Top 10 Impact 2016 Fantasy Prospects: First Basemen

Last year, there were only three stand out rookie first basemen: Justin Bour, Travis Shaw, and Ben Paulsen. Usually, first basemen are established players who tend to hold onto their position for a long time, so it is rare to find a rookie ready to have a big impact at the position. There are not […]

Preseason Champ or Chump: Catchers

Earlier this offseason, I did a series of articles detailing how to use advanced metrics to validate and predict baseball player performance for fantasy purposes. In season, advanced metrics are useful to separate random hot streaks from legitimate breakouts. In the offseason, they can spare you from wasting a high pick or a bunch of […]

Erasmo Ramirez (SP, TB) - 2016 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers

BALLER MOVE: Target ~275 CURRENT ADP: 285.5 ANALYSIS: Erasmo Ramirez is coming off a breakout 2015 season in which he posted a 3.75 ERA and 1.13 WHIP over 163.1 innings. Maintaining a 2.20 BB/9 and a .272 BABIP, Ramirez significantly improved on his performances in 2013 and 2014, when he compiled a composite 5.12 ERA […]

Cory Spangenberg (2B, SD) - 2016 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers

BALLER MOVE: Target ~390 CURRENT ADP: 415 ANALYSIS: The San Diego Padres are in full rebuild mode after a disappointing 2015, and the door is open for Cory Spangenberg to seize a full-time role. The 24-year-old now can get out of Jedd Gyorko's shadow and show off his true talent. Spangenberg can have a Logan Forsythe-type of […]

Logan Forsythe (2B, TB) - 2016 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers

BALLER MOVE: Target ~210 CURRENT ADP: 224 ANALYSIS: Logan Forsythe got his chance to succeed in Tampa Bay last year after being a utility man in San Diego. He went on to finish in the top five among second basemen in home runs (17) and top 10 in RBI (68). He also had a .163 […]

Four Pitchers Coming Off Tommy John Surgery Set to Break Out

With so many pitchers taken down by Tommy John surgery every year, it can be hard to keep track of where they all are in their recovery. RotoBaller is here with an update on four starting pitchers to remember for draft day and into the early part of the season. These players may start the season […]

2016 Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings: Relief Pitchers (March)

It's only fitting that we close out the March rankings with the closers. Because these "firemen" are often on the hot seat, the value of a closer can change more quickly than any other position. While it is beyond the scope of this article, it is important to monitor the closer handcuffs as the season […]

2016 Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings: Starting Pitchers, Part 1 (March)

 Our starting pitching rankings will be split into two parts. Today's edition will examine only the top five tiers of starters, as determined by our staff's composite rankings (which differ a bit from my own evaluations where noted). Using the composite rankings to guide discussion helps to highlight personal preferences while also providing a more balanced view of […]

Fantasy Baseball Draft Values: Mitch Moreland

Flipping through NFBC ADP numbers recently, I saw Mitch Moreland sitting at 231, 20th among first baseman, and thought, “Wait, didn’t he have a 'breakout' season last year?” Editor's note: Read about more draft values and sleepers with our daily updated list. Make sure to also bookmark our fantasy baseball rankings dashboard. Our rankings assistant […]

2016 Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings: Outfield, Part 2 (March)

Smoothly transitioning from yesterday's top four tiers to today's best of the rest, let's start my overvalued/undervalued list with a player who recently snuck up from tier 5 to tier 4 and thus snuck his way into this column. Editor's note: Be sure to also check out our 2016 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard. It's already loaded up […]

2016 Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings: Outfield, Part 1 (March)

This is the fourth and final update to our outfield staff rankings. Once again, I was joined by colleagues Kyle Bishop, Bill Dubiel, Brad Johnson, Nick Mariano, Max Petrie, and Harris Yudin. In case you missed them, you can see our updated March tiered rankings and analysis breaking down our thoughts for catcher, first base, […]

2016 Fantasy Baseball Tiered Third Base Rankings (March)

Oh yeah, you know you love yourself some hot corner action. Third base is one of those premier power spots where you know your team can’t be slouching. If you don't know us by now, the seven rankers are Brad Johnson, Kyle Bishop, Max Petrie, Harris Yudin, Jeff Kahntroff, Bill Dubiel, and myself. In case […]

2016 Fantasy Baseball Tiered Shortstop Rankings (March)

Welcome to our final round of rankings. We've been guiding you throughout the offseason and it has all culminated to this. These rankings will be your guide in fantasy drafts, and while they shouldn't be seen as an end-all, be-all assessment, it's wise to have an understanding of where the market values the players you […]

2016 Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings: Second Base (March)

It seems like only yesterday that we kicked off our preseason coverage back in December with the first round of our RotoBaller staff rankings. Just kidding – it feels like an eternity whenever we’re waiting for baseball to return. But the weather is warming, the days are getting longer, and spring training is in full […]

Colorado Rockies Top MLB Prospects for 2016 Dynasty Leagues

It was another tough year for the Colorado Rockies as they finished tied with the Milwaukee Brewers and Oakland Athletics for the fourth worst record in the majors (68-94). Rockies fans also had to witness the trade that sent franchise shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to Toronto and in the offseason, part with the promising, young Corey […]

2016 Fantasy Baseball Tiered First Base Rankings (March)

Many fantasy baseball drafts have already been held, and there are more on the way. I finally have a drafted team to look over every single day and check for injuries (so far, so good), so all is right in the world. But for those of you who have yet to draft, we've got the rankings and […]

2016 Fantasy Baseball Tiered Catcher Rankings (March)

Welcome to our final round of rankings. We've been guiding you throughout the offseason and it's all culminated to this. These rankings will be your guide in fantasy drafts, and while they shouldn't be seen as an end-all, be-all assessment, it's wise to have an understanding of where the market values the players you seek. […]

2016 Fantasy Baseball Draft Values: Corey Dickerson

With the recent trade from the Colorado Rockies to the Tampa Bay Rays, Corey Dickerson’s opportunity for more playing time has drastically improved. Unlike his tenure with the Rockies, Dickerson’s position as an everyday outfielder is his to lose. Tampa Bay will likely look to use Dickerson as their everyday left fielder. Dickerson’s last season […]

Curt Casali (CA, TB) - 2016 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers

BALLER MOVE: Target ~380 CURRENT ADP: 415 ANALYSIS: Curt Casali put together an intriguing campaign in a very limited 2015 showing. He didn’t have a powerful bat in the minors, yet he hit 10 home runs in just 113 plate appearances for the Rays last year. Tampa Bay brought in Hank Conger to join Casali […]

2016 Fantasy Baseball Draft Values: Three WHIP Sleepers

In 2015, every qualified starting pitcher who ranked in the top 30 of WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched) had a BB/9 under 3.00. 15 of those pitchers had a BB/9 under 2.00. There is a clear correlation between limiting walks and posting a low WHIP. When looking for WHIP sleepers, it’s ideal to […]

2016 Bust Candidates: AL Outfielders to Avoid

The wait is finally over – spring training is in full swing. And what better way to celebrate the advent of draft season than to profile potential breakouts and busts? If you've been following my ongoing series, I've been taking a look at both NL and AL players who may breakout, bounce back, bust or regress in […]

Five Sneaky Second Base Draft Values and ADPs

One of the positions that troubles many fantasy owners at the beginning of the season is second base. Where should I draft the elite players? How long should I wait for middle tiered talents? And finally, can I wait for some sleepers and cover second base later to acquire better talent at a different position? […]

Steven Souza (OF, TB) - 2016 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers

BALLER MOVE: Target ~175 CURRENT ADP: 218 ANALYSIS: Had he not missed 50 games with finger and wrist injuries, Steven Souza had a decent chance at a 20/20 season last year. Of course, that category juice also came saddled with a .225 average. Souza is a textbook three-true-outcomes hitter-- he walked, struck out or homered […]

Five Deep Sleepers at Catcher For 2016

Welcome to the war room. We’re investigating which deeper catchers could turn a nice profit for only the savviest of fantasy owners going into 2016. Catcher is an extremely volatile position, with most of them putting their bodies through the ringer during the course of the season. It isn’t a particular deep position, but rest […]

2016 Breakout Candidates: AL Starting Pitchers

The wait is finally over – pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training. Of course, here at RotoBaller we’ve been cranking out tons of preseason content for some time now. We might be a little obsessed with baseball ‘round these parts. But that’s okay, because so are you! And what better way to celebrate […]

Saves and Holds: AL East Bullpen Depth Chart

With the 2016 fantasy baseball season approaching, bullpen depth charts can be tricky to decipher when entering your fantasy drafts. Projections of who will be vital to their respective team and to your fantasy team will be analyzed over the course of the next two months. Below I've identified the projected AL East closers, setup men, and […]

Tampa Bay Rays Top MLB Prospects for 2016 Dynasty Leagues

The Tampa Bay Rays endured quite an interesting season in 2015. For a time, it looked like they could potentially win the division with a team that (outside of Evan Longoria) was filled with a lot of unrecognizable names. With Chris Archer, Drew Smyly, and Jake Odorizzi at the top of the rotation and Jake […]

Who Ya Got: Rendon or Longoria?

Going by ESPN's average draft position, Anthony Rendon and Evan Longoria were seen as roughly equivalent assets in 2015. Rendon went 38th overall on average in ESPN leagues, while Longoria's ADP was 40. Granted, their aggregate ADPs on the major platforms, per FantasyPros, saw a much wider gap (29 for Rendon and 57 for Longoria). […]

Three Third-Year Starting Pitcher Breakouts

As much attention as has been heaped upon the stellar rookie class of 2015 (something I’m guilty of myself), there were plenty of breakout seasons from other young players. Today, we’ll take a look at a trio of third-year starting pitchers who made the leap: Chris Archer, Gerrit Cole, and Danny Salazar. The first overall […]

Future Tense: Arizona Fall League Updates (November 12th Edition)

This seems like a good time to check in on some of the names we spotlighted weeks ago, to see who’s been able to live up to their potential and if any have been busts. We’ll start things off with a Rays’ first baseman that we were really high on to open the Arizona Fall […]