The Starting Pitcher episode – Part I – of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Nick Pollack

FSWA Nomination

Strategy Section

• Valuing Pitcher Changes
  • Working on a new pitch
  • Pitch mix
  • Arm angle
  • Relief pitcher turned starter
• Spring training
  • What to look for?
  • Who to look for?
• Starting pitcher strategy
  • Do you emphaisze drafting pitchers with high innings pitched per start?
  • What to do with the Los Angeles Dodgers?
  • Which should you emphasize earlier on in drafts – strikeouts or ratios?

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The Outfield & THE BAT episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Derek Carty

THE BAT Projections

• Projections accuracy contest on FantasyPros
  • What is the best way to test projections accuracy?
• What are the key components of a projection system?
• What is the difference between THE BAT & THE BAT X?
• THE BAT methodolgy
  • Details on weighting of years
  • Runs & RBI
  • Stolen bases
  • Accounting for park factors for new stadium dimensions

Strategy Section

• Positional Eligibilty
  • Which is more valuable for 2025 – 2B, 3B or OF?
  • The value of multi-position eligible players
• Outfield strategy
  • Player pool
  • Should you draft an elite outfielder?
  • Are there certain statistics that you should acquire from your outfielders?

ATC Undervalued Players

• Outfielders
  • Anthony Santander
  • Taylor Ward
  • Nick Castellanos
  • Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
  • Lane Thomas
  • George Springer
  • Cedric Mullins
  • Matt Wallner
    • Board bet !

Injury Update

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

Guest: Jordan Rosenblum

OOPSY Projections

• What are the key components of a projection system?
• What is the general OOPSY methodolgy?
• What is Stuff+ ?
  • How is it incorporated into the model?
• What is Barrel% ?
  • How is it incorporated into the model?
• How are Runs & RBI calculated?
• How are stolen bases calculated?
• What is the best way to test projections accuracy?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of OOPSY?
• How to use OOPSY for fantasy baseball?

ATC Volatility Metrics

OOPSY vs. ATC

• Hitters that OOPSY likes more
• Hitters that ATC likes more
• Pitchers that OOPSY likes more
• Pitchers that ATC likes more
• Aaron Judge’s high POPSY HR projection

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

Guest: Mike Gianella

Strategy Section

• 3rd & 4th Rounds
  • Should you continue to avoid [downside] risk in the 3rd and 4th rounds?
  • Is it too early to take a closer in rounds 3 & 4?
•  When should you shift your emphasis from being risk averse to risk indifferent to risk seeking?
  • Health Risk vs. Performance Risk vs. Playing Time Risk
• How to handle position runs mid-draft?
  • Are position runs a factor in pre-draft KDS selections?
• Middle Infield strategy
  • Player pool
  • Which position gets a bigger replacement level / positional scarcity bump – 2B, SS or 3B?

ATC Undervalued Players

• Middle Infielders
  • Luis Arraez 1B/2B
  • Luis Garcia 2B
  • Xavier Edwards SS
  • Jeremy Pena SS
  • Zach Neto SS
  • Bryson Stott 2B
  • Gleyber Torres 2B
  • Tyler Fitzgerald 2B*/SS
  • Brendan Donovan 2B/OF

Injury Update

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

Guest: Frank Stampfl

Strategy Section

• 1st & 2nd Rounds
  • What should you accomplish in the 1st two rounds?
  • Do you need to draft a starting pitcher in the first few rounds of drafts?
  • Overvalued players
    • Should you draft catchers in the first two rounds?
    • Ohtani at 1.1 ?
  • Undervalued players
    • Freddie Freeman’s consistency
  • Players drafted outside the first two rounds, but should be drafted earlier.
  • The Top 3
    • Why Elly De La Cruz should and shouldn’t be considered to be drafted just outside the top 3.
• The ATC Volatility Metrics
• Corner Infield strategy
  • Player pool

ATC Undervalued Players

• Corner Infielders
  • • Vinnie Pasquantino 1B
    • Alec Bohm 3B
    • Yandy Díaz 1B
    • Luis Rengifo 2B/3B
    • Nolan Arenado 3B
    • Andrew Vaughn 1B
    • Michael Busch 1B
    • Ryan McMahon 3B

Injury Update

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

Guest: Erik Halterman

Strategy Section

• Snake Drafts
  • How to generally prepare
  • How has preparation changed over the past five years?
  • Drafting “naked”
  • Drafting early in the season (January) vs. drafting late in the season (March)
  • Create a do not draft list?
  • Draft risky pitchers?
  • Proactive vs. Relative approach
    • ADP Chicken
  • How to use ADP
  • How to handle risk?
    • In the aggregate
    • Per player
      • Risk-adjusted pricing
    • Power drafters (playing in multiple leagues)
    • Binary risks
      • Free agents in mono leagues
• Catcher strategy
  • Player pool
  • The value of catchers
    • Catcher bump

ATC Undervalued Players

• Catchers
  • • Salvador Perez
      • Is Perez worthy of the Hall of Fame?
    • Logan O’Hoppe
    • Gabriel Moreno
    • Austin Wells
    • Luis Campusano

Mailbag

Injury Update

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The Auction Strategy (Part 2) episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Marc Winokur

Auction Strategy Section

• Hitter vs. Pitcher split
  • For valuations
  • For allocations
• Money management in an auction
• In-draft inflation
  • Calculate or feel it?
  • Keeper league inflation
• Endgame
  • How many $1 players should you look to acquire?
  • Is it good to have the hammer?
• Nominations
  • Multi-round plan
  • Nominations are very important
  • Tips
• Bidding
  • Timing, frequency & speed
  • NFBC’s Max Bid button
• Scouting players

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The Auction Strategy (Part 1) episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Marc Winokur

Auction Strategy Section

• Differences between auctions and snake drafts
  • Benefits of auctions
  • Difference in preparation
• Advice for new auction players
• The most important items to keep track of during an auction
• Working with a partner
• How online auctions differ from in-person auctions
• How to construct market values
  • What to do for non-standard formats
• How to construct player values
• How to construct strike prices for buying players

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The Gary Sheffield Jr. episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Gary Sheffield Jr.

Mets & Yankees

• Juan Soto signing
• Who will be playing the corners for the Mets & Yankees in 2025?
• How do the Mets bridge the contract gap with Pete Alonso?
  • Current 1B Market
• Which New York bullpen is currently better?
• Will the Yankees sign more hitters in the offseason?
• What will Marcus Stroman’s role be on the Yankees?
• Will Clay Holmes make it as a starter for the Mets?
• Are the Mets done acquiring starting pitching?
• Will the Mets trade a few of their young prospects to fill needed holes for 2025?

Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week

• Gary Sheffield’s homeruns

Personal Stories

• Stealing bases in the majors
• Hitting batting practice off of Rickey Henderson
• Becoming a Yankees fan
  • George Steinbrenner’s influence
• Becoming a podcaster
• Favorite team growing up

Sleeper MLB team picks for 2025

Where will Roki Sasaki sign?

Injury Update

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

Guest: Ray Murphy

First Pitch Arizona

League Updates

Strategy Section

• Final Two Weeks of the Season
  • Is there a limit to who you might sit in the final two weeks of the season?
  • How much should you churn your roster?
  • How much should real life MLB team standings / playoff pushes factor into your roster decisions?
  • Should you take a chance on stashing a returning injured player for the final week?
  • What is the bar for dropping injured or underperforming players?
  • How much should playing decisions be based on year to date stats vs. last 30 days stats vs. projected stats?
  • Gaining points vs. defending points
    • What and when should you emphasize each?
  • FAAB
    • How to allocate your FAAB spending for the final two weeks of the season?
  • Multi-position eligible players
    • How important are they in the final weeks of the season?
    • How to best utilize your roster to take account of them

Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week

Takeaways of the 2024 season

Looking ahead to 2025

• Overall #1 pick choices
• How early should you draft Elly De La Cruz?
• Starting pitching in early rounds

Waiver Wire

Pitcher Preview

Injury Update

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