JB's Bold Predictions for 2021

I'm going to let you in on a little secret... JB stands for "JUST BOLDNESS". Okay that's a lie... it's actually not a secret because I use that every year in my bold predictions intro (three years in a row now, sure saves time on writing a new intro though). Nevertheless, welcome to the latest […]

2021 Points League Ranks - First Base

Draft season is in full gear as we're only less than two weeks from Opening Day baseball. And here at RotoBaller, we're about more than just roto leagues. We're here to cover your whole fantasy spectrum. So let's do some point ranks, shall we? If you've forgotten from last year, I have strong opinions on […]

Brandon Belt Scheduled To Get At-Bat Wednesday Night

San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt (heel) is scheduled to receive an at-bat as a pinch-hitter on Wednesday night, MLB.com's Maria I. Guardado reports. Belt has missed all of Spring Training so far as he recovered from off-season heel surgery, as well as bouts with COVID-19 and mononucleosis. If he's healthy, Belt looks to […]

Mauricio Dubon's Hitting Improvements Standing Out This Spring

San Francisco Giants second baseman/outfielder Mauricio Dubon's changes in hitting approach have not gone unnoticed this spring. Manager Gabe Kapler said Tuesday, "Dubon really stands out as a player that's made significant adjustments to his approach.". The 26-year-old currently has a .286 batting average and .462 on-base percentage this spring with six strikeouts, 10 walks, […]

Which Pitchers With New Pitches Should We Care About?

There are few things more exciting in Spring Training than learning that a pitcher developed a new pitch. It's a little bit like waking up to find that you've been given a new toy. We're blinded by the possibilities of this new toy. Think of the fun we can have with it. Think of the […]

Evan Longoria Has Yet To Play Field This Spring

San Francisco Giants third baseman Evan Longoria (plantar fasciitis) has hit very well this spring, compiling a .474/.500/1.211 slash line with four home runs and 10 RBI. However, he has yet to play the field for the Giants. It makes sense that Giants have tried to keep Longoria off his feet as much as possible […]

Buster Posey Returns To Lineup, No Long-Term Hip Issues

San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (hip) rejoined the mix Sunday, returning to catching duties after missing nearly a week due to a tight right hip. Both Posey and manager Gabe Kapler declared the backstop healthy after the contest, stating that there was no long-term concern about his ability to serve as the team's primary […]

MLB Sophomores: Who Will Improve, Who Will Stumble?

We all expect excellent rookie seasons from the most hyped prospects in baseball. But the reality is that some players just don’t hit their strides for a year or two. Other prospects start off strong but then fade away. If we look back at 2015, Corey Seager, Miguel Sano, Carlos Correa, and Kris Bryant had […]

Nick Mariano's Top 140 Saves+Holds Rankings

To any reader who thinks they don't have a voice here at RotoBaller, let it be known that this article came from a simple Reddit comment about how those seeking Saves+Holds reliever ranks were often overlooked. Poof, and here we are. Allow me, Nick Mariano, 2018's most accurate draft expert (top-three for RPs in '18 […]

Using Data Analysis To Spot Strikeout Risers

The key to winning a fantasy league is to spot things that are to come before they happen. This is what we try to do here every day at RotoBaller. As the years have gone by, more data about the game has been made available to us, and we can use that data to make […]

Heliot Ramos Reassigned To Minor League Camp Saturday

San Francisco Giants outfielder Heliot Ramos was reassigned to Minor League camp on Saturday, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. One of the top prospects in the Giants' system, Ramos was slashing .393/.414/.750 with three homers, six RBI and a stolen base in 13 games. Expect Ramos to spend at least the first […]

Prospect Sleepers for 2021 Redraft Leagues

This time last year, I provided RotoBaller readers with some sleeper prospect names for 2020 redraft leagues. The advice aged quite well despite the stunted major league season and lack of minor league games. Among my predictions, I spoke glowingly about Tony Gonsolin — a pitcher that had not received much love from others. However, […]

Nick Mariano's H2H Points Leagues Targets (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Fantasy baseball drafts (and their articles) usually cater to the biggest stars or the deepest sleepers, but there are very few articles that simply discuss the mid-round targets that deserve a boost in points league formats (even if points veterans will laugh at some […]

Nick Mariano's H2H Points Leagues Early-Round Avoids (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Fantasy baseball drafts (and their articles) are almost all about finding the next superstar and unearthing talent late, but we can't forget that surrendering value by over-drafting can be just as crucial. There's insight out there for most anything, but coverage of points leagues […]

2021 Points League Rankings - Starting Pitcher

We had to take a brief hiatus but are getting back at it on the points front at RotoBaller, now just a few weeks from the start of spring training. We've already covered most of the hitters so we're moving over to pitchers. So let's do some point ranks, shall we? If you've forgotten from […]

2021 Points League Rankings - Outfield

February is finally here and that means that draft season is getting into full gear. And here at RotoBaller, we're about more than just roto leagues. We're here to cover your whole fantasy spectrum. So let's do some point ranks, shall we? If you've forgotten from last year, I have strong opinions on point leagues. […]

2021 Points League Rankings - Third Base

It's Friday and that can only mean one thing...More hot points action coming straight at you. So let's do some point ranks, shall we? If you've forgotten from last year, I have strong opinions on point leagues. TL;DR? You can't just transfer over value from roto and you can't just take players with good BB/K […]

2021 Points League Rankings - Shortstop

The ides of January are behind us and fantasy baseball draft season is officially in full swing. And considering that H2H point league players got ran over the most by a 60-game season in 2020, I'm guessing you're just as ready as I am to get things going. So it points ranks time, baby! If you've […]

2021 Points League Rankings - Second Base

With football finally behind us (the season is over, right?) we're entering the best time of the year...AKA fantasy baseball draft season. Many may be focused on roto but point players are chomping at the bit after 2020's shortened season basically torpedoed H2H point leagues. So let's do some point ranks, shall we? If you've […]

2020 Breakout Outfielders Who'll Keep Improving

With hitters dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and related changes to the MLB season, it’s somewhat surprising that breakouts were unexceptional (if high) in their number. After 45 qualified batters improved their wOBA by at least 0.20 points between 2018 and 2019, 54 hitters managed to do so between 2019 and 2020. That’s not a […]

Later-Round Category Targets - Home Runs

Welcome back to my series of posts where I take us through a standard fantasy baseball category, break it down statistically and then locate some targets for 2021 to help you out in that category. We've already examined how to get an advantage in batting average. Today we will talk about home runs. You can also […]

NL Outfielders Ready to Break Out in 2021

The top of the outfield class this year is lined with studs. It's hard to go wrong with any of the top-ten or so outfielders in drafts, but after that, it gets a little bit shakier. Players with risky profiles, small sample size success stories, bounceback candidates, and plenty of youngsters make up a lot […]

Later-Round Category Targets - Batting Average

Of all of the fantasy sports, a baseball league using category scoring is the one most requiring manager strategy. You can draft a team full of players that overperform their draft cost but still not win your league if you don't fill up the categories correctly. If I had to give one piece of advice […]

Later-Round Category Targets - WHIP

Welcome back to RotoBaller and my later-round category targets series, thanks for being here. In this article, we're going to talk about some middle and late-round starting pitchers that can help your team in the WHIP category. It's important to note that there is a ton of overlap with WHIP and ERA, and I've already made […]

Later-Round Category Targets - ERA

Starting pitching is a finicky thing in the fantasy world. There is certain to be lots of impactful injuries, breakouts, and busts this year within the starting pitching position. After the first handful of rounds of the draft, it gets pretty tough to find guys you can feel confident about helping your team in the […]

Hitter Targets Under $5 - Salary Cap League Values

It's a cliché to say that those managers who finally dip their toe into salary cap leagues never go back to snake drafts. Snake drafts have their own charm. There is simply more going on, and thus, more fun to have when participating in a salary cap draft. There become no bounds on how one […]

Undervalued Mixed League Draft Targets in 2021

Finding undervalued players during drafts can make or break your fantasy season. One of the ways we look for undervalued players is to utilize RotoBaller’s Expected Draft Value research developed by my colleague Nick Mariano.  We attempt to identify players who are forecast to return value in 2021 which is greater than the expected value […]

Deeper Draft Sleepers - First Base

Don't look now, but baseball season is on the horizon. Actually, go ahead and look as it is beautiful to see the calendar shrink as each day brings us closer to the crack of the bat and, hopefully, the roar of the crowd as America (and Toronto!) creeps back towards normalcy. It's never a bad idea […]

Five Players Set to Break Out at Second Base

When defining a breakout, I look at it as players that can take a step forward to a level they never reached before. This leaves most of the top targets at the position unavailable for this discussion. Today, we bring you five players at the second base position that can take that next step and […]

Power Sleepers - Noteworthy 2020 Barrel Leaders

As we've continued to progress in the MLB offseason, I've been looking at barrel rates from 2020 in the hopes of finding players whose breakouts during the shortened season were real or those who may still have breakouts looming. As I've mentioned previously, I'm a firm believer that finding the barrel regularly is an incredibly […]