Later-Round Batting Average Targets for Fantasy Baseball - Luis Arraez, Alex Verdugo, Brendan Rodgers and More

Fantasy baseball is a beautiful game. There are so many ways to build a competitive roster given all of the different ways for a player to contribute. There are various different ways for players to contribute to your fantasy season in category leagues. This post series will take you through each of the five standard... Read More

High-Upside Starting Pitchers: Swinging Strike Edition

Unlike the fantasy football world, there are not a lot of casual baseball fans playing the fantasy game. Have you ever heard of a friendly office fantasy baseball league? Probably not. If you're playing fantasy baseball for any actual stake, you are most likely competing against people who know what they're doing - at least... Read More

Pitcher Statcast: Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball

Statcast metrics such as Barrels and Brls/BBE are great ways to evaluate a batter's performance, so it is only natural to assume that the metrics would be predictive for pitchers as well. As much as batters want to hit a Barrel every time, pitchers want to avoid them at all costs. Yet there is evidence... Read More

Adventures in Positional Scarcity - Catchers Edition for Fantasy Baseball Drafts

This question of how to handle the catcher position has taken on a new level of tough in 2022, at least in the opinion of this analyst. Catchers have always underperformed offensively relative to the rest of the positions, mainly because the first bullet point on their job description is not to hit the ball... Read More

Shane Bieber To Start Opening Day For Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians have named Shane Bieber the team's starting pitcher for Opening Day. He will face the Kansas City Royals next Thursday, April 7. The 26-year-old is coming off of an injury-shortened 2021 campaign. He was held to just 16 starts due to a shoulder strain that sidelined him for much of the season's... Read More

Eric Samulski's Top 100 Starting Pitchers

I decided to publish a top-100 starting pitching rankings list! I have no idea why, though. These fantasy baseball rankings lists are often the most scrutinized and criticized of anything anybody publishes, so I'm not sure why I decided to open myself up to this. However, I've also been researching pitching all offseason and constantly... Read More

Updated Fantasy Baseball Catcher Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Roto Leagues

Welcome back RotoBallers to some more preseason fantasy baseball rankings! RotoBaller is constantly working to try and bring fantasy baseball managers the best advice, especially during draft season. A big part of that includes regular updates to our tiered rankings for all formats. Our MLB rankers, -- JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Ariel Cohen, Nicklaus Gaut,... Read More

Pitchers Under $10: Salary Cap League Draft Targets for Fantasy Baseball - Luis Severino, Ian Anderson, Camilo Doval, and more

We've already identified hitters under $10 to target in salary cap league drafts. For this exercise, we're targeting pitchers under $10. That rules out roughly the top-150 players in drafts. From this vantage point, some managers may look for high-risk, high-reward plays to strike big with a small investment. There are plenty of safer guys... Read More

JB's Bullpen Method for 2022 - Building FrankenAces with Relief Pitchers

Two years ago, I finally published an article breaking down my favorite fantasy baseball strategy I have been using for years. It's really less of a strategy and more a state of mind. No, the Bullpen Method is a lifestyle. I always speak about the importance of balance on a fantasy team. For your pitching staff,... Read More

Finding Over/Undervalued Third Basemen Using Expected Draft Values

We push on with our Expected Draft Values series, which utilizes historical data and projections to 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 a trio of third basemen and compare their projected statline via my... Read More

Cal Quantrill (SP, CLE) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~240 pick CURRENT ADP: ~264 overall ANALYSIS: Quantrill is a former first-round pick of the Padres back in 2016 at age 21. He moved quickly through low-A ball but stalled out in Triple-A and didn't have the type of minor league success that you'd expect from a top prospect. In 2019,... Read More

Jose Ramirez, Guardians Discussing Contract Extension

The Cleveland Guardians and third baseman Jose Ramirez's representatives have been talking on and off for the last couple of weeks about a potential contract extension that would keep the three-time All-Star in town for the bulk of his career. He signed with the team as a 17-year-old and has said he'd like to finish... Read More

Finding Over/Undervalued Outfielders Using Expected Draft Values

We're back for another installment of the FSWA-award-nominated Expected Draft Values series, where we look at historical data to identify both overvalued 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. Today, we'll look at three outfielders and compare their projected statline via... Read More

Cal Quantrill: 2022 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

We are always looking for players to draft who other managers are sleeping on - hence the term sleeper. They can take the form of a player who is coming back from injury, a prospect who is ready to break out, a young player who is looking at more playing time, or even a veteran... Read More

Later-Round Fantasy Baseball Hitter Targets: Home Runs

Today, we will be highlighting some hitters that can help your team in the home runs category without costing you tons of your draft capital. We have gone through several categories already, so check out those posts if you've missed them. These analyses are vital to having a successful fantasy baseball draft in rotisserie-style leagues.... Read More

Michael Florio's Pitchers to Target in Points Leagues

Starting pitchers are important in all fantasy baseball formats, but perhaps none more so than fantasy baseball points leagues. It's easy to understand why so much emphasis is placed on this position once you understand the scoring system. You build your hitters and your pitchers, and while they are all apart of one team, they... Read More

Updated Fantasy Baseball Shortstop Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Roto Leagues

With Spring Training upon us, and the fantasy baseball draft season in full swing, it's time to look at the shortstop position and see who may or may not be fantasy-relevant and worthy of a draft pick this season. RotoBaller's lead MLB rankers - JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Ariel Cohen, Nicklaus Gaut, and Nick Mariano... Read More

Updated Fantasy Baseball Draft Rankings for Roto Leagues - Ronald Acuna, Randal Grichuk, Luis Castillo, Dylan Floro, Shane Baz and More

Welcome back RotoBallers! Spring Training is upon us, and fantasy baseball drafts are about to get busy. Below are our updated 2022 fantasy baseball draft rankings and tiers for roto leagues. We will be updating these rankings constantly, and releasing updates every few days along with relevant injury updates to be aware of. Five of... Read More

Jon Anderson's 2022 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide

Baseball is happening in 2022, and it is happening in full force. With the excellent news of the lockout ending, we are ready to dive full steam ahead into the fantasy baseball draft season! I have had my head deep in baseball data since before Christmas, so I wanted to come out with a miniature... Read More

Luke Maile Sidelined With Left Hamstring Strain

Cleveland Guardians catcher Luke Maile has been diagnosed with a left hamstring strain and will miss three to four weeks of game action, according to Mandy Bell of MLB.com. The veteran backstop joined the team with a chance to compete for a roster spot, but this injury represents a major obstacle. Now, the 31-year-old will... Read More

James Karinchak Shut Down From Throwing

Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher James Karinchak has been shut down from throwing for the next seven to 10 days, according to Mandy Bell of MLB.com. Following an MRI, the right-hander was diagnosed with a mild strain of his teres major muscle. As such, Opening Day could be in jeopardy for Karinchak, who ranks 48th among... Read More

Jarren Duran (OF, BOS) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 350 CURRENT ADP: ~386 overall ANALYSIS: Duran torched Triple-A last year and wound up getting the call to make his MLB debut in mid-July. He went on to disappoint over 33 games in the majors, slashing .215/.241/.336 with two home runs. However, fantasy managers shouldn’t be discouraged by that small... Read More

Insider Report: Top Fantasy Baseball Values on Fantrax From An MLB Scout

Welcome back to our annual Fantasy Baseball Insider series on RotoBaller.com, where we take you inside Major League Baseball clubhouses, press boxes, and front offices for exclusive insights that provide a completely unique edge on the competition. We give you an all-access pass to information and takes that simply won’t be found anywhere else, along... Read More

Michael Florio's Hitters to Target in Points Leagues

Points leagues are becoming more and more popular in fantasy baseball. They have long been my favorite format because they are great both for the newcomer and the seasoned vet. The thing about points leagues is that while the scoring can vary based on platform, they tend to reward more outcomes than traditional Roto leagues,... Read More

One Tweak Away: Pitchers That Could Break Out in 2022

Yu Darvish and Lucas Giolito in 2019, Robbie Ray and Shohei Ohtani in 2021. These are examples of pitchers that had struggled with their command for most of their careers, but then suddenly improved and became fantasy aces overnight. Walk rates are one of the most important things to look for when evaluating fantasy pitchers.... Read More

Prime-Age Infielders Set to Break Out for Fantasy Baseball

With baseball officially back, we can finally move on from worrying about whether the teams would actually be on the field and start worrying about the fake teams we're going to field this year in fantasy baseball. This article is going to break down three infielders in the age 26-29 range who are on the... Read More

RotoBaller Staff Mock Draft Analysis: 12-Team Roto League Draft

Fantasy prep is never complete without mock drafts. So in doing our best to prepare for the 2022 season, my fellow RotoBaller writers and I got together for a 12-team 5X5 Roto mock draft. The only difference is that we used Quality Starts instead of Wins. I’ll be breaking down our draft round-by-round and highlighting... Read More

Mid-Round Relief Pitchers - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values and Targets

Welcome officially to the 2022 fantasy baseball season! Now that an MLB deal is in place, a lot more fantasy drafts will be taking place -- and we're here as always to guide you through it. Once you reach the middle rounds of drafts, everyone is looking to draft players with upside that can provide... Read More

Franmil Reyes (DH, CLE) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 105 CURRENT ADP: ~120 overall ANALYSIS: Cleveland Guardians designated hitter Franmil Reyes was solid in 115 games last year, bashing 30 HRs with 57 runs, 85 RBI, four stolen bases, and a .254 batting average. His knack of hitting for power comes with some strikeout issues, though, and that continued in 2021... Read More

Starting Pitcher Breakouts Who’ll Continue to Improve - Fantasy Baseball Draft Targets

Each year in the MLB, there’s always a handful of players who finally breakout and show their true potential. Oftentimes, some of these breakouts are legit, and for others, it’s just a fluke solid season. That was again the case during the 2021 regular season. We saw a ton of strong showings from some unexpected... Read More