Top 420: Points Leagues Tiered Staff Rankings (January)

Welcome back RotoBallers. Today we are here to start looking at points leagues and head-to-head (H2H) formats. In this column, you will find our staff's preliminary 2019 fantasy baseball points league rankings for January and the top 420 players. Over the next few days, we will also be publishing individual tiered rankings analysis columns for each […]

Rays Finalize Deal With Avisail Garcia

The Tampa Bay Rays finalized their one-year, $3.5 million deal with free-agent outfielder Avisail Garcia on Friday. He can earn an extra $2.5 million in performance incentives based on plate appearances. The 27-year-old is convinced his disappointing 2018 campaign was the result of knee and hamstring injuries that caused him to develop bad habits with […]

Lourdes Gurriel - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

There are a multitude of reasons to like what Lourdes Gurriel has to offer at his currently very low draft price. The 25-year-old shortstop from Cuba is entering just his second MLB season after spending 2017 and about half of 2018 accelerating through Toronto’s minor league system. He definitely impressed in his brief taste of […]

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 […]

AL 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 American League All-Star team of rookies to […]

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 […]

Rays Closing In On Avisail Garcia

The Tampa Bay Rays are closing in on free-agent outfielder Avisail Garcia, according to sources. Garcia played in just 93 games due to injury in 2018 in his final year with the White Sox and hit a disappointing .236/.281/.438 with 19 home runs and 49 RBI. If he signs with Tampa, he should see consistent […]

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 […]

Mike Zunino Avoids Salary Arbitration

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Mike Zunino avoided salary arbitration on Friday by agreeing to an undisclosed one-year deal. He was projected to make $4.2 million in his second arbitration-eligible season. Zunino came over from Seattle in a trade this offseason after hitting .201/.259/.410 with 20 home runs and 44 RBI in 113 games. The 27-year-old […]

Jake Bauers - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

Jake Bauers exploded onto the fantasy landscape last summer only to fall off late in the season. It ultimately became a disappointing freshman campaign. And yet, Bauers was back in the news this offseason with a trade to Cleveland and a chance to demonstrate again what made him a top fantasy prospect coming into 2018. […]

2019 Catchers - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

Catcher is a tough position to evaluate, as many teams utilize multiple catchers and it is rare for one to play 140 or more games in a season. Wear and tear as a backstop limits offensive value for sure, but there are still a group of solid catchers that can contribute in multiple categories. Beyond […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Nick Pivetta - Ace In The Making

In 2018 there was a breakout pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies who took the league by storm. After garnering league-wide attention, he’s pegged by many fantasy experts as a top-tier starting pitcher for the upcoming year. I'm talking about Aaron Nola, of course. But after this season it very well could be Nick Pivetta. He […]

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 […]

Is it Legit? C.J. Cron's 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 […]

Top 10 Dynasty First Basemen - Fantasy Baseball Prospects

It might seem like I drew the short straw among the prospect analysts here at RotoBaller, but I actually picked this assignment! You won’t see many of these names on top 100 lists. Despite being one of the positions from which teams expect to get the most offensive production, first base gets the least amount […]

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 […]

Is it Legit? Blake Snell'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 […]

Top 10 Dynasty Outfielders - Fantasy Baseball Prospects

Outfield prospects are fascinating right now, as with the graduation of Ronald Acuna and Juan Soto, there are new names near the top of the rankings to learn. This does not mean a drop in talent though, as the current crop of players is easy to dream on for fantasy owners with a mix of […]

Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Wood Become Reds

Starting pitcher Alex Wood, catcher Kyle Farmer, and outfielders Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig are trading Dodger blue for the bright kit of the Cincinnati Reds. The trio was traded for Homer Bailey and prospects in what was essentially a salary dump for Los Angeles as they attempt to sign or trade for more superstars. […]

Please Let Brandon Belt Get Traded

A report recently came to light that the San Francisco Giants were making first baseman and owner of a genuine super-beard, Brandon Belt, available in trades. Apparently, there are teams interested in the oft-injured slugger, despite the whopping $48 million due to him over the next three years. It’s not terribly surprising that Belt is available, […]

Carlos Santana and Edwin Encarnacion Swapped - Fantasy Impact

For Cleveland fans, last year was an odd viewing experience, as for the first time in eight years Carlos Santana was not suiting up for the team. Well, those days are over, as Santana is returning to the corner of Carnegie and Ontario as part of a three-team deal. At the time of writing, Carlos […]

Charlie Morton to the Rays - Fantasy Impact

The latest free agent pitcher to find a new home is former Houston Astros starter Charlie Morton, who signed a two-year deal on Wednesday to take his talents to Tampa Bay. Morton underwent a career resurgence in Houston, where he won a World Series ring and earned his first All-Star Game appearance after nine seasons […]

2018 Baseball Winter Meetings - Wednesday/Thursday Recap

MLB Winter Meetings are ending in Las Vegas, Nevada and the headline-grabbing moves have come from relatively unknown places. Players like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, J.T. Realmuto, and Noah Syndergaard were rumored to be traded or signed, yet none of those moves materialized. What did occur over the last two days, though, were some solid […]