Texas Signs Delino DeShields To Minor League Deal

Outfielder Delino DeShields has rejoined the Texas Rangers on a Minor League contract with an invite to Spring Training for the upcoming 2021 year. DeShields served as primarily an everyday player for the club from 2015-20 before a trade to Cleveland, which saw him produce a .252/.310/.318 slash line across 37 games last year. Known […]

Starting Pitchers to Target Late - LIMA Plan

The LIMA (Low Investment Mound Aces) Plan is a long-standing draft strategy that was developed far before 2021 but it seems more applicable now than ever. FSWA Hall of Fame member Ron Shandler developed the strategy around the turn of the millennium due to the heavy emphasis on starting pitching in most drafts, leading him […]

Are We In or Are We Out? - Bases loaded Podcast

Mike Kurland (@Mike_Kurland) rolls solo and dives into the names you gave us on twitter that you are not sold on or unsure with how to go about handling in the upcoming 2021 season. Subscribe to the Bases Loaded podcast, part of RotoBaller Radio's Podcast Network. Like and Subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get […]

Examining The Most Effective Pitches in Baseball

There is just nothing better in sports than Baseball Savant. We can derive almost any insight we want from their pitch-by-pitch dataset. One challenge I wanted to take a crack at was to see if I could find which individual pitches in baseball are most effective regardless of who throws it, just looking at pitch type […]

Digging Into K% Leaders - Ketel Marte

There are so many metrics that exist to evaluate player performance, it can sometimes be tough to know which way to go with it. There are the very basic stats we all grew up with: batting average, runs batted in, home runs, and maybe on-base percentage. We also know that they are not the most […]

Dynasty Third Base Rankings for Fantasy Baseball

We will continue our early preseason look at each position with some thoughts on individual player values heading into 2021. We've already gone over first base and second base rankings. Today, we examine a fairly deep third base position. As we prepare to flip the calendar to 2021, fantasy baseball managers are poring over MLB free […]

Top 440: Early H2H Points League Rankings

Welcome back RotoBallers. Below you will find our early 2021 fantasy baseball H2H points league rankings (top 440). As you may know, head-to-head points formats are typically underserved by fantasy baseball outlets - but this is an area that we at RotoBaller take pride in and specialize in. Throughout the preseason and regular season, we will […]

Top 680: Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings (January)

Welcome back RotoBallers, and Happy New Year! Below you will find our staff's early 2021 fantasy baseball tiered rankings (top 680) for 5x5 mixed leagues. In case you missed it, you can also see our tiered positional rankings as well. Three our lead fantasy baseball analysts - Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus and JB Branson - have analyzed the MLB offseason moves and are ready to […]

Dynasty Second Base Rankings for Fantasy Baseball

We will continue our early preseason look at each position with some thoughts on individual player values heading into 2021. We've already gone over first base. Today, we continue with second base. As we prepare to flip the calendar to 2021, fantasy baseball managers are poring over MLB free agency news and the latest rankings. […]

Dynasty First Base Rankings for Fantasy Baseball

As we prepare to flip the calendar to 2021, fantasy baseball managers are poring over MLB free agency news and the latest rankings. That includes our constantly-updated dynasty rankings. We will take an early preseason look at each position with some thoughts on individual player values heading into next season. Today, we start with first […]

You Paid What?! Overvalued Players in Auctions

Assuming the 2021 MLB season starts on time, we are on the precipice of fantasy baseball draft season. Spring Training will get underway next month, at which point, drafts roll out in full force. We aren't there quite yet, which makes sense. Many of the biggest free agents remain unsigned; the league is unsure of […]

Early One-Man Mock (Round 1) - 2022 Fantasy Baseball

There is no such thing as too early when it comes to draft prep. The calendar won't flip to 2022 for another few weeks but we at RotoBaller aren't ones to sit around and wait. Mock drafts take time, so I took matters into my own hands to complete a one-man mock. For the most […]

David Dahl to the Rangers - Fantasy Impact

It's been a rough journey through the majors so far for David Dahl. The potential has been there for the former 10th overall pick, but he has been plagued by injuries nearly every season. A torn hamstring in 2013 and a lacerated spleen in 2015 cost him time in the minors, a stress fracture in […]

Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball First Base Rankings

Once again, I'll start by saying the 2021 baseball season is not guaranteed to be a normal one. But for now, let's just close our eyes and dream of a world unencumbered by COVID-19 and talk about our silly little game as if a 162-game season will come next spring. Join me for my position-by-position […]

Biggest Brl/BBE% Fallers from 2020

Last week, I discussed the importance of the Brl/BBE% and examined some players who had improved the most in the shortened 2019 season. If you haven't yet taken a look at that, I would encourage you to because I also gave a detailed breakdown of why I like this particular stat. However, if you simply […]

Rangers Reach Two-Year Deal With Kohei Arihara

The Texas Rangers signed Japanese right-hander Kohei Arihara to a two-year deal on Saturday worth $6-7 million, according to sources. The 28-year-old had a 3.74 ERA in six seasons with the Nippon Ham Fighters and went 8-9 with 106 strikeouts and a 3.46 ERA in 132 2/3 innings in 20 outings for the team in […]

Projecting Power in 2021: Late ADP Options

Like a sitcom catchphrase from a bygone era, we all want more power. We'll take it early and we'll take it late but it always feels extra sweet when one of your final picks suddenly becomes one of the mayors of dong city. Looking at a player's exit velocities can tell us a lot about […]

Three Hitters Set To Break Out Earlier Than Expected

Finding breakout hitters can be a difference-maker for fantasy teams, especially when those hitters have had limited success at the major league level early in their careers. Whether it be through added playing time, skill improvements, or some combination of the two, pre-prime breakouts can be excellent draft values thanks to their unusually high upside.  […]

Rangers Interested In Kohei Arihara

The Texas Rangers are believed to be among a number of teams interested in Japanese right-handed pitcher Kohei Arihara, who was posted last month by the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japanese League. Teams have until this Saturday to reach a deal with him. Arihara has been compared to Kenta Maeda and Kyle Hendricks […]

Squaring It Up: 2020's Biggest Brl/BBE% Gainers

Often when it comes to fantasy baseball, we get overloaded with statistics and it becomes hard to sort out what's useful from what's misleading. Many experts can write pages about why they swear by certain stats as being the most predictive for future success or accurate in reflecting who had a good season. In the […]

Lance Lynn to White Sox - Fantasy Impact

Entering the offseason looking to shore up their pitching staff, the White Sox made the first big move in the 2020 starting pitcher market with the acquisition of right-hander Lance Lynn from the Texas Rangers. In return, Chicago sent top-100 prospect Dane Dunning and 2019 sixth-rounder Avery Weems down south to Arlington. In a move […]

Nate Lowe to Rangers - Fantasy Impact

Nate Lowe has been FREED!!!!! The Tampa Bay Rays have traded their talented slugging first baseman as well as first baseman Jake Guenther to the Texas Rangers for catcher Heriberto Hernandez, infielder Osleivis Basabe, and outfielder Alexander Ovalles. This is the moment many fantasy baseball players have been waiting for, the chance for Nate Lowe […]

MLB's Best Pitches by the Numbers

One of the most-often used algorithms in the data science world is called clustering. Clustering is defined, by Wikipedia, as: grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group (called a cluster) are more similar (in some sense) to each other than to those in other groups (clusters) In baseball […]

David Dahl Agrees With Texas

Free-agent outfielder David Dahl and the Texas Rangers agreed on a one-year deal for around $3 million on Friday, according to sources familiar with the agreement. Dahl, 26, became a free agent when he was non-tendered by the Rockies. He's recovering from right shoulder surgery in September. Dahl has a long list of injuries in […]

Projecting Power in 2021: Early ADP Air% Exit Velocity

Looking at average exit velocity to project future power is not very useful compared to looking only at balls hit in the air. Because who cares how hard ground balls are hit? However, it can be even more useful to parse out those velocities into more refined bins and cast a more critical eye to […]

Rangers Acquire Nate Lowe From Rays

The Texas Rangers acquired infielder Nate Lowe and minor league first baseman Jake Guenther from the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday in exchange for minor league catcher and outfielder Heriberto Hernandez, infielder Osleivis Basabe and outfielder Alexander Ovalles. Lowe, 25, hit .224 with four home runs and 11 RBI in 21 games last season and […]

White Sox Acquire Lance Lynn From Rangers

The Chicago White Sox acquired starting pitcher Lance Lynn from the Texas Rangers early Tuesday morning in exchange for 25-year-old right-hander Dane Dunning and left-handed pitching prospect Avery Weems, according to sources. The 33-year-old right-hander led the majors in innings in 2020 and was the most prized pitcher on the trade market this winter. Lynn […]

Top 250 Dynasty Prospects for 2021

The 2020 baseball season was unlike any year we’ve ever seen with its shortened season and schedule that can perhaps be best described as organized chaos. The absence of a minor league season played havoc with prospect prognosticators. The 2021 season — and perhaps beyond — will continue to present unique challenges as the pandemic […]

Biggest Risers of 2020 – Relief Pitchers

In 2020, we saw a large number of relief pitchers, previously not in the upper tier of fantasy rankings, breakout or bounce back from 2019 decrepitude. Below we will take a look at a few of the biggest relief pitcher risers of the 2020 season as we gear up for 2021 drafts in the spring. […]

Nick Mariano's Early 2021 Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings

The 2021 MLB season isn't guaranteed to be normal but I have hope that next spring will be much healthier. As such, I will approach ranks as if a traditional 162-game season is coming. Join me for my position-by-position ranking series for the 2021 fantasy baseball season. How much weight do we give 2020? How […]