X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Join the Best Live Fantasy Chat Community!

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Draft Rankings
Draft Simulator
Enter League Settings
Player Comparisons
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

Where Do Elite Starters Come From?

Among expert drafts, starting pitchers are coming off the board earlier and more rapidly than in previous years. For instance, the LABR mixed league saw nine starters drafted in the first two rounds in comparison to just six in 2018 and five in 2017.

Pitcher selection in expert drafts has been somewhat more aggressive than general fantasy draft trends, and it is clearly more aggressive than industry-wide rankings. We seem to be shifting away from avoiding pitchers in the opening rounds. There’s a definite division between owners looking to acquire a top-tier starter in the first three rounds and owners continuing to eschew pitchers in favor of hitters. When I finished Part 1 in this series, it appeared that elite pitchers were becoming increasingly valuable because they are less subject to the trend of curtailing pitcher usage.

The problem, of course, is that trying to draft an elite starter and getting one are entirely different things. Additionally, that prompted the question, what even constitutes an elite starting pitcher and how can we identify pitchers likely to generate elite seasons?

Be sure to check all of our preseason fantasy baseball rankings for Roto, Points, H2H, dynasty, best ball, prospects and more:

 

Trying to Define an Elite Starter: Methodology

As part of my research for the previous article, I set out to chart the auction value of each starter for both from the last six seasons. If you’re not interested in an account of how I came up with my dollar values, skip down to the next section.

For this article, I’ve combined quality starts and wins by weighting them at 50% each. Other than that, I’ve used the same approach as my previous article: 12-team setup with 5x5 scoring, standard positions with a corner infield spot, middle infield spot, and a utility spot, five starters, three relievers, and a 70/30 offense/pitching split for a $260 league.

After looking at the data for six seasons, I defined an elite starter as a pitcher whose value is two standard deviations higher than the average fantasy starter. The average fantasy relevant pitcher averages around eight dollars in value. Depending on settings, league size, and year, there are usually 60 to 80 starting pitchers with neutral or positive value. Those starters were the population used to calculate the average and standard deviation. That approach gave me a definition of elite starters as pitchers who generated $26.88 or more in a single season. The average elite pitcher was worth $35.80, meaning that elite starting pitchers were worth about four times as much as the average starting pitcher in a 12-team league.

 

What Is an Elite Starter?

Based on my approach, there have been 22 elite pitching seasons since 2013. Twelve of those seasons have come from three pitchers: Clayton Kershaw (5), Max Scherzer (5), and Chris Sale (2). Some of the numbers below are traditional fantasy categories. Some of them are more advanced numbers generally used to gauge if a player’s performance is legitimate.

Year Value Name IP W QS ERA FIP WHIP K K%
2015 $45.30 Jake Arrieta 229 22 29 1.77 2.35 0.84 236 27.1%
2015 $41.90 Zack Greinke 222.2 19 30 1.66 2.76 0.84 200 33.8%
2015 $41.80 Clayton Kershaw 232.2 16 27 2.13 1.99 0.88 301 23.7%
2014 $41.40 Clayton Kershaw 198.1 21 24 1.77 1.81 0.86 239 31.9%
2017 $41.20 Corey Kluber 203.2 18 22 2.25 2.50 0.87 265 34.1%
2018 $40.70 Jacob deGrom 217 10 28 1.7 1.99 0.91 269 32.2%
2013 $39.10 Clayton Kershaw 236 16 27 1.83 2.39 0.92 232 25.6%
2017 $36.00 Max Scherzer 200.2 16 22 2.51 2.90 0.9 268 34.4%
2018 $35.90 Max Scherzer 220.2 18 28 2.53 2.65 0.91 300 34.6%
2018 $35.20 Justin Verlander 214 16 26 2.52 2.78 1.05 246 34.8%
2017 $34.90 Chris Sale 214.1 17 23 2.90 2.45 0.97 308 36.2%
2014 $34.50 Johnny Cueto 243.2 20 29 2.25 3.30 0.96 242 25.2%
2016 $34.30 Clayton Kershaw 149 12 17 1.69 1.80 0.72 172 31.6%
2014 $34.30 Felix Hernandez 236 15 27 2.14 2.56 0.92 248 27.2%
2018 $33.50 Blake Snell 180.2 21 19 1.89 2.95 0.97 221 31.6%
2016 $33.20 Max Scherzer 228.1 20 26 2.96 3.24 0.97 284 31.5%
2015 $31.70 Max Scherzer 228.2 14 23 2.79 2.77 0.92 276 30.7%
2017 $31.60 Clayton Kershaw 175 18 20 2.31 3.07 0.95 202 29.8%
2018 $31.10 Aaron Nola 212 17 25 2.37 3.01 0.97 224 27.0%
2018 $31.00 Chris Sale 158 12 17 2.11 1.98 0.86 237 38.4%
2013 $29.52 Max Scherzer 214.1 21 25 2.90 2.74 0.97 240 28.7%
2015 $28.90 Dallas Keuchel 232 20 27 2.48 2.91 1.02 216 23.7%

 

Sticking with the advanced stats, here’s how the average 2013-2018 elite starter stacked up against the average fantasy starter from 2018:

FIP xFIP K% K/B% IP IPS
Elite Starters 2.56 2.80 30.6 6.15 211 6.2
2018 Avg. Starter 3.63 3.74 24.2 3.66 164.1 5.2

Aside from improved performance, there were a few notable differences between fantasy relevant pitchers AND elite pitching seasons. Most elite pitchers generated additional value in the same way as elite leadoff or two-spot hitters: through high-quality volume. They tend to throw more innings in total, average more innings per start, and have a dramatically higher quality-start rate at 78.5% which helps lead to higher win totals. The exceptions were seasons like Chris Sale in 2018 or Clayton Kershaw in 2016 and 2017: seasons when the player generated outlier ratio stats that overcame the reduced number of innings.

In 2018, six starters fit that definition of an elite pitcher: Jacob deGrom ($40.70), Max Scherzer ($35.90), Justin Verlander ($35.20), Blake Snell ($33.50), Aaron Nola ($31.10), and Chris Sale ($31.00). Those are uninflated values based on a player’s Z-score. Sale’s value in this sequence is depressed by his lower number of innings and lower IPS. In my simulated league, deGrom’s calculated value would have ranked fourth overall. Sale would have been 15th.

Perhaps, it’s obvious, but 2018 was the only year to have six elite pitchers. Maybe fantasy baseball pitchers are becoming more stratified across the spectrum, but I haven’t done the research for that. For reference, 2015 had five elite-level pitchers plus another one who just barely missed the cutoff. For 2019, Steamer projects Sale, Scherzer, deGrom, and Verlander as the pitchers likely to have an elite season.

 

Where Do Elite Pitchers Come From?

The four pitchers above are familiar faces. For all of the discussion about pitchers being more volatile than hitters, the best indicator that a pitcher would have an elite season was if he was coming off an elite season the year before. At the very least, he needed to have already been quite good. In the numbers I examined, pitching an elite season before had the highest correlation to whether a pitcher would have an elite season the next year. While that’s not revolutionary information, it should reassure fantasy managers who have been taught that starter values are erratic. Pitchers may be more erratic than hitters, but elite starters tend to produce very good results as a floor. I’ll follow up on this in the final section.

Of the 22 elite seasons, only three pitchers had finished outside the top-100 in the previous season. Max Scherzer was ranked 126 in 2012 while suffering from bad luck on balls in play and managing only 5.2 innings per start. Johnny Cueto finished at 110 in 2013 after missing most of the season with a lat injury. Cueto had already provided two near-elite seasons in 2011 and 2012 before his injury. Blake Snell is the only true anomaly on the list: after finishing outside the top 300 in 2017, he threw 180 IP with a 2.95 FIP last season.

To some extent, the consistency made looking for markers for pre-elite pitchers easier. The patterns are what we might expect from a top-end starter: high strikeouts, weak contact, high-pitch count success, and consistent effectiveness on the third time through the batting order. There are outliers like Dallas Keuchel, but when pitchers strayed too far from the formula, their success was less sustainable. The combination has tended to allow pitchers to produce excellent to elite results.

To better identify where elite pitchers came from, I pulled discrete, focused statistics which were both descriptive (e.g., wOBA) and reliable (e.g., contact rate). I assembled bases and standard deviations from both the 22 elite pitching performances AND the seasons that preceded them. Then I summed the z-scores of those categories to see how last year’s pitchers compared. Here are the base results for the top five pitchers in baseball, plus a pair of pitchers for context.

ADP Elite Z-Score
Jacob deGrom 11 20.7
Chris Sale 15 15.6
Max Scherzer 4 15.3
Justin Verlander 22 9.4
Corey Kluber 24 9.1
Luis Severino 34 -1.0
Jameson Taillon 56 -1.9

I chose Taillon and Severino for comparison because I wanted a pitcher currently being drafted in the third round and one being drafted in the fifth round. They aren’t necessarily bad options for owners hunting for an ace, but they illustrate the difference between the peripherals of those five players at the top and strong candidates available a round or two later. On some level, all these players are pitchers primed to have an elite season in 2019. The primary difference between Jacob deGrom and Jameson Taillon is that Taillon’s 2018 statistics are closer to the pre-elite levels rather than deGrom who was legitimately elite in 2018. I’ll cover those pitchers available after Kluber in the final article for this series. For now, let’s look at the top five arms.

Jacob deGrom has every mark of a pitcher who will generate another elite performance in 2019. He forces batters to swing and miss, keeps the ball on the ground when hitters do make contact, limits hitters to weak contact, and provided enough volume to maximize on those abilities. By my account, Jacob deGrom is a no doubt top-five pick. I’ll be taking him at number three in a standard 5x5. Before I started my research, I’d had Max Scherzer and Chris Sale as my top two pitchers. Disclaimer: This writer currently owns no stock in Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, or Chris Sale. However, he is hoping to buy quite a bit by the end of draft season.

Chris Sale’s big drawback is the number of innings he is expected to throw. However, his 15.6 score would match deGrom in terms of overall dominance except that he lacks the volume and the ability to go deep into ball games. Sale’s fastball-slider combination is one of the most potent in all of baseball, and it generates swinging strikes, bad contact, and ground balls.

The formula’s major issue with Scherzer was based on balls in play. Scherzer’s tendency to give up fly balls (47.6%) and his modest ground ball rate (34.3%) positions him outside the norm for elite starters. Those factors don’t make Scherzer less likely to repeat as an elite starter, but tendencies like that eat into the margin of error. If a few more of those outfield flies carry another 15 feet, Scherzer’s ERA could slip along with his win total and innings. Based on his ability to get swings and misses last year (16.2%), that doesn’t seem likely to happen, but it is a factor to consider.

Verlander has the same basic pattern as Scherzer but with slightly more pronounced numbers. The Astros ace owned a 51.4% fly-ball rate and a mere 29.1% ground-ball rate. Those numbers have become more exaggerated in recent years, but Verlander’s .236 xwOBA and 14.6% infield-flyball rate should reassure owners. One point of concern is that consistency in the two prior years was a significant indicator for elite seasons, so Verlander’s rocky 2017 season suggests that he is more susceptible to falling outside the top-fifty player than the other names on this list. He’s also 36 years old, and there are signs of struggling to pitch later into games. Since 2013, there have been only ten pitchers to throw more than 200 innings after they turned 36 years old. None of them generated an elite season.

Kluber’s score is still excellent, but he gave up a little too much hard contact in 2018, and his pitches seemed to be less effective at inducing swinging strikes and poor contact. However, those concerns did not make it difficult for him to get deep into games. Furthermore, Kluber had the best wOBA of any starter on the third time through the batting order, and his ability to get hitters to swing at bad pitches should provide him a high floor.

 

What You Get For Your Money: The Season After an Elite Performance

The two major arguments against increasing the target values or draft slots for deGrom, Sale, and Scherzer is pitcher volatility and the ability to find value among pitchers later in the draft. To some extent, I dealt with the difference between getting mid-round profit in the last article and with the issue that elite seasons are likely to come from pitchers who have had an elite season previously. The idea here isn’t about pitcher versus pitcher value. It’s about where the elite pitchers belong on the draft board.

Pitcher volatility is its own concern. No manager wants to draft a pitcher in the first or second round and have him peter out into mediocrity, so I went and pulled the data for what happened after a pitcher delivered an elite season. I used the standard scoring data instead of more advanced metrics because at this point we don’t care about predictive measures. Predictive numbers might be more accurate for future performance, but what matters is what actually happened.

W QS ERA WHIP K Value
Average Post-Elite Season 15.5 21 2.86 1.00 220 $28.2
20th Percentile Post-Elite 12 17 3.44 1.13 176  $12.3
2018 Average Pitcher 12.4 17.1 3.68 1.19 181  $8.1

There are three samples above: the average post-elite season, which is itself another elite season, the 20th percentile outcome, which means that 80% of elite pitchers performed better than the season after their elite performance, and the 2018 Average Pitcher, which was the average performance of positive or neutral-value starters last season.

Fantasy owners are obviously trying to draft the average post-elite season, or better. If owners select Jacob deGrom with the sixth pick in the draft, and he produces that line, they’ve gotten their value out of that pick. As for the 20th percentile performance, that value is a comfortably top-100 player. We would all be disappointed in the performance, but it would not be a total loss that sinks a fantasy season.

 

Conclusion

Each league is different, and it’s important to account for not just league settings but also the habit and strategies of your league members. However, fantasy owners should feel more comfortable than ever drafting elite starters with the same aggressiveness as those fantasy experts who are snagging pitchers earlier and earlier this season.

More 2019 Fantasy Baseball Advice




POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Draft Rankings
Draft Simulator
Enter League Settings
Player Comparisons
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Nick Senzel8 hours ago

Expected To Miss 3-4 Weeks
Jon Gray8 hours ago

To Start On Sunday
Justin Steele8 hours ago

Likely To Go On Injured List
Anfernee Simons10 hours ago

Out Against The Heat
Max Kepler11 hours ago

X-Rays Come Back Negative On Max Kepler
Keldon Johnson11 hours ago

Questionable For Friday
Justin Steele11 hours ago

Has Left-Hamstring Tightness
Matisse Thybulle11 hours ago

Questionable For Friday
Davis Bertans11 hours ago

Listed As Probable For Friday
Jusuf Nurkic11 hours ago

Questionable Against Oklahoma City
Dario Saric11 hours ago

Listed As Questionable For Friday
Noah Clowney11 hours ago

Probable For Nets Friday
Jonathan Kuminga11 hours ago

Questionable For Warriors Friday
Jerami Grant11 hours ago

Considered Doubtful For Friday
Dennis Smith11 hours ago

Jr. Probable For Friday
Lauri Markkanen11 hours ago

Questionable Against Houston
Toumani Camara11 hours ago

Will Not Play Friday
Justin Steele11 hours ago

Exits Thursday's Start
Richaun Holmes12 hours ago

Out Versus Pistons
Cameron Johnson12 hours ago

Out Against Chicago On Friday
Luka Doncic12 hours ago

On The Injury Report For Friday
David Bednar12 hours ago

Still Dealing With Lat Injury
Deandre Ayton12 hours ago

Is Questionable For Friday
Rudy Gobert12 hours ago

Might Miss Friday's Game
Tyus Jones12 hours ago

Unavailable For Friday
Zeke Nnaji12 hours ago

Ruled Out Against Minnesota
Jaden Ivey12 hours ago

Listed As Questionable For Friday
Rhys McKee12 hours ago

Searching For First UFC Win
Anthony Edwards12 hours ago

Uncertain For Friday Night
Chidi Njokuani12 hours ago

Drops Back Down To Welterweight At UFC Atlantic City
Kyle Nelson12 hours ago

An Underdog Again At UFC Atlantic City
Bill Algeo12 hours ago

Eyes Sixth UFC Win
Joaquin Buckley12 hours ago

Gets Ranked Opponent At UFC Atlantic City
Vicente Luque12 hours ago

Gets Short-Notice Opponent At UFC Atlantic City
Eduardo Rodriguez13 hours ago

Could Throw Off Mound In 5-7 Days
Max Kepler13 hours ago

Leaves On Opening Day With Injury
Nick Senzel13 hours ago

Suffers Broken Thumb
Jason Foley14 hours ago

Earns The Save For Tigers
Tarik Skubal14 hours ago

Tosses Six Scoreless Innings On Opening Day
Corbin Burnes15 hours ago

Pitches A Gem On Opening Day
Royce Lewis15 hours ago

Exits With Quad Injury
Max Scherzer16 hours ago

Throws Bullpen Session
Clayton Kershaw17 hours ago

"Ahead Of Things" Timetable-Wise
Walker Buehler17 hours ago

Ahead Of Schedule
Corey Seager17 hours ago

Active On Opening Day
Oneil Cruz17 hours ago

Batting Sixth On Opening Day
Bryan Reynolds19 hours ago

In Opening Day Lineup
Jordan Romano20 hours ago

Not Expected To Be Out Long
Aaron Ekblad21 hours ago

Returning To Panthers Lineup Thursday
Nikita Kucherov22 hours ago

Establishes New Career High With 42nd Goal
Shane Pinto22 hours ago

Collects Career-High Four Points
Valeri Nichushkin22 hours ago

Nursing A Lower-Body Injury
Samuel Girard22 hours ago

Battling An Illness
J.K. Dobbins22 hours ago

Visiting With Chargers On Thursday
Oskar Sundqvist22 hours ago

To Miss Rest Of Season With Torn ACL
Ethan Bear22 hours ago

Enters Player Assistance Program
Mark Hubbard2 days ago

Coming Off A Career Performance
Davis Thompson2 days ago

Looking To Pay Off A Stellar Run Of Ball-Striking
Akshay Bhatia2 days ago

Coming Into Houston With Confidence
Thorbjorn Olesen2 days ago

Still Trying To Find Footing On U.S. Soil
Patrick Rodgers2 days ago

Fighting Inconsistencies Heading Into Houston
Malik Nabers2 days ago

Shines At Pro Day
Carolina Panthers2 days ago

Jadeveon Clowney Signing Two-Year Deal With Panthers
Wyndham Clark2 days ago

Battling Back Injury Ahead of Houston Open
San Francisco 49ers2 days ago

Talanoa Hufanga Expected To Return At Training Camp
Jayden Daniels2 days ago

Raiders To Meet With Jayden Daniels
Tank Bigsby2 days ago

Jaguars Want Tank Bigsby More Involved
Josh Reynolds2 days ago

Signs Two-Year Deal With Broncos
Doug Ghim2 days ago

Looks To Bounce Back At Houston Open
PGA2 days ago

Cameron Davis Seeking Consistency Ahead Of Houston Open
Thomas Detry2 days ago

A Gamble At Houston Open
Ryan Fox2 days ago

Lacks Upside Heading Into Houston Open
Andrew Novak2 days ago

Will Be Chalk At Houston Open
Josh Doan2 days ago

Scores Twice In His NHL Debut
Filip Forsberg2 days ago

Makes History In Big Comeback Win
Jamie Benn2 days ago

Scores In Fifth Consecutive Game
Sidney Crosby2 days ago

Collects Three Points Versus Carolina
Artemi Panarin2 days ago

Continues Scoring Tear With Three Assists
Joey Daccord2 days ago

Shuts Out Ducks
Sahith Theegala2 days ago

Showing Consistency This Season
Wyndham Clark2 days ago

Working Toward Star Status
Scottie Scheffler2 days ago

Heads To Houston At His Best
Sam Ryder2 days ago

Putting The Lights Out Of Late
Joel Dahmen2 days ago

All Systems Go For Joel Dahmen In Houston
Kurt Kitayama2 days ago

Ready For Houston Debut
Ben Griffin2 days ago

Finding Form Heading To Houston
Taylor Moore2 days ago

Continues Made-Cut Streak Heading To Houston
Adam Svensson2 days ago

Hoping For Consistency In Houston
Taylor Montgomery2 days ago

Looks To Bounce Back In Houston
Amon-Ra St. Brown2 days ago

Discussing Extension With Lions
Jared Goff2 days ago

Lions Discussing New Deal
J.K. Dobbins3 days ago

Cleared For Football Activities
Los Angeles Rams3 days ago

Tre'Davious White To Join Rams
PIT3 days ago

Sam Poulin Recalled From AHL
Jack Quinn3 days ago

Could Return Wednesday
Scott Mayfield3 days ago

Undergoes Season-Ending Surgery
TOR3 days ago

Mitch Marner Skates On His Own Tuesday
Trevor Zegras3 days ago

To Return Tuesday
Justus Annunen3 days ago

Inks Two-Year Extension
Nick Chubb3 days ago

Expected To Start Load Running Next Month
D'Andre Swift3 days ago

Bears View D'Andre Swift As Receiving Weapon
Cordarrelle Patterson3 days ago

Signing With Steelers
Sam Howell3 days ago

Seahawks Believe Sam Howell Can Be A Full-Time Starter
Tennessee Titans3 days ago

L'Jarius Sneed Agrees On Four-Year Contract With Titans
Dak Prescott3 days ago

No Indication A Deal Is Coming For Dak Prescott
Calvin Ridley3 days ago

To Have Big Role In Tennessee
Josh Jacobs3 days ago

To Be Used More In Passing Game
Brandon Saad3 days ago

Gets Another Goal In Monday's Loss
Logan Thompson3 days ago

Stretches Winning Streak To Three Games
Pittsburgh Steelers3 days ago

Cameron Heyward Expected To Be Healthy For Training Camp
Zach Wilson3 days ago

Jets Could End Up Keeping Zach Wilson
Amanda Ribas4 days ago

Takes Decision Loss
Rose Namajunas4 days ago

Snaps Losing Streak
Edmen Shahbazyan4 days ago

Scores Vicious Comeback Knockout
AJ Dobson4 days ago

Knocked Out In The First Round At UFC Vegas 89
Fernando Padilla4 days ago

Gets Back On Track With Submission Win
Luis Pajuelo4 days ago

Submitted In UFC Debut
William Byron4 days ago

Dominates For Victory At COTA
Ty Gibbs4 days ago

Grabs Another Solid Finish At COTA
Chris Buescher4 days ago

Texas Native Chris Buescher Finishes Eighth At COTA
Christopher Bell4 days ago

Kyle Busch Confronts Christopher Bell Following A Top-10 Finish At COTA
Justin Haley4 days ago

Disqualified After Strong COTA Run
Martin Truex Jr4 days ago

. Rounds Out Top Ten At COTA
NASCAR4 days ago

A.J. Allmendinger Worms Way Up To Sixth At COTA
Shane Van Gisbergen4 days ago

Shane van Gisbergen Comes Down to Earth After Mediocre COTA Run
Ross Chastain4 days ago

Ran Well at COTA as Usual Despite Late-Race Fade
Christopher Bell4 days ago

Furious Charge Falls Just Short at COTA
Tyler Reddick4 days ago

Scores Strong Finish of Fifth at COTA
Chase Elliott4 days ago

Finishes 16th at COTA After Lackluster Performance
Billy Quarantillo5 days ago

Suffers Submission Loss At UFC Vegas 89
Youssef Zalal5 days ago

Gets Submission Win In Return To The UFC
Cameron Saaiman5 days ago

Gets Knocked Out At UFC Vegas 89
Payton Talbott5 days ago

Scores KO Win At UFC Vegas 89
Justin Tafa5 days ago

Drops To .500 In The UFC
Karl Williams5 days ago

Remains Undefeated In The UFC
Kyle Larson5 days ago

Is One Of The Optimal DFS Options For COTA
Denny Hamlin5 days ago

Should Denny Hamlin Be Rostered For DFS Lineups At COTA?
Kaz Grala5 days ago

Is A Serviceable DFS Play For COTA
Shane Van Gisbergen5 days ago

Will Start 12th In First COTA Cup Start
Todd Gilliland5 days ago

Is A Sneaky DFS Play With Upside For COTA
William Byron5 days ago

Is One Of The Top Favorites To Win At COTA
Christopher Bell5 days ago

Is A Comfortable DFS Play For COTA
Tyler Reddick5 days ago

the Favorite to Win at COTA
Ty Gibbs5 days ago

Looking for First Career Win at COTA
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
Marvin Harrison Jr. - Fantasy Football Rankings, College FB, WR, NFL Draft Sleepers

2024 NFL Mock Draft: First-Rounder With Trades

The 2024 NFL Draft is less than a month away. Yet, that isn’t soon enough for football fans. While everyone wants to discuss the quarterback class and the first few picks, the NFL Draft doesn’t end after the first round. Teams will find starters and star players on the second and third days of the... Read More


Kyren Williams - Fantasy Football, Waiver Wire Pickups

2024 NFL Free-Agency Winners and the Fantasy Football Impact- Part III

Throughout the NFL's offseason, many players see their fantasy football values fluctuate based on their movement and personnel decisions by their respective teams. Throughout this series, we have identified 12 players who have seen their fantasy football value increase over the free-agency period. The final big fantasy football value movement will come after the NFL... Read More


UFL DFS PICKS, FANTASY FOOTBALL, DRAFTKINGS, FANDUEL

UFL DFS Value Plays: Week 1 Bargain Bin for DraftKings Including E.J. Perry, CJ Marable, Jace Sternberger, more

Welcome to the Week 1 edition of RotoBaller's UFL DFS Bargain Bin, where the goal is to touch on some potentially mispriced players in DraftKings' Week 1 UFL contests. Each week during the UFL 2024 season and postseason, I’ll give you my thoughts on where there may be some value spots to exploit for DraftKings'... Read More


2024 NFL Draft: Bold Predictions and Potential Surprises for Round 1

Football never sleeps at RotoBaller! With the 2024 NFL Draft fast approaching, we're digging into what might transpire on draft night. RotoBaller analyst LaQuan Jones previews the 2024 NFL Draft and makes some BOLD Predictions about possible surprises and potential landing spots for the first round of the draft. Win MORE in 2024 with RotoBaller!... Read More


George Pickens - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Early Look At Wide Receivers In 2024 Fantasy Football Drafts

The upcoming NFL Draft is less than a month away. While everyone is excited for the NFL Draft, fantasy players are looking forward to the regular season. While we won’t have meaningful NFL football for months, it’s never too early to prepare for your fantasy football drafts. Last year, the fantasy football world saw multiple... Read More


Spencer Rattler, College Football Transfers

Underrated Rookie Draft Targets - Early 2024 Sleepers for Dynasty Fantasy Football

We are a month out from the NFL Draft, meaning if you are here, you are probably looking for draft content and reading up on prospects. You probably have all of the information you need on stud prospects like Caleb Williams and Marvin Harrison Jr. That’s not what you’re here for.  Rookie draft season for... Read More


Breece Hall - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

2024 NFL Free-Agency Winners and the Fantasy Football Impact - Part II

The NFL's offseason, including trades and free agency, can strongly impact a player's fantasy football value. This effect can be positive or negative. For this series, we're focusing on fantasy football players who have seen their fantasy value increase. This can occur via a player's direct movement, such as a trade or signing with a... Read More


UFL RANKINGS, FANTASY FOOTBALL,

UFL Fantasy Football Rankings for Week 1: QB, RB, WR, TE Rankings and Analysis (2024)

It's finally here: the UFL season is set to kick off with two games on Saturday, March 30 and two games on Sunday, March 31. Saturday's games will be broadcast on Fox Sports while Sunday's matchups will be on ESPN. The most anticipated Week 1 matchup pits the 2023 USFL champion Birmingham Stallions against the... Read More


Jared Goff - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Injury News, DFS Lineup Picks

Will the Lions Extend Jared Goff's Contract This Offseason? 2024 NFL Outlook

Jared Goff's career in Los Angeles didn't take off like many expected after his appearance in Super Bowl LIII, and he was traded to the Lions for Matthew Stafford. Goff's first season in the Motor City was terrible, but he has completely turned things around over the last two seasons. In 2022, he almost led... Read More


Kyle Pitts - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

2024 NFL Free-Agency Winners and the Fantasy Football Impact - Part I

Free agency symbolizes the start of a new NFL season. It's the first opportunity for NFL clubs to start addressing their weaknesses and considerably impacts how the upcoming season plays out. Just as free agency can improve or worsen a team's outlook, a player's fantasy football value is also impacted. Free agency marks the real... Read More


Malik Nabers - Fantasy Football Rankings, College FB, WR, NFL Draft Sleepers

Coach Knows Ball: Malik Nabers 2024 NFL Draft Film Breakdown of LSU WR

Welcome to Coach Knows Ball, an NFL Draft series analyzing the top prospects in the 2024 class. I'm a college football coach with nine years of NCAA experience and have been scouting NFL Draft prospects for over 15 years. This series will give a deep dive into the film of some of the top players... Read More


Avoid These Running Backs in 2024: Fantasy Football Outlook

Football never sleeps at RotoBaller! The staff is already looking ahead to the 2024 season to help our readers get the jump on their competition. RotoBaller analyst LaQuan Jones discusses five Running Backs that you should AVOID in 2024 fantasy football drafts. Win MORE in 2024 with RotoBaller! Be sure to tune into RotoBaller Radio... Read More


Brock Bowers - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Rookies, Draft Sleepers, NCAA College Football, Prospects

Brock Bowers 2024 NFL Draft Stock Update – When Will the Georgia TE Be Selected?

Georgia tight end Brock Bowers was arguably the top tight end in college football over the past few years. Bowers was outstanding his freshman year, totaling 56 receptions for 882 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. Unfortunately, his production slightly slipped in 2022 as defenses started to game plan for the star tight end. Bowers had... Read More