Articles
Updated May Rankings and Tiers: Shortstop
The time for chalking things up to “just April shenanigans” has come and gone, and we here at RotoBaller felt that it was time for a rankings update with roughly 20 percent of the season in the books. Kyle Bishop and I felt that the world needed to know what we thought after a month-plus of […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoNate Karns (SP, KC) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 14% of Yahoo Leagues ANALYSIS: Look past Nate Karns’ 4.58 ERA and you'll realize that he’s got a 1.22 WHIP with over a strikeout per inning (36 in 35 1/3 IP, including 17 in his last 12 1/3 IP) and gets a rather K-happy team in the […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoUpdated May Rankings and Tiers: Second Base
The time for chalking things up to “just April shenanigans” has come and gone, and we here at RotoBaller felt that it was time for a rankings update with roughly 20 percent of the season in the books. Kyle Bishop and I felt that the world needed to know what we thought after a month-plus of […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoPower Risers and Fallers for Week 6: Buy or Sell?
Welcome back to this investigative piece where we examine players who have seen some notable changes in their power profiles -- for better or for worse -- in 2017. As usual, you don’t need me to tell you that Miguel Sano or Aaron Judge are strong or that Jarrod Dyson and Billy Hamilton are toward […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoUpdated May Rankings and Tiers: Catchers
The time for chalking things up to “just April shenanigans” has come and gone, and we here at RotoBaller felt that it was time for a rankings update with roughly 20 percent of the season in the books. This round features rankings from myself and my Reddit-famous brochacho Kyle Bishop, though it should be noted […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoWeek 6 Waiver Wire - Starting Pitchers
May hasn’t offered much more in the way of sanity than April did, meaning that staying abreast of the waiver wire remains critically important as arms fall left and right among weird performances from names we’re used to ignoring. What’s to make of it all? For our purposes, we’re going to use Yahoo ownership levels […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoBrett Gardner (OF, NYY) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 36% of Yahoo! Leagues ANALYSIS: Brett “The Hitman” Gardner didn’t even have a run batted in on the season prior to April 29 -- when he launched two homers. He then went powerless in his next two games before smashing two more rockets on May 2. […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoPower Risers and Fallers: Week Five
Welcome back to this investigative piece where we examine players who have seen some notable changes in their power profiles -- for better or for worse -- in 2017. As usual, you don’t need me to tell you that Miguel Sano or Aaron Judge are strong or that Jarrod Dyson and Billy Hamilton are toward […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoWeek 5 Waiver Wire - Starting Pitchers
What a nutty April, eh? With a month of the 2017 baseball season in the books, we’ve got some real evaluating to do moving ahead. Are you one of those teams just hit with awful luck, skills- and health-wise? Or are you riding unsustainable starts to a hubris-loaded, early-season lead? Either way, staying abreast of […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoPower Risers and Fallers: Week Four
Welcome back to this investigative piece where we examine players who have seen some notable changes in their power profiles -- for better or for worse -- in 2017. As usual, you don’t need me to tell you that Miguel Sano or Aaron Judge are strong or that Jarrod Dyson and Billy Hamilton are toward […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoWeek 4 Waiver Wire - Starting Pitchers
It’s been quite the wild ride through the first three weeks of the 2017 season. While we don’t want to be overreacting here, it’s never a bad time to check up on the waiver wire and see which under-owned arms might be available to help your squad. For our purposes, we’re going to use Yahoo […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoFantasy Baseball Week Three Waiver Wire: Starting Pitchers
With almost 10 percent of the season in tow, we've got more than enough statistical firepower to make wide, sweeping statements about every single player! Well, alright, so we're not going to do that. Keep a level head, folks. It's still just April. Breathe. Now exhale sharply and read on about some April arms we […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoPower Risers and Fallers: Week Three
Welcome back to this investigative piece where we examine players who have seen some notable changes in their power profiles -- for better or for worse -- in 2017. As usual, you don’t need me to tell you that Miguel Sano or Aaron Judge are strong or that Jarrod Dyson and Billy Hamilton are toward […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoPower Risers and Fallers: Week Two
Hello you rabid RotoBallers, and welcome to this little look in at some early power risers and fallers. This isn’t a blind checkup on who is crushing the ball, but rather people who are making waves with a changed batted-ball profile or need a hot/cold start given some context. You don’t need me to tell […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoFantasy Baseball Week Two Waiver Wire: Starting Pitchers
It’s been quite the wild ride through what we'll call roughly the first 10 games of the 2017 season. While we don’t want to be overreacting here, it’s never a bad time to check up on the waiver wire and see which under-owned arms might be available to help your squad. For our purposes, we’re […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoWeek 1 Waiver Wire: 25-50% Owned Pickups
Wow, we're really here. After all this time, baseball is truly back. Happy Opening Day RotoBallers! In light of this, let's give that free agent pool one last look over before the stats start flying. Today, we'll look at players who are owned in 25-50% of Yahoo leagues and see who stands out. You can […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoStarting Pitcher (Part 2): Updated March Rankings and Tiers
We rolled out our final update on 2017 rankings this past weekend. While there haven’t been seismic shifts, some players have naturally seen their stocks rise or fall since our initial valuations were made in December. We’re gathered here today to look at part one of our outfield rankings, tiers, and auction values, which have certainly seen some […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoStarting Pitcher (Part 1): Updated March Rankings and Tiers
We rolled out our final update on 2017 rankings this past weekend. While there haven’t been seismic shifts, some players have naturally seen their stocks rise or fall since our initial valuations were made in December. We’re gathered here today to look at part one of our outfield rankings, tiers, and auction values, which have certainly seen some […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoShin-Soo Choo (OF, TEX) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers & Values
BALLER MOVE: Target ~227 CURRENT ADP: ~288 ANALYSIS: You might not know it by his innocent .242/.357/.399 triple slash from 2016, but Choo really smoked the ball – when he was on the field. In only 48 games, 210 plate appearances, the 34-year-old clubbed seven homers with six steals with a gaudy 43.2% hard-hit rate. […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoDomingo Santana (OF, MIL) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers & Values
BALLER MOVE: Target ~195 CURRENT ADP: ~263 ANALYSIS: Santana’s 43.7% hard-hit rate checked in as the 10th best in the MLB for the month of September, with the three names surrounding him being David Ortiz, Nolan Arenado and Nelson Cruz. His 27.3% line-drive rate wasn’t so bad either, though it actually was lower than his […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoBrandon Drury (2B/3B/OF, ARI) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values
BALLER MOVE: Target ~225 CURRENT ADP: ~263 ANALYSIS: Drury opened the season with some flash by hitting four homers each in April and May with respective batting averages of .294 and .283, but then dealt with some injuries and didn’t have an everyday job in a crowded Arizona lineup. He will now hold down the keystone […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoTop Power-Metric Gainers - What to Expect in 2017
The baseball universe is really coming into its own when it comes to advanced data metrics that we can parse through, with hard-hit rates, exit velocities, spray charts and batted-ball outcomes all becoming accessible tools to throw in the toolkit before we go digging for answers. Today's piece caps off our short series looking at […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoDaniel Norris (SP, DET) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values
BALLER MOVE: Target ~230 CURRENT ADP: ~287 ANALYSIS: When exploring September pitching numbers, Norris is a more surprising name. He posted a 24.6 percent K-BB rate, seventh best in the MLB, thanks to a 31.2 percent strikeout rate that came in fifth. Above Jose Fernandez (RIP), above Noah Syndergaard and above Corey Kluber. He only allowed […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoJames Paxton (SP, SEA) - 2017 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values
BALLER MOVE: Target ~154 CURRENT ADP: ~175 ANALYSIS: You know him, you love him and you’re ready for him to truly break out. Paxton battled through a couple of injuries to come back and carry fantasy owners to championships with his 29.2% strikeout rate and minuscule 3.3 percent BB rate (25.8 percent K-BB rate was […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoTop Gainers in Fly Ball Rate - What to Expect in 2017
The baseball universe is really coming into its own when it comes to advanced data metrics that we can parse through, with hard-hit rates, exit velocities, spray charts and batted-ball outcomes all becoming accessible tools to throw in the toolkit before we go digging for answers. Today's piece continues the series where we explore some […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoTop Gainers in Pull Rate: What to Expect in 2017
The baseball universe is really coming into its own when it comes to advanced data metrics that we can parse through, with hard-hit rates, exit velocities, spray charts and batted-ball outcomes all becoming accessible tools to throw in the toolkit before we go digging for answers. Today's piece continues the series where we explore some […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoOutfield (Part 2): Updated March Rankings and Tiers
We rolled out our final update on 2017 rankings this past weekend. While there haven’t been seismic shifts, some players have naturally seen their stocks rise or fall since our initial valuations were made in December. We’re gathered here today to look at part two of our outfield rankings, tiers, and auction values, which have seen a bit […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoTop Gainers in Hard Hit Rate - What to Expect in 2017
The baseball universe is really coming into its own when it comes to advanced data metrics that we can parse through, with hard-hit rates, exit velocities, spray charts and batted-ball outcomes all becoming accessible tools to throw in the toolkit before we go digging for answers. Today's piece kicks off a series where we're going […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoOutfield (Part 1): Updated March Rankings and Tiers
We rolled out our final update on 2017 rankings this past weekend. While there haven’t been seismic shifts, some players have naturally seen their stocks rise or fall since our initial valuations were made in December. We’re gathered here today to look at part one of our outfield rankings, tiers, and auction values, which have certainly seen some […]
Nick Mariano 8 years agoThe Pitchers: Five September Surgers to Breakout in 2017
As the 2017 fantasy baseball season draws near, we are forced to look back at the 2016 numbers that were and decode what to buy into and what to ignore. How much should we write off that cold streak due to a potential lingering injury? Will this trade affect Player X in a positive or […]
Nick Mariano 8 years ago