Bryce Elder: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

The All-Star Break has arrived, giving fantasy managers a much-needed break from setting daily lineups. Of course, the most diligent fantasy managers will use this found time to negotiate trades, scour waivers, and look for ways to improve their roster for the second half. One of the most important things to do is review your […]

Seiya Suzuki: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

Every fantasy manager enters the season with a list of "sleepers," or players they believe will outperform expectations. Sometimes, they pan out. Occasionally, we banish them to waivers in favor of the hot new thing. All too frequently, we deal with mediocrity on our rosters for far too long. That third category is the one […]

Jordan Westburg: Champ Or Chump For Fantasy Baseball?

Big league teams enjoy having top prospects debut on Mondays, huh? Jordan Westburg, a 24-year-old selected 30th overall in the 2020 amateur draft, made his debut at SS for the Orioles last night. Westburg begins his MLB career as the third-best prospect in Baltimore's system and 34th overall per MLB Pipeline, and fantasy managers are […]

Henry Davis: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

Another day, another top prospect making his big league debut. The Pittsburgh Pirates have a realistic shot at the postseason and very little offensive production from their catchers, so Henry Davis has been called up to provide the same spark that Adley Rutschman provided the upstart Orioles last season. Davis was selected first overall in […]

Anthony Volpe: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

Fantasy managers love when a top prospect breaks camp with the big league team, but it doesn't always work out the way we hope. For example, the fantasy community was thrilled when 22-year-old Anthony Volpe was named the Yankees shortstop for Opening Day. Through 250 PAs, he's hitting .186/.260/.345. The bright side is his nine […]

Jordan Walker: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

To say that the 2023 season has been a roller coaster for Jordan Walker and his fantasy managers would be an understatement. Largely drafted for his upside after an eventual call-up, the Cardinals included Walker on their Opening Day roster. The fantasy community rejoiced! The good times continued when Walker began his MLB career with […]

Shane Bieber: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

So far this season, this column has focused exclusively on potential waiver wire adds. However, that's not our sole focus. Sometimes, we look at established stars who aren't performing as expected and try to figure out whether a turnaround is in the works. On the surface, Shane Bieber has been solid: 4-3 with a 3.04 […]

Edouard Julien: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

For the second time this season, Edouard Julien has been summoned to MLB by the Minnesota Twins. His first call-up wasn't great, as he currently sports a .219/.286/.406 line with two homers in 36 MLB PAs. However, his MiLB resume, peripheral stats, and prospect pedigree all suggest a guy capable of making a difference in […]

Matt McLain: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

Fantasy managers love guys who hit home runs. We also love guys who steal bases. Our favorite players can do both, and guys who project to run and hit for power rarely stay on waivers very long. If you want them, you have to act quickly. Matt McLain made his big league debut last night, […]

Matt Mervis: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

Finally! A big league team called up a prospect who isn't a pitcher! The Chicago Cubs have summoned Matt Mervis to play first base and hopefully spare them from starting both Eric Hosmer and Trey Mancini. Fantasy managers searching for offensive upside are likely checking him out. To be fair, Mervis doesn't check many of […]

Gavin Stone: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

This column isn't intended to look at young pitchers exclusively, but big league clubs keep calling up intriguing arms that leave us no choice. The latest is Gavin Stone, a well-regarded prospect in the Dodgers organization who is expected to start against the Phillies on May 3. The 24-year-old wasn't a huge prospect at the […]

Mason Miller: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

Starting pitchers with electrifying stuff keep getting called up, with Mason Miller and Logan Allen the most recent examples. Miller has been somewhat polarizing in the fantasy community, with some drooling over his raw stuff while others don't want an Oakland (Las Vegas?) Athletic under any circumstances. Miller hasn't thrown more than 7 IP at […]

Taj Bradley: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

Exciting names for fantasy baseball have been coming up rapidly lately, with Brett Baty, Zach Neto, Edouard Julien, and Taj Bradley all generating buzz. Bradley is the only pitcher of the bunch, so he merits further attention. Bradley has a 5.40 ERA after his MLB debut, but the surface stats mask an outstanding 8:1 K/BB […]

Francisco Alvarez: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball?

When mega-hyped prospects fail to make the Opening Day roster, fantasy managers have grown accustomed to waiting for service time shenanigans before seeing what they can do at the big league level. That appeared to be the case when the Mets left Francisco Alvarez off of the Opening Day roster, but that has changed. Omar […]

Mitch Garver: Champ or Chump for Fantasy Baseball

Welcome back for another exciting fantasy baseball season! For anyone unfamiliar, this weekly column takes a deep dive into a single player, using all of the tools at our disposal to determine his fantasy viability. We focus on waiver wire guys you could likely add, but occasionally explore more established names as trade possibilities. The […]

3 Potential Shortstop Busts For 2023 Fantasy Baseball

Once upon a time, the shortstop position was comparable to catchers in fantasy baseball in that nobody wanted to roster them, but the rules said you had to. Things couldn't be more different in 2023, as the shortstop position is filled with a blend of established stars and young guns that are literally oozing upside. […]

Statcast xStats: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

Statcast is a valuable tool for fantasy baseball analysis, and it can be easy to look at a stat called "Expected Batting Average" and blindly use it as your projection moving forward. Of course, proper use of these metrics is a little bit more nuanced than that. First, a disclaimer: This article is about the […]

Statcast Pitch Tracking: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

When you're evaluating a pitcher by Pitch Info on FanGraphs, sometimes you see pitches that don't seem to accomplish anything. If Pitch X is seldom a strike, rarely chased outside of the zone, and not generating whiffs or a favorable batted line against, why doesn't the pitcher scrap it entirely? Some pitchers could improve by […]

Spin Rate: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

Spin rate has become one of the most recognizable Statcast metrics, with supporters of a given pitcher highlighting his spin rates to make their case. It has also become controversial due to allegations of pitchers using foreign substances to increase their spin. Unfortunately, the baseball world has done a lousy job of conveying what spin […]

Pitcher Statcast: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

Statcast metrics such as Barrels and Brls/BBE are great ways to evaluate a fantasy baseball 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 […]

Barrels and Brls/BBE: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

Previously, we looked at how the exit velocity is only one piece of the fantasy baseball analysis puzzle. Baseball broadcasts will commonly cite Launch Angle (LA) to complement their EV figures, but it is given in terms of degrees. LA is basically a fancy way of saying things that the fantasy community has used for […]

Statcast Exit Velocity: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

If you've watched a baseball broadcast in the Statcast Era, you have undoubtedly noticed the broadcasters commenting on a batted ball's exit velocity, or EV. Many have taken to using stats like Hard% and Soft% to forecast how a player should be performing, expecting larger Hard% rates to produce larger BABIP and HR/FB figures. There […]

MiLB Stats: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

Once you've grown accustomed to having advanced tools to help make fantasy decisions, it can feel disorientating to be without them. Prospects are increasingly becoming a focal point in both real and fantasy baseball, but the minors simply don't have all of the data available for MLB players. For example, advanced plate discipline stats, Pitch […]

Ballpark Factors: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

If you have ever selected a streamable pitcher based on a home park or benched an otherwise must-start arm at Coors Field, you already know how much a stadium can impact a player's bottom line. Ballpark Factors quantify the influence each stadium has, allowing you to make the most of your fantasy team's real-life schedule. […]

Pitch Info: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

One of the most fundamental questions in fantasy sports is if a player's current performance is sustainable. More than any other sport, baseball has a slew of statistical measures that can be dissected in numerous ways to analyze player performance. Pitch Info is a publicly-available pitch tracking system that provides a lot of data to help […]

Lineup Slots: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

You may be wondering why there aren't any advanced stats aimed at predicting a player's counting stats like runs and RBI. The answer is simple: modern sabermetrics reject the idea of a "clutch RBI guy" and therefore do not bother inventing predictive metrics for it. Runs and RBI are team-dependent stats and are unhelpful in ascertaining […]

Pull%: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

We have previously determined that fantasy managers generally prefer batters to hit the ball into the air to have a chance at a home run. Yet, all fly balls are not equal for this purpose. A player can maximize his power production by pulling the ball in the air. One way to illustrate this is […]

Pitcher BABIP: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

While FIP is a useful tool to predict a pitcher's future ERA performance, fantasy managers should remember that ERA, not FIP, is what matters in most formats. This means that we are interested in the "luck" that separates the two statistics. While some of this luck is unpredictable, we can and should predict some of […]

FIP/xFIP: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

While we've only examined how to evaluate hitters using advanced stats thus far, sabermetrics are at least as useful for pitchers. The first advanced pitching stat most fantasy managers encounter is FIP. FIP stands for Fielding Independent Pitching and attempts to measure a pitcher's actual skill instead of the effects of luck or his supporting […]

Plate Discipline: Using Sabermetrics for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

No matter how high a particular player's BABIP may be, his average will be mediocre at best if he strikes out too much. This is why fantasy managers have known for years that players like Mike Zunino are potential drains on a fantasy team's batting average. Furthermore, players who whiff a lot tend to continue […]