Author Archive

Beat the Shift Podcast – Mock Draft Episode w/ Ray Murphy

The Mock Draft Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Ray Murphy

Strategy Section

  • Snake Draft
    • General Strategy & Method
    • Strategy differences between shallow & deeper formats
    • Early observations of 2021 drafts

RotoBaller Mock Draft

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Beat the Shift Podcast – Episode w/ Anthony Bass (Miami Marlins)

The latest episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Anthony Bass, Relief Pitcher on the Miami Marlins

Interview

  • The 2020 season experience
  • The current offseason
  • Differences in pitching philosophies between ball clubs
  • Pitching in Japan
  • Learning the split finger from teammate Shohei Ohtani
  • Preparing for a game – as a starting pitcher vs. a relief pitcher
  • Incorporating anlaytics into pitching preparation in 2021
  • Bass’s change-up
  • Past pitching coaches
  • Marlins to watch out for in 2021
  • Pitchers innings limits in 2021
  • Bass’s pitching role on the Marlins
  • Don Mattingly
  • How the NL East will shape up in 2021

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Beat the Shift Podcast – Relief Pitcher Episode w/ Alex Fast

The Relief Pitcher Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Alex Fast

LABR Recap

  • Reactions to the LABR Mixed Auction League Draft

Strategy Section

  • Closers
    • How should we draft closers in 2021?
    • What closer tiers are the best return on investments?
    • Is it better to pick a named closer on a bad team or an uncertain closer on a good team?
  • Relievers
    • How should we set ourselves up for in-season play with relief pitchers?
    • How much are reliever ratios a consideration while drafting, as opposed to only considering the closers role (saves)?
    • When should you draft a valuable middle reliever over a named closer?

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Beat the Shift Podcast – Injury Episode w/ Stephania Bell

The Injury Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Stephania Bell of ESPN

Tommy John Surgery

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Beat the Shift Podcast – Catcher & Utility-Only Episode w/ Ryan Bloomfield

The Catcher & Utility-Only Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Ryan Bloomfield

Strategy Section

  • Catchers
    • How to account for Positional Scarcity with Catchers
    • Differences between 1-Catcher Leagues and 2-Catcher Leagues
    • Streaming Catchers
    • Is J.T. Realmuto worth his current draft price?
  • Utility-Only Players
    • Are Utility-Only players undervalued in drafts?
    • “Clogging the Utility Slot”
    • Utility-Only players to gain positional eligibility

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Beat the Shift Podcast – NFBC & Outfielder Episode w/ Matt Modica

The NFBC & Outfielder Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Matt Modica

Strategy Section

  • NFBC
    • Differences between NFBC (High stakes) vs. Home Leagues
    • Standalone Leagues vs. Leagues with an Overall Prize
    • NFBC Specific Rules
      • Limited Bench
      • No Injured List
      • No Trading
      • Semi-Weekly Lineups for Hitters
    • Are Multi-Position Eligible players more valuable?
    • Pitching is greatly pushed up in NFBC leagues
      • Is it warranted?
      • Should you follow the crowd, or alter your strategy to zag?
      • Should a super elite pitcher (deGrom/Cole) be taken #1 overall?
    • NFBC Draft Planning
    • KDS

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Beat the Shift Podcast – Auction Strategy Episode w/ Derek VanRiper

The Auction Strategy Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Derek VanRiper

Strategy Section

  • Auction Strategy
    • How Snake Drafts & Auctions differ in preparation.
    • Constructing Auction Values
      • Should you strictly hold to values?
      • What to use as a Hitter/Pitcher % split?
    • Generating Market Values
    • Nomination Strategies
      • General – It has to have a purpose.
      • Should you nominate players you want to buy, or players that you believe are overvalued?
      • The Economic Box
    • Bidding
      • Starting Bids
      • Jump Bids
      • Price Enforcing
      • The ‘9’s
    • Draft Inflation

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Beat the Shift Podcast – Starting Pitcher Episode (Part II) w/ Nick Pollack

The Starting Pitcher Episode (Part II) of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Nick Pollack

Strategy Section

  • Simple analytics vs. advanced analytics.
  • Offseason information – what is noise, what is real?
  • Blind spots of projections for pitchers.
  • 2021 Season
    • 6-man roations
    • Starting pitcher inning limits
    • The Tampa Bay Rays
    • What if the season is delayed?
    • Ramp-up from 2020 short season

Starting Pitcher Strategy

  • General strategy
  • Pitchers that we would more likely roster in auctions vs. snake drafts (& vice versa).

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Inter-Projection Volatility & The ATC Projections

The 2021 ATC Projections have arrived at FanGraphs!

The Average Total Cost projection system (ATC) gets its name from the fact that it “averages” many other projection systems together. ATC also happens to be my initials.

ATC is a “smart” projection aggregation model. While most other aggregation systems typically apply equal weight to all underlying data sources, ATC assigns weights based on historical performance. The method is similar to what Nate Silver does with his political forecasting at www.fivethirtyeight.com. Read more about how ATC works in last year’s introductory ATC article.

ATC’s advanced methods have paid off. Last year, FantasyPros ranked ATC as the most accurate baseball projections, even more accurate than their own. Annually, I conduct my own projections review using a game theory method, which has consistently shown that ATC has outperformed other projections. You can read the results of last year’s study here.

Starting this year, ATC will include three new volatility metrics to be described later in this article. Aside from introducing the concepts behind these new metrics, we will also discuss how a fantasy manager might use them in practice.

First, let’s quickly remind everyone on where to find the ATC projections at FanGraphs.

Viewing ATC

There are currently three ways to view and utilize the ATC projections on the site.

  • Full Projections
  • Individual Player Pages
  • Auction Calculator

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Beat the Shift Podcast – Middle Infield Episode w/ Rick Wolf

The Middle Infield Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Rick Wolf

Strategy Section

  • Fantasy Baseball Partners
    • Advantages & Disadvantages
    • What makes a good partnership?
    • How to divide up tasks & responsibilities.

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