached out to shortstop Willy Adames and pitching prospect Brent Honeywell about potential long-term contract extensions. Honeywell was approached after he had Tommy John surgery. This comes after the Rays inked long-term deals for ace Blake Snell and utility man Brandon Lowe this spring. Tampa is looking to the future […]

Adalberto Mondesi Provides Tantalizing Spring

Kansas City Royals shortstop/second baseman Adalberto Mondesi gave fantasy owners a taste of his sky-high potential last season, but his spring training is making even more people drool. His basic counting stats weren't phenomenal with just two home runs and four stolen bases over the course of 48 at-bats, but his underlying numbers are the […]

David Fletcher Sits Over The Weekend

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim infielder David Fletcher (hamstring) was scratched from the lineup Saturday and he did not play in Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers due to tightness in his hamstring. However, manager Brad Ausmus didn't sounds terribly worried about Fletcher's status for the opener. "He's fine," Ausmus said. "It's still spring […]

Daniel Descalso Expected To Be Fine For Opening Day

Chicago Cubs utility man Daniel Descalso (shoulder) had a handful of at-bats and played multiple positions on the infield in a minor league game on Sunday. He'll likely play in one of the two upcoming games against the Red Sox and is expected to be fine for Opening Day. The 32-year-old veteran has proved to […]

Brandon Crawford Looking To Bounce Back In '19

San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford is hitting .205 during exhibition play as spring training winds to a close. The veteran shortstop is coming off a down season in 2018, posting his lowest slugging percentage (.394) since 2014. Crawford 's season capsized in the second half of last season, hitting only .194 while his power […]

Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball Part 14 - Statcast Expected Stats

Statcast is a valuable tool for fantasy analysis, and it can be easy to look at a stat called "Expected Batting Average" and blindly use it as your projection moving forward. Of course, proper use of these metrics is a little bit more nuanced than that. Our series on how to make sabermetrics more accessible […]

Corey Seager Readies For Opening Day As Starter

Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager was recently named the starting shortstop, and he has picked up the pace in the latter part of spring training in terms of workload. He started Sunday's Freeway Series exhibition game, posting six assists without an error. Seager was slowed in the early part of spring training as a […]

March ADP Musings - Overvalued / Undervalued Shortstops

It's full steam ahead for fantasy baseball draft season before Opening Day hits. Depending on how many leagues you are in, you may already have a pretty good handle on what to expect as far as where and when certain players or position groups are going in drafts. On the other hand, maybe you're only […]

Yankees Have Confidence in Troy Tulowitzki

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman reiterated his club's confidence in shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, claiming they are "all in" on the veteran and also calling him "our shortstop" as the season nears. Of course, that's the case due to Didi Gregorius' Tommy John surgery and subsequent rehab that will keep him sidelined, perhaps for half […]

Amed Rosario In Fine Form Heading Into Season

After settling in and having a much better second half of the season in 2018, New York Mets shortstop Amed Rosario has backed that up with a strong spring training. The 23-year-old has hit .333 in 15 games this Spring, stealing three bases, driving in 10 runs and smacking a pair of home runs. Heading […]