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

Guest: Keith Raad (New York Mets broadcaster)

Interview

• Career path to the Mets
• Transition from minor leagues to major leagues
• Working with Howie Rose
• Research prior to season
• Incorporating analytics into the broadcast
• Catch phrases
• Philosophy of new manager and general manager
• Brandon Nimmo’s role
• How the Mets will handle third base
• Will Edwin Diaz bounce back to elite form?
• The most underrated player on the Mets
• Free agent fits for the Mets
• Prospects that could make an impact in 2024
• The biggest influence on Keith’s career
• Favorite moment as a broadcaster

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Outfield Part II Preview episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Ray Murphy

First Pitch Florida

Strategy Section

• Projections
  • The basics of what goes into generating player projections
  • How should you use projections?
  • Blind spots of projections
    • What does the human eye do better than the computer?
• Pricing Players
  • SGP vs. Z-Scores vs. PVM
• Outfield Player Pool
  • General observations
  • Are there specific stats that you need to get from the OF position?

ATC Undervalued Players

• Outfielders
  • Masataka Yoshida
  • Brandon Nimmo
  • Cedric Mullins
  • Riley Greene
  • Taylor Ward
  • Bryan De La Cruz
  • Jung Hoo Lee 이정후
    • Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week
  • Austin Hays
  • Sal Frelick

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Outfield Part I & Utility Only Preview episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Brian Entrekin

Strategy Section

• Snake Draft Strategy
  • General KDS Strategy
  • This year’s KDS Strategy
  • Mapping stats & positions in future rounds
• Outfield Player Pool
  • General observations
  • 3 OF vs 5 OF leagues
  • OF Stars & Scrubs approach?
  • OF Waiver wire viaiblity
• Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week
• Are platoon players viable to roster?
  • In which formats?
• Designated Hitter / Utility Only Players
  • Is it worth it to “clog” up your utlilty spot with a utility only player?

ATC Undervalued Players

• Outfielders
  • Yordan Alvarez
  • Michael Harris II
  • Nolan Jones
  • Bryan Reynolds
  • Kyle Schwarber
  • Nick Castellanos
  • George Springer
  • Teoscar Hernandez
  • Anthony Santander
• Utility Only
  • Eloy Jimenez

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Corner Infield Preview episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Mike Gianella

Strategy Section

• What does it mean for a position to be shallow?
• Strategy for shallow positions
• Dual position eligibile players
  • Value and use
• General corner infield player pool observations
• Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week
• What statistics do you need to accumulate from the corner infield position?
• Get a reliable CI up top, or wait for bargains to unfold later on?

ATC Undervalued Players

• Corner Infielders
  • Paul Goldschmidt
  • Nolan Arenado
  • Alex Bregman
  • Josh Naylor
  • Yandy Diaz
  • Jake Burger
  • Alec Bohm
  • Nathaniel Lowe
  • Ke’Bryan Hayes
  • Andrew Vaughn
  • Ryan Mountcastle
  • Jose Abreu
  • Ty France

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

Guest: Justin Mason

Strategy Section

• Catcher player pool observations
• Are catchers less valuable this year?
• 1-Catcher vs. 2-Catcher leagues
• Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week
• Can you effectively stream catchers?
• Can you / should you draft a catching pair from a single MLB team?
• Catchers who might recieve extra playing time as the designated hitter

ATC Undervalued Players

• Catchers
  • Salvador Perez
    • Will Sal Perez be a Hall of Fame catcher?
  • Willson Contreras
  • Keibert Ruiz
  • Jonah Heim
  • Logan O’Hoppe
  • Shea Langeliers

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The 1st & 2nd Rounds episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Frank Stampfl

Strategy Section

• Fantasy baseball resources
• Looking back at last year’s fantasy teams
  • Learning year over year
• Do not draft lists?
• Risk adjusting player prices
• Limiting aggregate risk on a fantasy roster
• Year over year consistency
• Drafting inexperienced players in early rounds
  • Elly De La Cruz
  • Corbin Carroll

Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week

1st & 2nd Rounds

• What should you accomplish in your first 2 picks?
  • Draft certain stats or a certain type of player?
• Do you need to draft an ace starting pitcher in the first 2 rounds?
  • When should you draft Spencer Strider?
• Overvalued players in the first 2 rounds
• Undervalued players in the first 2 rounds
• Other players who should be drafted in the first 2 rounds
• Ronald Acuna Jr. is #1
  • This year’s KDS should universally start with #1
  • Who to draft at #2?

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

Guest: Jacob Steinmetz (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Interview

• Personal history
• Milestone ages – 70 MPH, 80 MPH, 90 MPH
• Getting noticed in high school
• Experiences as a first year minor league ballplayer
• Goals for 2023
• Goals for 2024
• Experience of being drafted
  • Mazel “lucky” draft slot
• Turning professional vs. heading to college decision
• Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week
• Playing for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic
• Experience as the first Orthodox Jewish players drafted by a major league team
• Major league players that have influenced Jacob the most
• Jacob’s father’s influence (Elliot Steinmetz)
• The Arizona Diamondbacks organization
  • Coaching
  • Analytics
  • Development
• Sticky stuff
• Changes in the 2023 MLB rules
• Robo umpires / Challenge system
• Softball advice for Ariel

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

Guest: Rob Friedman

Interview

• How did Pitching Ninja come about?
• When did you realize that you’ve made it to the big time?
• Major league pitchers benefiting from watching and interacting with Pitching Ninja
• What is the difference beteween a sweeper and a slider?
• The effect of the new rule changes on baseball and on pitching
  • The incerase of performance variance between starts
• Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week
  • Swinging strike rates
  • Called strike rates
• How will swinging strike rates fare in 2024?
• Are batters trying to put the ball more in play, or are still swinging for the fences?
• How is a GIF pronounced?
• What is the most important aspect of analytics for pitchers these days?
• What has been Pitching Ninja’s impact on the fantasy baseball world?

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The LIVE from First Pitch Arizona episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guests: Tristan Cockcroft & Derek Carty

Strategy Section

• Which is more important – the draft or in-season moves?
• Is it more important than ever to bank low-risk players in the early rounds of drafts?
• What makes a risky / consistent player?
  • Is Shohei Ohtani risky for 2024 as a hitter?
  • Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week
  • How should we determine what constitutes a consistent player, and how should we value consistency?
• Young players
  • Should we be cautious to roster young players with limited experience?
  • How should we value the playoff experience of young players?
• Stolen base landscape
  • How should we value SBs in 2024 drafts?
• Closers
  • Optimal strategy in retrospect for 2023
  • Prospective strategy heading into 2024
  • Should we be drafting middle relievers?

2024 First Round

• Who is a player that will be drafted in the first round of 2024 that is undervalued?
• Who is a player that will be drafted in the first round of 2024 that is overvalued?
• Who is a player that will not be drafted in the first round of 2024 that should be?

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

Strategy Section

• Last Weeks Strategy
  • Gaining in categories vs. Defending in categories
  • Marginal categories
  • Ratio categories strategy
    • Number of starters vs. number of relievers
    • Balancing with quantity stats
  • Chasing wins
  • FAAB Bidding
  • Game 163

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS