2019 Bullpen Outlooks - National League Central

Now that the National League East and all their moves have been covered, it's time to look at the NL Central and discuss the lack of movement in that division. Several teams in the NL Central could benefit from strengthening their relief corps, yet only one team has made any noise in free agency or […]

Mallex Smith - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a safe speed option on your fantasy roster that doesn’t completely drain all your other roto categories. With the sport changing to selling out for power instead of hitting for average and playing small ball, stolen bases have been a lost art. Not counting the strike-shortened 1981 and 1994 […]

NL Rookies to Target in 2019 Mixed Redraft Leagues

As the New Year has finally come, and fantasy football is over, at last, fantasy baseball draft season is right around the corner. With that comes mock drafts, draft previews, ADP analysis, and of course, player recommendations. This article will help owners get ready by looking to the National League All-Star team of rookies to […]

Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 3 - Statcast for Hitters

If you've watched a baseball broadcast in the so-called 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. […]

2019 Outfielders - Early Fantasy Baseball Rankings

Outfield is a unique position in the fantasy world. The best of the best reside in the outfield, with our consensus top two picks and nine of the top 25 overall players making this list. On the other hand, it is by far the deepest and easiest to gain late-round value if you choose to […]

Willy Adames - The Breakout Is Coming

Major League Baseball is becoming dominated by young talent. Every year a new crop of players come into the league and show off their mouth-watering skill set. Just take a look at RotoBaller’s positional rankings, and you see players that are in their mid-20s or younger are among the top of every position. The youth […]

2019 Relief Pitchers - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

A tough position to evaluate is that of relief pitchers, as a lot of success for closers comes from success from teams. There are also a lot of bullpens by committee these days, further stifling the value of closers. That being said, only four of the pitchers that ranked in the top-10 in saves in […]

2019 Third Basemen - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

We continue our fantasy baseball tiered rankings analysis with the third base position. Even though it is only January, RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, Chris Zolli, and I have come up with our initial pre-draft rankings to give you a sense of player values as early as possible. As the offseason progresses, these rankings […]

2019 Starting Pitcher - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

We continue our fantasy baseball tiered rankings analysis with the second base position. The sun is still rising on 2019, but RotoBaller writers JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Chris Zolli and myself are here with our initial pre-draft rankings to give you a sense of player values as early as possible. As the offseason progresses, these […]

Yasmani Grandal to Brewers - Fantasy Impact

The news broke on Thursday that Yasmani Grandal is headed to the Milwaukee Brewers on a one-year, $18 million contract. This is evidence of yet another move from the Brewers to go all in on their current squad. This trade takes one of the Brewers' two weakest offensive positions and turns it into a legitimate strength […]

Orlando Arcia - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

Orlando Arcia was pegged by numerous fantasy baseball experts a year ago as a sleeper for the 2018 season. After polishing off his first full year in the majors in 2017 where he batted .277 with 15 home runs, 56 R, 53 RBI, and 14 stolen bases, Arcia took a significant step backward in 2018. […]

Brewers Avoid Arbitration With Travis Shaw

The Milwaukee Brewers avoided salary arbitration with infielder Travis Shaw on Friday by signing him to an undisclosed one-year deal. While Shaw can play either third or second base, he'll likely be ticketed for the everyday job at the hot corner in 2019 with Mike Moustakas likely leaving in free agency. The dual-eligibility makes Shaw […]

Corey Knebel Avoids Arbitration

Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Corey Knebel avoided salary arbitration on Friday by agreeing to a one-year, $5.125 million deal, according to sources. Knebel's 2018 season wasn't as fruitful as 2017, as he dealt with an injury and even spent time in the minors. But he bounced back late in the year and looked like his […]

Jimmy Nelson Expects To Be Ready For Spring Training

Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Jimmy Nelson (shoulder), who missed all of 2018, said he will be ready to go for spring training. "That's the goal 100 percent. I'm on track right now to throw my bullpens like normal," Nelson said. The right-hander is worth a late-round flier in mixed leagues in case he bounces back […]

2019 Second Base - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

We continue our fantasy baseball tiered rankings analysis with the second base position. Even though we are just coming off ringing in the new year, RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, JB Branson, Pierre Camus, and Chris Zolli have wasted to time coming up with our initial pre-draft rankings to give you a sense of player values […]

Brewers Agree With Yasmani Grandal

The Milwaukee Brewers agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent catcher Yasmani Grandal on Wednesday, according to sources. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. He turned down a one-year, $17.9 million qualifying offer from the Dodgers and a four-year deal that could have reached $60 million with the Mets. Grandal was a disaster both […]

2019 First Basemen - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

We continue our fantasy baseball tiered rankings analysis with the first base position. Even though it is only January, RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, Chris Zolli, and I have come up with our initial pre-draft rankings to give you a sense of player values as early as possible. As the offseason progresses, these rankings […]

Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 2 - HR/FB for Hitters

Using BABIP to predict a player's batting average is great. Average is a category in many league formats, and every hit is an opportunity to steal a base or score a run. But most owners find the long ball sexier. Every HR comes with a guaranteed run scored and at least one RBI. Many owners […]

2019 Shortstops - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

It’s never too early to start looking toward the fantasy baseball season, so I’m here to kick off RotoBaller’s position-by-position rankings analysis series with the ever-so-glamorous shortstop position. Shortstop is rich at the top and while it boasts intriguing depth, this is not a position to wait on, especially if you also have a middle-infield […]

Brewers Most Likely Landing Spot For Madison Bumgarner?

In the opinion of MLB Network's Jon Paul Morosi, the Milwaukee Brewers are the most likely destination for San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner if he's traded. MadBum has missed considerable time the last two years due to injuries and is due a $12 million salary in 2019. The Giants may wait until midseason […]

Top 660: Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings (January)

Welcome back RotoBallers, and Happy New Year! Below you will find our staff's early 2019 fantasy baseball tiered rankings (top 660) for mixed leagues. In case you missed it, you can also see our tiered positional rankings as well. Four of our lead fantasy baseball analysts - Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, JB Branson and Chris Zolli - have analyzed the MLB offseason moves and […]

Statcast Review - Noteworthy Hitting Leaders (xSLG)

xSLG isn’t a stat you’ll find on the back of a baseball card or one you’d find on a baseball reference page. However, as far as advanced stats go, xSLG is pretty straightforward. It is the expected slugging percentage of a hitter based on hit probability his batted balls in play, regardless of outcome. So if […]

Mets Acquire Keon Broxton

The New York Mets acquired outfielder Keon Broxton from the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday in exchange for pitchers Bobby Wahl and Adam Hill and infielder Felix Valerio. Broxton was expendable in Milwaukee's crowded outfield picture, and the speedster will now have an opportunity to start in center field with New York in 2019. Broxton has […]

Teoscar Hernandez - Promising or Pretender?

Every new beginning signifies an end elsewhere. This was the case for Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Teoscar Hernandez last season. The hard-hitting righty broke through in more ways than one in his first full year in the big leagues, finishing with a .239/.302/.468 line, and most importantly 22 home runs. The path to the plate […]

Domingo Santana to the Mariners - Fantasy Impact

The wheeling and dealing in Seattle continued just days before Christmas with the Mariners acquiring right fielder Domingo Santana from the Brewers. In the team's fourth trade in the month of December and their eighth trade of the offseason, Seattle sent outfielder Ben Gamel and reliever Noah Zavolas to Milwaukee for the 26-year-old Santana. After […]

Everything You Need to Know About Brandon Nimmo

You must be a fan of cliffhangers if you’ve been following New York Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo. After an offseason of trade talk, fantasy owners breathed a sigh of relief when it was Wilson Ramos announced as the team's newest cash signing, rather than the potential Nimmo - J.T. Realmuto deal proposed between the Mets and […]

Top 10 Dynasty Second Basemen - Fantasy Baseball Prospects

Hey, RotoBallers. We have already started breaking down prospects in dynasty leagues, by position, beginning with catcher, outfield, and starting pitcher. Today I'm writing about my top-10 second basemen prospect rankings for 2019 dynasty baseball leagues. The second base position is a difficult spot to find natural players raised in the position. Most are positional migrants, kicked off their position to a […]

Statcast Review 2018 - Noteworthy SP Launch Angle Leaders

Fret not fantasy baseball fans, Winter Meetings have come and gone, big deals are getting struck, and we are continuing our quest to find value for next season! In this edition of Statcast Review, I take a look at some of 2018’s pitching leaders in launch angle. Launch angle alone is not all that telling […]

Is it Legit? German Marquez's 2018 Breakout

We continue with our next edition of "Is It Legit?" to discuss another surprising breakout performer from the 2018 MLB season in order to assess his value heading into 2019. With so many players seemingly becoming fantasy baseball darlings overnight, it can be challenging to sift through the multiple hype trains and determine which players […]

Mariners Trying To Trade For Domingo Santana

The Seattle Mariners are working to finalize a trade for Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Domingo Santana. The Brewers have a crowded outfield and barely used Santana in 2018, as he hit .265/.328/.412 with five homers and 20 RBI in just 211 at-bats. He spent a lot of time in the minor leagues. The Mariners have Jay […]