2020 Breakout Infielders Who'll Keep Improving

In a recent article, I outlined a methodology to determine which breakout 2020 seasons from hitters would be built off of into 2021. Upon further reflection, however, I’m unconvinced that that methodology the best way to spot breakouts that will continue to improve, in large part because of its reliance on evaluating the stickiness of […]

2021 Keeper Value Rankings - Third Base

Many many years ago, I noticed the managers in my long-time keeper league were consistently making terrible keeper decisions year after year. Instead of taking their money every year thought I would help them out and find a good set of Keeper League Rankings to share with them. What I found was quite disturbing. There […]

Chasen Bradford Signs Minor-League Deal With Braves

The Atlanta Braves signed reliever Chasen Bradford to a minor-league deal on Tuesday, according to Jeff Passan. The 31-year-old missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Bradford last pitched with the Seattle Mariners in 2019. He owns a 3.89 ERA and 6.6 K/9 through 104 innings in his MLB career. Bradford bolsters […]

Marcell Ozuna Hits First Homer Of Spring Tuesday

Atlanta Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna went 1-for-3 with his first home run of the spring on Tuesday in a loss to the Red Sox. Ozuna accounted for all of the Braves' runs in the loss with his three-run blast to left with one out in the third inning. After a slow start that saw Ozuna […]

MLB Spring Training Notebook (3/16) - Luis Robert Scratched Monday

Welcome to the 2021 edition of RotoBaller's Spring Training Notebook. Thankfully, we have real, live baseball being played every day again, and while it doesn't count for anything, these exhibition games gives us the smallest glimmer into players and teams heading into the new season. We're into our third week of spring training games and […]

Fantasy Baseball Spring Training Injury Updates

Injury updates tend to change often during Spring Training. "Soreness" is a common theme as players get back into game shape. I will be giving the most recent available injury updates from the offseason. These updates will undoubtedly change as Spring Training continues. As we get closer to Opening Day, some injuries are much more […]

2021 Starting Pitcher Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Leagues (Part 1)

We now move on to starting pitcher in our mixed-league rankings analysis series. If you missed them, here is our review of Catcher, First Base, Second Base, Third Base, Shortstop, and Outfield. RotoBaller's rankers, JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Nick Mariano, and Ariel Cohen have updated our 2021 Mixed League rankings once more based on early spring training action. You can […]

Austin Riley Clears COVID Protocols, Will Return Wednesday

Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley has cleared the league's COVID-19 protocols and will return to the lineup on Wednesday, according to Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Riley last played on Thursday and was penciled into Monday's lineup before being removed just prior to the game's start. Riley hasn't shown power this spring, but he's been […]

Freddie Freeman Goes 1-for-2 Sunday

Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman went 1-for-2 with a walk in Sunday's 8-7 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Freeman has started the spring slow by going just 2-for-11 with a run scored across his first six games. This is nothing to sweat as the Braves are just easing Freeman into action. He had […]

Chris Martin Will Make Debut In Next Two Days

Atlanta Braves reliever Chris Martin will make his Grapefruit League debut within the next two days, according to manager Brian Snitker. The Braves skipper noted that Martin is healthy and that everything is fine with him. He's just been pitching in simulated games as opposed to live ones. The 34-year-old righty was excellent for the […]

Top 20 Outfielders - Dynasty Prospect Rankings

If you’ve played fantasy baseball for a while, you know how hard it can be to find enough quality outfielders to field a competitive team all year long. The good news for fantasy managers is that there are some big names on the way, thanks in part to the 2020 amateur draft which had a […]

Launch Angle Analysis - Potential HR Risers

With the onset of Statcast data, we can now better predict which hitters may be due for a power surge. Before recent years, we only had things like hard-hit rate and home runs per fly ball ratios to look to as predictors of future changes in home run rates. Now that we have launch angle, […]

Spring Training Lineup Takeaways - Week 2 Lineup Trends

Welcome back RotoBallers! We are entering week three of Spring Training already, and with that came a lot of things we saw in week two. But of course, my week one review also still has very relevant information as well. Just a reminder, in my Lineup Takeaways series we are focusing 100% on lineups, news and […]

Top 25 Starting Pitchers - Dynasty Prospects Rankings

Pitching is an important element of any successful Major League Baseball team — real or fantasy. Coming off a truncated season in 2020 and facing another unique season ahead, pitching prospects will be more important than ever in 2021. MLB managers will be faced with a full 2021 season and, after throwing reduced innings last […]

Ozzie Albies Struggles Continue Saturday

Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in Saturday's 7-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox. Albies is now just 2-for-13 with a home run and one RBI in his first six spring games. It is still early enough in the spring where Albies can rebound and put together a string […]

Ian Anderson Strikes Out Seven

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Ian Anderson struck out the first four Boston Red Sox batters that he faced on Saturday. In total, the rookie hurler whiffed seven batters over 3.1 innings but he also struggled with his command. He allowed three runs on a walk and four hits, including a solo home run. Through two […]

Michael Florio's Hitters to Target

Every year, one of the articles I look most forward to writing is about the players I am targeting in my drafts. It not only allows me to talk about the players I know I am high on and go into my drafts hoping to select, but it also forces me to look over my […]

2021 Keeper Value Rankings - Second Base

Many many years ago, I noticed the managers in my long-time keeper league were consistently making terrible keeper decisions year after year. Instead of taking their money every year thought I would help them out and find a good set of Keeper League Rankings to share with them. What I found was quite disturbing. There […]

Maikel Franco On The Braves Radar

Free-agent third baseman Maikel Franco is likely to choose his new team in the coming days, and the Atlanta Braves are firmly in the mix. The Orioles and Mets have also shown interest. The 28-year-old slashed .278/.321/.457 with eight homers and 38 RBI with the Royals in 2020. He remains a useful right-handed bat, but […]

MLB Spring Training Notebook (3/12) - Severino Beginning Build Up

Welcome to the 2021 edition of RotoBaller's Spring Training Notebook. Thankfully, we have real, live baseball being played every day again, and while it doesn't count for anything, these exhibition games gives us the smallest glimmer into players and teams heading into the new season. We're officially through the first week of spring training games […]

Nick Markakis Announces Retirement

Outfielder Nick Markakis has announced his retirement from the MLB after 15 seasons. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Baltimore Orioles and the last six years with the Atlanta Braves. He finishes his career with a career batting average of .288 as well as 189 home runs and 1,046 RBI. […]

2021 Outfielder Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Leagues

We now move on to the outfielder position in our mixed-league rankings analysis series. If you missed them, here is our review of Catcher, First Base, Second Base, Third Base and Shortstop. RotoBaller's rankers, JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Nick Mariano, and Ariel Cohen have updated our 2021 Mixed League rankings once more based on early spring training action. […]

Ender Inciarte's Injury Giving Cristian Pache An Opportunity

Atlanta Braves outfielder Cristian Pache has a greater chance to open the season as the team's center fielder with Ender Inciarte (thumb) spending the last week bothered by a sore left thumb. Inciarte might not have enough time to prove he's capable of the handling the center field job with just three weeks until Opening […]

Kyle Wright Making Bid For Rotation Spot

Atlanta Braves starting pitchers Kyle Wright, Bryse Wilson and Huascar Ynoa are the top candidates to fill the final rotation spot until Mike Soroka returns from Achilles surgery. If Soroka returns on schedule within the first few weeks of the regular season, Atlanta might need one of those pitchers to make just a start or […]

MLB DFS Advice: Picking Pitchers on DraftKings and FanDuel

Welcome back to RotoBaller, where we are taking you through some advanced DFS strategy and advice to prepare you for a full-length MLB season in 2021. Last spring, while baseball was not being played and I did not know what to do with myself, I wrote a big old script to go back and collect […]

Michael Harris Impressing The Skipper

Atlanta Braves outfield prospect Michael Harris has played in just 53 minor league games since graduating high school in 2019, but the 20-year-old has made an impression on manager Brian Snitker in camp. Harris hit his first homer off Rays hard-throwing right-hander Pete Fairbanks on Thursday, making him 3-for-7 through seven games. Ranked as the […]

Finding Over/Undervalued Second Basemen Using Expected Draft Values

Welcome to the FSWA-nominated Expected Draft Values series, where we look at historical data to identify both over and undervalued players of all types. Whether you're targeting power, speed, power+speed, batting average+power, and so on, we've got you covered. We now head to second base as we make our way around the diamond for 2021. […]

Ronald Acuna Jr. Goes Deep For First Time This Spring

Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. hit his first spring training home run on Thursday, a solo shot to left field off Rays right-hander Collin McHugh. Acuna entered the day 2-for-14 with five strikeouts in spring training but had two hits on the day. He was 5-for-32 with no extra-base hits and 14 strikeouts last […]

Ian Anderson Has Contract Renewed For 2021

Atlanta Braves pitcher Ian Anderson saw his contract get renewed ahead of the 2021 season. The 22-year-old will make $575,000 while in the majors this year. Anderson is one of the brightest young pitchers in baseball and tossed two scoreless innings during his first Spring appearance. He has considerable value in standard leagues, as he […]

Ronald Acuna Jr. Hungry For World Series Run

Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. has higher expectations for his team this year after narrowly missing out on a World Series last year. In a recent interview, Acuna stated, "We're coming in with the same mentality we had last year, but we are coming in with even more hunger to reach the World Series." […]