2021 Points League Rankings - Shortstop

The ides of January are behind us and fantasy baseball draft season is officially in full swing. And considering that H2H point league players got ran over the most by a 60-game season in 2020, I'm guessing you're just as ready as I am to get things going. So it points ranks time, baby! If you've […]

2021 Points League Rankings - Second Base

With football finally behind us (the season is over, right?) we're entering the best time of the year...AKA fantasy baseball draft season. Many may be focused on roto but point players are chomping at the bit after 2020's shortened season basically torpedoed H2H point leagues. So let's do some point ranks, shall we? If you've […]

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 […]

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 […]

Later-Round Category Targets - WHIP

Welcome back to RotoBaller and my later-round category targets series, thanks for being here. In this article, we're going to talk about some middle and late-round starting pitchers that can help your team in the WHIP category. It's important to note that there is a ton of overlap with WHIP and ERA, and I've already made […]

Roto Category Draft Targets - Wins

I'm here to do something that I probably can't actually do, help you find wins late in the draft. That's a very inspiring sentence, I know, but I'm an honest guy and I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I'm able to pontificate about which pitchers will earn lots of wins this […]

Later-Round Category Targets - ERA

Starting pitching is a finicky thing in the fantasy world. There is certain to be lots of impactful injuries, breakouts, and busts this year within the starting pitching position. After the first handful of rounds of the draft, it gets pretty tough to find guys you can feel confident about helping your team in the […]

Top 10 Relief Pitchers to Target - LIMA Plan

You need saves but you don't want to burn an early pick or spend up just to invest in a closer that joins the 50% club. That is, the 50% or more of relief pitchers who start the year as closers but will lose their job due to poor performance or injury at some point […]

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 […]

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 […]

Hidden Gems To Watch - 2021 Pitching Prospects

With pitchers and catchers reporting, Major League Baseball is bearing down on a return to normalcy for the 2021 season. With the MLBPA rejecting MLB’s offer of a delayed start to the 2021 season, opening day is now officially scheduled for Thursday, April 1. When analyzing the pool of pitching prospects for 2021, there are […]

Five Players Set to Break Out at Second Base

When defining a breakout, I look at it as players that can take a step forward to a level they never reached before. This leaves most of the top targets at the position unavailable for this discussion. Today, we bring you five players at the second base position that can take that next step and […]

Power Sleepers - Noteworthy 2020 Barrel Leaders

As we've continued to progress in the MLB offseason, I've been looking at barrel rates from 2020 in the hopes of finding players whose breakouts during the shortened season were real or those who may still have breakouts looming. As I've mentioned previously, I'm a firm believer that finding the barrel regularly is an incredibly […]

Catcher Draft Targets for All Leagues

Enough with the catcher slander! As fantasy baseball drafts heat up, all I keep reading about is how we're "forced" to draft catchers and how they can tank your roster. Catchers are people too! I could use thousands of words writing about the value of catchers and how the grind of their defensive job and […]

Jonathan Loaisiga Working On A Slider

New York Yankees relief pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga has been working on a slider this spring and has developed a more reliable changeup, according to manager Aaron Boone. Loaisiga has had mixed results since making his MLB debut in 2018, but his changeup has always been able to generate whiffs at an impressive clip and he […]

MLB Spring Training Notebook (3/18) - Montgomery, Alcantara Surging

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 […]

2021 Starting Pitcher Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Leagues (Part 2)

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, Outfield, and of course, Starting Pitcher Part One. RotoBaller's rankers, JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Nick Mariano, and Ariel Cohen have updated our 2021 Mixed League rankings once more based on […]

Jay Bruce Starts At First Base Again On Wednesday

New York Yankees outfielder Jay Bruce started at first base on Wednesday, making it the sixth time in nine spring starts that he's started at first base. Bruce has played some first base over his career, but it's generally come in spurts as he only played the position in 17 of his 130 games from […]

Jordan Montgomery Lowers Spring ERA To 0.90

New York Yankees starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery pitched well again on Wednesday, holding the Blue Jays to just one baserunner (a walk) over five innings with four strikeouts. Elbow injuries have limited Mongomery to only 75.1 innings over the last three seasons, but he's now fully healthy and will look to build off of his […]

Sam Chinitz's 10 Bold Predictions For 2021

The 2021 MLB regular season is less than one month away, so it’s time for some bold predictions. Last year’s bold predictions didn’t pan out too well for me; if we’re being generous, two out of the ten predictions hit -- and that’s including Corey Kluber posting a sub-3.00 ERA (which technically happened, even if […]

MLB Spring Training Notebook (3/17) - Jorge Polanco Leaves Game

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 […]

Starter Prospects that Could be Impact Relievers in 2021

In many ways, Major League Baseball is getting back to normal in 2021. Most importantly for sports fans and fantasy baseball fanatics, this means that the season will be 162 games after experiencing a stunted 2020 season. However, the sudden spike back to 162 games from 60 contests creates headaches for MLB managers. Lance Lynn […]

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 […]

Kyle Higashioka Working Toward A Return

New York Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka (side) is set to get back behind the plate Saturday as he continues to rehab side soreness, which has limited him to eight Grapefruit League games this season. With Robinson Chirinos (wrist) down, Higashioka has been expected to serve as the primary backup for Gary Sanchez. Across 16 games […]

Gio Urshela Starts At Shortstop On Tuesday

New York Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela started at shortstop on Tuesday and went 2-for-2 with a walk against the Tigers. The Yankees flirted with the idea of having Urshela play some shortstop when shortstop Gleyber Torres and second baseman DJ LeMahieu were on the injured list last season, but the team ultimately never opted […]

Starting Pitcher Rankings, NFL Free Agency - The King and Pocket Aces Episode 6

In this episode of The King and Pockets Aces, RotoBaller's Scott "The King" Engel and Anthony "Pocket Aces" Aniano share their highly charged Fantasy insights. They look at the latest and upcoming NFL player moves, the Hot Stove headlines, provide Fantasy Basketball player breakdowns, and ready you for the DFS NASCAR season with strategy tips. […]

Gerrit Cole Struggles Tuesday

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole struggled on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers as he allowed two earned runs on three hits while walking one and striking out five. The damage came off two solo home runs, so this one can likely be written off as just a couple of bad pitches by the Yankees' […]

Aaron Judge Unwilling To Change Approach At The Plate

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge is unwilling to swing at low pitches that often get called for strikes against him. Judge said he's thought about swinging at those pitches, but doing so would take him out of his approach. The slugger ultimately chalked it up to an umpiring issue, saying he'd rather focus on […]