8/17/17

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 18, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER18!

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer
• @enosarris
• @jasoncollette
• @jeffwzimmerman

Strategy Section

• Finding Breakouts; Stickiness of Breakouts
  • Justin Smoak
  • Aaron Hicks
  • Marwin Gonzalez
• Old 1B Declines: Miguel Cabrera & Albert Pujols
• Quick Looks at Brandon Woodruff & Luke Sims

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Jose Berrios was a heralded prospect coming up through the minors for the Minnesota Twins. The big expectations were unmet a year ago as he struggled mightily through his MLB debut. He managed just a paltry 5% K-BB rate en route to an 8.02 ERA and 1.87 WHIP in 58.3 innings of work. He admits to not being as mentally prepared as possible for the big leagues, something that plagues countless rookies and even many veterans over the course of the season. Pitching can be as mentally grinding as it is physically.

The heartening aspect of Berrios’ 2016 season is that he continued to excel in the minors. In 111.3 innings, he posted a 21% K-BB, 2.51 ERA, and 0.99 WHIP, finding consistent success even as he shuttled between Rochester and Minnesota (three stops in each). His success in the minors kept expectations high for the 23-year old right-hander. He didn’t break camp with the club, instead logging six strong starts at Triple-A Rochester (20% K-BB, 1.13 ERA, 0.81 WHIP in 39.7 IP) before his May 13th season debut.

Read the rest of this entry »

8/13/17

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 18, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER18!

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer
• @enosarris
• @jasoncollette

Leading Off: Question of the Day (4:20)

• How has Aaron Nola run off a 1.71 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and 78 Ks in 68.3 IP over his L10 starts?

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

8/10/17

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 18, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER18!

Special thanks to Chris Welsh from InThisLeague.com for editing the episode!

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer
• @enosarris
• @jasoncollette

Leading Off: Question of the Day

• What’s your favorite nickname for Player’s Weekend?

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Chat transcript is below!

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re in the dog days of the season now. Every little edge you can get with a player can be a major difference. You have to manage to your standings, not just the most talented players. It’d be great to find another Tommy Pham or Chris Taylor, but there is plenty of luck involved with something like that. Instead, let’s find some skilled players who could help us in a category or two and maybe it’ll all come together for a two month stretch of their peak which has them playing like one of those out-of-nowhere superstars.

Marcus Semien (OAK, SS)

Semien has been a solid power-speed shortstop the last couple seasons, especially if you can plan around his poor batting average (averaged 21 HR, 10 SB, .247 AVG in 2015-16). He hasn’t had a real shot to improve upon those numbers this year as a bruised wrist popped up in mid-April and left him sidelined for 74 games. He’s been back since early-July and after ramping up over a few games, he has really heated up over his last 20: .306/.366/.459, 3 HR, 2 SB in 93 PA. He’s making great contact during the run with a tiny 6% soft contact rate and keeping the strikeout rate palatable at 21% (compared to 24% for his career). A shortstop with guaranteed playing time and diverse fantasy skills could be a beast for extended stretches. In June and July of last year, he only hit .238 but popped 12 HR with 7 SB.

Read the rest of this entry »

8/9/17

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 18, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER18!

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer
• @enosarris
• @jasoncollette

Strategy Section: Breakout Hitters

• Aaron Judge (4:00)
• Andrelton Simmons (13:34)
• Marwin Gonzalez (18:20)
• Michael Conforto (25:50)
• Marcell Ozuna (28:15)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

It’s been a big year for hitting without a doubt, but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t seen some great pitchers emerge. Guys like James Paxton, Alex Wood, and Luis Severino are winning leagues for people, but there are also plenty of intriguing arms who aren’t necessarily toting gaudy bottom line results. However, their skills and stuff set them up to be next year’s version of those guys and they are the ones you can buy now for a big 2018 payoff. We’ll span league depth with a couple deep league considerations, too.

Danny Salazar | Indians

Danny Salazar has been peak Salazar since his return from the DL and I’m pretty excited about his prospects down the stretch and beyond. He’s allowed just three runs in 20 innings since returning, with 28 strikeouts, five walks, and eight hits! We talked about him on the podcast right around his return, I wrote up his first and second starts in the Roto Riteup, and then Eno wrote up his new approach. We saw what he can do in 2015 with a 3.45 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 195 strikeouts in 185 innings. Since then, his walk rate has spiked to 11% and he’s been DL’d with both elbow and shoulder injuries, but he’s still just 27 with top-flight skills.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m filling in on the BR from the road at Saberseminar so no chart today, but here’s a look at the relevant bullpen news from Friday’s slate:

• Bruce Rondon notched his first save of the year for the Tigers, but that was because Shane Greene had saved three straight and wasn’t available.
• Blake Treinen blew another save for Oakland, his third since joining the team on July 17th. The blown saves are the only runs he’s allowed (one of which was unearned) in 10 appearances with the A’s (1.74 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 11 K, 3 BB in 10.3 IP).
• Bud Norris notched his second straight clean save for the Angels in that game that Treinen blew. Norris allowed 8 ER in 1.3 IP over three appearances before the two saves.

Read the rest of this entry »

We are in the dog days of the season now. Some of you have already transitioned to fantasy football (how dare you!), some of you are trying your best to stay engaged, but summer activities are tough to ignore, and then the rest of you are fully engaged – meticulously staying abreast of every bullpen change, every lineup move, and prospect call-up. I want to take a quick look at eight interesting starters and even those of you in the latter group hopefully garner something useful about these intriguing names.

Read the rest of this entry »