Pirates Load Up On Arms In Day 2 Of Draft

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Chapman University pitcher Nick Garcia with the 79th overall pick in the third round in the 2020 MLB draft on Thursday. The Bucs then took Appalachian State pitcher Jack Hartman in the fourth round and Northwestern State pitcher Logan Hofmann in the fifth round. All three are right-handed pitchers, and Pittsburgh […]

ERA Lie Detector: Finding 2019 Underachievers with SIERA (Part 2)

Welcome back RotoBallers to my Lie Detector mini-series (you can read part one here). Skills-Interactive ERA (or SIERA) has been around since 2011 when it was introduced at Baseball Prospectus by Matt Swartz and Eric Seidman before moving to its current home at Fangraphs. Much like xFIP, SIERA attempts to quantify the skills that underpin […]

Pirates Go With Jared Jones In Second Round

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected La Mirada High School pitcher Jared Jones with the 44th overall pick in the second round in the 2020 MLB draft on Thursday. Jones was a two-way star in high school, but his future in the big leagues is on the mound. He has a big arm and can get his […]

Carmen Mlodzinski Taken By Pirates At Pick No. 31

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected South Carolina pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski with the 31st overall pick in the 2020 MLB draft on Wednesday. Mlodzinski opened last season as the Gamecocks' No. 1 starter as a sophomore but broke his left foot and missed the rest of the year. But he ranked as the best pitching prospect in […]

Nick Gonzales Taken By Bucs At No. 7

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected New Mexico State shortstop Nick Gonzales with the seventh overall pick in the 2020 MLB draft on Wednesday. Gonzales wasn't on the radar out of high school and was a walk-on in college, but he has done nothing but hit in college. He won the Cape Cod MVP last summer by […]

Major League Baseball 2020 Mock Draft

The 2020 MLB amateur draft takes place later tonight and it will be unlike any draft we’ve seen. With owners crying poor and minor league systems set to be permanently compressed, the draft has been slashed from the normal 40 rounds to just five — although teams will be able to sign undrafted players as […]

How to Approach MLB Rookies in 2020 Re-draft Leagues

While the players and owners continue to trade demands for getting the 2020 season on its feet, we're going to turn our attention to fantasy. This article will specifically look at players who have yet to make their major league debut (or come up for more than the proverbial cup of coffee) and how fantasy […]

Four Things I Wish I Knew Before My First "Only" Draft

If you're looking to liven up your fantasy experience, trying your hand at an Only league could be a great way to bring a fresh perspective to one of your favorite pastimes. While standard mixed leagues are largely a race to accumulate as many elite performers as possible, Only leagues allow owners to demonstrate their […]

Talking Pitching With Nicklaus Gaut - Benched with Bubba (Episode 292)

Bubba (@bdentrek) is joined by RotoBaller's own Nicklaus Gaut (@NT_BurtReynolds). The guys chat about the Chris Archer injury, some pitchers that have over/under achieved when looking at ERA and SIERA, and then hit some listener questions. Be sure to subscribe to the Benched With Bubba Podcast, part of RotoBaller Radio's Podcast Network. Like and Subscribe to the RotoBaller channel […]

Chris Archer to Miss 2020 Season

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Chris Archer (neck, shoulder) will miss the entire 2020 season after undergoing surgery to relieve symptoms of neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome. This is a surprise announcement, as Archer wasn't reported to be having any issues before spring training was canceled in March. However, he did finish the 2019 season on the injured […]

Relief Pitcher Draft Sleepers for Fantasy Baseball

Host Michael Florio of RotoBaller Radio discusses the 2020 fantasy baseball season. In this episode, he brings you his fantasy baseball draft sleepers for relief pitchers and closers. Like and subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get all our latest podcasts and catch us on iTunes and BlogTalkRadio as well! Be sure to also tune […]

Felipe Vazquez Facing New Charges

Suspended Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Felipe Vazquez is now facing child-pornography charges in St. Louis, as he's reportedly accused of sending pornographic pictures of himself to a minor last summer. The 28-year-old left-hander was charged with statutory sexual assault and other offenses in September of last year for having improper sexual conduct with a then-13-year-old […]

ERA Lie Detector: Finding 2019 ERA Underachievers With SIERA

Skills-Interactive ERA (or SIERA) has been around since 2011 when it was introduced at Baseball Prospectus by Matt Swartz and Eric Seidman before moving to its current home at Fangraphs. Much like xFIP, SIERA attempts to quantify the skills that underpin a pitcher's ERA, albeit in a different manner. Although technically a backward-looking evaluator,  SIERA […]

Starting Pitcher Draft Sleepers for Fantasy Baseball

Host Michael Florio of RotoBaller Radio discusses the 2020 fantasy baseball season. In this episode, he brings you his fantasy baseball draft sleepers at the catcher position. Like and subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get all our latest podcasts and catch us on iTunes and BlogTalkRadio as well! Be sure to also tune into […]

KBO DFS Lineup Picks for 5/28/20 - DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball

Welcome back, Rotoballers, to another KBO DFS pick column with yours truly! If you haven't been following me on Twitter @efhatch1990dfs, then you should start! I have been covering KBO since day one, and have been creating my own personal sheets to help people win money. I am going to include some of that data […]

Eliminating Park Factors: Which Hitters Will Benefit Most

As Major League Baseball seeks a way to open the season in early July, one proposal has teams starting or playing the entire season in warm-weather locations (Arizona and Florida) or hub cities. That leaves fantasy managers to re-evaluate hitters whose parks impact their performance and value. For hitters, it’s primarily a matter of considering […]

Kevin Kramer Out 4-6 Months After Surgery

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Kevin Kramer underwent hip surgery and will be out for four to six months. With the 2020 season not likely to start until at least early July because of COVID-19, this effectively will end Kramer's chances of playing this year. The 26-year-old has played in only 43 major league games the last […]

Pittsburgh Pirates: Top 10 Dynasty Prospects

The Pittsburgh Pirates will be our next stop on the farm to evaluate the best prospects on each MLB team. Once the 2020 MLB season begins, it may turn out that Minor League systems will be more important than usual. Franchises are losing money during the pandemic layoff, so many teams will be looking for […]

Three Hitters Ready to Breakout Earlier Than Their Prime

The quickest path to a fantasy championship is to identify and select potential breakouts. The challenge with this approach is that usually such players are hyped to the point where their ADP becomes inflated. This increases their risk, because often their new ADP has an assumed breakout baked into the cost.  This is why it’s […]

Third Basemen Likely to Return a Loss in 2020

So far we've covered some possible players to avoid at both 1B and 2B, so now we'll finish up by looking at 3B. Just as a refresher, my goal is these articles is to point out players who I believe won't match the value necessary for their current ADP. We frequently want to label these players […]

KBO Betting Picks (5/14/20) - Moneylines, Totals, and Runlines

Wednesday was not great and a nice little reality check. However, I don't look back at any of the bets with regret or see flaw in my analysis. An eight-run second inning for LG destroyed any hopes for SK. Samsung's David Buchanan threw arguably the best game of his entire professional career against a potent […]

KBO Betting Picks (5/13/20) - Moneylines, Totals, and Runlines

Yesterday's slate had some exciting moments, like the NC Dinos pulling off a comeback win thanks to a ninth inning, game-tying two-run homer before a solo walk off home run in the 10th. Luckily we targeted the over in that game and it had already hit but for some, these are the moments us sports […]

KBO Betting Picks (5/12/2020) - Moneylines, Totals, and Runlines

Following the Monday off day, we're a full week down of KBO. It's been an exciting time being able to place bets on real baseball again, even if we're unable to watch parts of the game live. While there is still an acclimation period of knowing players, we can at least get a sense of […]

The King's Insider Report: Views From an MLB Scout

The award-winning Fantasy Baseball Insider Series continues on RotoBaller, this time with the takes of a longtime Major League scout. Every year during fantasy baseball draft season, Scott Engel talks to prime MLB sources to get exclusive nuggets of information. On the condition of anonymity, former and current players, executives, scouts, media members and others […]

Hidden Gems to Watch - 2020 Infield Prospects

As we continue through this window of uncertainty, the chances of having a “normal” season are getting far less likely. And while we still don’t have any concrete solutions for having a 2020 season, some ideas seem to be more likely than others. Whether implementing regular doubleheaders in a truncated season or a universal designated-hitter, […]

Hidden Gems to Watch - 2020 Outfield Prospects

As we continue through this window of uncertainty, the chances of having a “normal” season are getting far less likely. While we still don’t have any concrete solutions for having a 2020 season, some ideas seem to be more likely than others. One such idea of implementing regular double-headers into an already-truncated season, with three […]

Eliminating Park Factors: Which Pitchers Will Suffer the Most

After weeks of half-baked proposals cribbed from rejected "BioDome" scripts, there now seems to be a scrape of light at the end of the no-baseball tunnel. MLB seems to be increasingly confident that a 2020 season will be played, whether it's playing all games in one location (the Arizona plan), playing in multiple warm-weather hubs (Arizona, […]

KBO DFS Lineup Picks for 5/6/20 - DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball

Welcome back, RotoBallers, to another KBO DFS column. Have you caught KBO fever yet? Our first slate went, well, as baseball slates tend to go! One chalky pitcher busted and one of my favorite stacks was ho-hum. But the process was solid, and that's what matters. It's only day two of KBO DFS and we […]

Drafting First Overall In Rotisserie Formats

I really do believe there’s no such thing as too much draft strategy. There are a lot of factors that play into draft selections. I will be discussing topics ranging from positional scarcity to team construction and many things in between. The idea is to go into my strategy and targets through the first 10 […]

KBO DFS Lineup Picks for 5/5/20 - DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball

Welcome RotoBallers to my first KBO DFS column. Baseball is officially back! It's been more than a month since Spring Training was canceled and the KBO is finally here to cure your baseball blues. After a long hiatus, DraftKings and FanDuel finally have live baseball contests set to go. Tuesday is opening day for the […]