Category: Featured | Page 131 | RotoGraphs Fantasy Baseball

Welcome back to what was recently named the #2 fantasy award show in the nation according to people and pets who live in my house. Don’t act like you’re not impressed.

We’ve already handed out our prestigious awards at catcher, first base, and second base, so let’s keep it moving around the horn. But first, since children need to be taken to the library, I’m afraid that you’re going to have to come up with your own dated Fifty Cent references – I simply have no time.

Ja-Ja-Ja G-Unit – It’s the Shorties!

Read the rest of this entry »

Pitcher Results After 2nd Tommy John Surgery

by Jeff Zimmerman

November 3, 2023

With Jacob deGrom and Walker Buehler coming back from their second Tommy John surgery (TJS), I wanted to go back and look at how pitchers performed after going under the knife a second time. While I had high hopes this study would find some useful adjustments, the results were mixed and probably point to the pitcher being more of the same. Read the rest of this entry »

Mining the News (11/2/23)

by Jeff Zimmerman

November 2, 2023

• Here is the average age (per batter faced) for all the pitchers in the league. The age went up even with several high-profile rookies being promoted to the majors. I suspect even more prospects to be promoted to bring the average age down some.

American League

Astros

• Jake Meyers made some mid-season swing adjustments.

Meyers made some swing adjustments during the season, but still slashed just .227/.296/.382 in 341 plate appearances. His average exit velocity dropped to 86 mph — in the fifth percentile among major-league hitters — and he didn’t make enough contact to allow his speed to shine.

Read the rest of this entry »

Justin Mason’s 2023 Redemption Tour: Main Event

by Justin Mason

October 31, 2023

2022 was the worst year I have ever had as a fantasy player. I played in 16 leagues and did not cash in a single one. The hard part is that I didn’t even know what went wrong. I had teams I really liked coming out of the draft and some that were doing very well throughout the season. I could have easily brushed it off as a bad season or beaten myself up over it. However, I worked my butt off to get better.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 1227 – On the Rise Hitter Duos w/Post-300 ADPs

by Paul Sporer

October 30, 2023

10/30/23

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon!!

Follow us on Twitter

@sporer – Host
@justinmasonfwfb – Co-Host/Producer

PATREON

Join our Patreon for live video feeds of each show
Watch the video feed replay on YouTube

ON THE RISE HITTER DUOS

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Best pVals in 2023: Fastball Edition Part One

by Lucas Kelly

October 30, 2023

There are all kinds of ways to measure the effectiveness of a pitch. Pitch Values (pVals) or “Pitch Type Linear Weights” give us a sense of, from the glossary, “…the changes in average run expectancy from one count to another”.

while the changes in run expectancy between an 0-0 count and a 0-1 or 1-0 count are obviously very small, when added up over the course of the season, you can get an idea of which pitch a hitter was best against.

pVals are not predictive and they don’t explain the true talent or raw characteristics of an individual pitch the same way Stuff+ or other pitch models can, but it does tell us what actually happened. Now, imagine that! You can dig into the specifics of pVals on the glossary page but for now, let’s celebrate this season’s greatest pVals.

Part one will look at four-seam fastballs and cutters. Part two (coming soon) will focus on sinkers and splitters.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Second Annual Secondies!

by Nicklaus Gaut

October 30, 2023

Attention! Attention! All seat fillers need to get up and please move outside to the concourse. Immediately. We’ve made it through the Catchies and the Firsties but we’re about to get going again and we just can’t have any of you normies accidentally getting on camera and making everyone at home feel sad.

Thank you for your service and please collect your payment from the front – which may or may not be a swag bag filled with all of the Kylie Jenner lip glosses that ~~were banned by the FDA because the test animals started sprouting extra noses~~ she really wanted to donate for all of her loyal fans.

It’s the Secondies!

Read the rest of this entry »

Mining the News (10/30/23)

by Jeff Zimmerman

October 30, 2023

Note: I’m reading through some articles on certain players that were published right before the season ended and I didn’t have time to process them at the time. I know the articles are dated but the info is still useful for next season.

American League

Athletics

• Ken Waldichuk believes he can come back next season with better velocity and control.

Even with my [velocity] being down this past month, I think if I come back with better stuff next year, I think I’ll see some success.”

…

One area Waldichuk will look to improve for next season is limiting walks. Entering Friday, his 4.5 walks per nine innings was fifth-worst in the Majors this season among pitchers with at least 130 innings.

“Being in the zone is the biggest thing,” Waldichuk said of his takeaways from the season. “Know how to attack guys and figure out what they’re looking for based on reading them and knowing what to throw them based off that.”

Read the rest of this entry »