“Knocking Down The Door” is a weekly column highlighting minor leaguers who are making a case for a major league promotion. Listed below are the names of this week’s picks and the player’s team, age, level(s), prospect ranking, and last 2-3 weeks of statistics.
The analysis can be viewed in the embedded video of the previous day’s episode of The RosterResource Show, a weekly live stream focused on all things related to rosters, transactions, and RosterResource content at FanGraphs.
Read the rest of this entry »
Over the last week, I’ve discussed a number of hitters who have recently earned regular playing time. Now let’s shift our focus over to starting pitchers. Let’s dive into four starters who have just recently made their first MLB starts.
The 2021 version of Bullpen Report includes five different sections, as well as the closer chart, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
The “RosterResource” link will take you to the corresponding team’s RosterResource depth chart, which will give you a better picture of the full bullpen and results of the previous six days (pitch count, save, hold, win, loss, blown save.)
Click HERE to view the full Closer Depth Chart. Read the rest of this entry »
There are many strategies to employ during a fantasy baseball season and this year I’ve been trying a few new ones. The one strategy that has worked out tremendously well for me so far has been based on Jeff Zimmerman’s early-season analysis of xwOBA’s in-season predictive power. I detailed a practical way to apply his findings to waiver claims in shallow leagues. I’ve also decided, though the decision was sort of decided for me, to punt one category. Some of my own early-season research showed that punting one category can be fine as long as you have a few maxed-out category scores. However, one strategy that I’ve never employed is the usage of platoon splits. Two players, acting like one, and being placed in your lineup as if you were a real manager sounds pretty cool. But, I play in a shallow, 10-team, ESPN roto-league and I wanted to see if this strategy can work in such conditions. Here’s a little case study to see how this strategy would have played out for me in 2021 if I had started at the very beginning of the year and stuck with it until now.
Transcript is available!
Paul Sporer: Hello everyone!! Thanks for coming out!
JC: LOL @ the mookie collection requirements.
Paul Sporer: An elite card being tough to get? Wow… what an idea lol
Paul Sporer: The complaints about it are MUCH funnier, tbh. With all due respect, y’all are being whack.
CT: Hey Paul, appreciate the chat. Hold or Fold in 12tm roto: Conforto & Gonsolin respectively
Paul Sporer: I’m definitely open to cutting both depending on who you’re picking up. Gonso is easiest to cut but I can definitely get behind moving on from Conforto in a 12-teamer
NEW FEATURE ALERT! We have added an upgraded version of RosterResource’s Closer Depth Chart to FanGraphs. Read more about it here.
We will always include a link to the full Closer Depth Chart at the bottom of the Bullpen Report each day. It’s also accessible from the RosterResource drop-down menu and from any RosterResource page. Please let us know what you think.
The “RosterResource” link will take you to the corresponding team’s RosterResource depth chart, which will give you a better picture of the full bullpen and results of the previous six days (pitch count, save, hold, win, loss, blown save). Read the rest of this entry »
Everywhere you look, there’s a new starter. So let’s keep it going until I run out of names to discuss.
I am here for StatCat coverage:
The return of Catcast ™. (MLB x @GoogleCloud) pic.twitter.com/HfgqX7MewR — MLB (@MLB) August 3, 2021
The return of Catcast ™.
(MLB x @GoogleCloud) pic.twitter.com/HfgqX7MewR
— MLB (@MLB) August 3, 2021
The super active Trade Deadline definitely created some new opportunities for players who could soon become fantasy worthy players depending on league size. Obviously the opportunities often come on the worst teams so they aren’t exactly elite level players joining quality lineups, but we all know that volume alone can drive a player’s usefulness for us in the fantasy realm.
I just did a piece like this where I guessed who might get the chances based on potential trades and exactly one of the players I mentioned was traded, but I partly blame that on Colorado and Detroit being run horribly. But I’m not sure why Arizona didn’t trade David Peralta or Kole Calhoun.
Rafael Ortega | OF, CHC
Ortega was already making noise before the 3-HR game with a .345/.387/.517 line in 31 PA in the last week or so of July with seven starts in nine games, all of which saw him leading off. Then on August 1st he had the huge 3-home run game that put him on everyone’s radar. He was scooped up across most 15-team leagues but remains widely available in the 10- and 12-team landscape. There could enough here to pick him up.
Holy smokes, what a list of players to go over this week. While those who play in shallower leagues than the Main Event might not be impressed, the available talent is significantly better than the most recent options. The players are more than just a bunch of injured or demoted guys. It’s a good week to look into the past week’s drops for a few bargains.
For this weekly feature, I use the NFBC Main Event because of the number of identical leagues. Additionally, the managers stay engaged longer on the whole since each spent $1700 per team. I tried to find that sweet spot between the obvious and bizarre drops and will focus on players dropped in seven to ten leagues. Previously the number was six to nine, but I adjusted with the Main Event adding four leagues since I did the report. Read the rest of this entry »