Archive for Featured

Second Base Facts For The 2022 Season

The second base position does have some depth to it, it isn’t the shallowest nor the deepest position for fantasy in 2022. There are a lot of interesting names coming into the season especially when it comes to young players like Jonathan India and Jazz Chisholm. Whether you decide to grab one earl or late here are some fun facts and opinions I gathered while preparing for drafts.

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Justin Mason’s 2022 Relief Pitchers Ranks

2021 is over and we turn the page to 2022. Here are my current ranks for the first base position for 2022, my second of the offseason. I will post updates as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball.

You can review my ranks for other positions here: https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/category/rankings/
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Paul Sporer’s 2022 OF Rankings

The first run of ranking is about to done and then I’ll roll out the update at each position with comments added. I’m still reluctant to do a closer ranking at this point, but I know I have to bite the bullet and give y’all something. It is just such a mess at this point. Anyway, that’s later Paul’s problem. Today, it is time for the outfield. It is a really interesting class of outfielders with some really fun pockets of talent going in the mid-to-late rounds of drafts. If you have been reading my Roster Reviews, you will see some Bold Predictions tied to outfielders as I have definitely started to zero on some key guys in my early drafts.

These are for 5×5 15-teamers with a 20-game eligibility threshold.

Let’s discuss in the comments!

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Relief Pitchers ADP Market Report: 1/7/2022

With drafts beginning to ramp up, it is important to monitor where players are being drafted on a regular basis. Throughout draft season, I will be doing that work for you with regular updates on the Average Draft Position on NFBC up until Opening Day. You can find all the pieces in this series here.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 998 – SP Debates Pt. 2

1/7/22

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

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PATREON

IN FOCUS: SP Ranking Debates Pt. 2 (Justin Ranks Them Higher)

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Deep League Starting Pitchers (Kluber, Greene, Dunning, & Pineda)


K% Gains: Trend, Outlier, Or To Be Expected?

Those who have been smart enough to pick up a copy of the 2021 Baseball HQ Forecaster (and likely posted a picture of it to their Twitter) have already read through the “Other Diamonds” portion of the text. It’s my favorite part. In it, there is a section called Paradoxes and Conundrums and it states that a player’s year to year improvements can be labeled as, “a point in a growth trend, an isolated outlier or a complete anomaly…” I loved that line when I read it. But, so much strange happened in 2020 and I think it should have some say. In this post, I’ll go over three pitchers who increased their K% from 2020 to 2021 but whose gains might be skewed by the 2020 season. Two of these pitchers really just rose back up to where they were in 2019. An increase in K% is wonderful but is it a trend, an outlier, or, to incorporate my own twist, to be expected?

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Beat the Shift Podcast – Format Episode w/ Frank Stampfl

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

Guest: Frank Stampfl

Tout Wars Congratulations

Strategy Section

  • Drafting Strategy based on fantasy format
    • Rotisserie leagues vs. Head-to-Head Points leagues vs. Head-to-Head Category leagues
      • One win vs. full category score
    • Waiver wire leagues vs. Draft Champion/Draft & Hold Leagues
    • Roto leagues vs. Best ball leagues
    • Trading leagues vs. non-trading leagues
    • Deeper leagues vs. shallow leagues
    • 1-Catcher leagues vs. 2-Catcher leagues
    • Large vs. small bench size
      • Having IL slots vs. no IL slots
    • Daily lineups vs. weekly lineups
    • Overall competition vs. standalone leagues

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2021 Roster Review: Milwaukee Brewers

95-67 (1st in Division; 5th in MLB)

[PREVIOUS REVIEWS]

SP Wins: 51 (10th)

RP Wins: 44 (6th)

Saves: 44 (7th)

1+ Save: 6 (Josh Hader 34, Brad Boxberger 4, Devin Williams 3, Brent Suter, Aaron Ashby, Drew Rasmussen 1)

100+ Ks: 6 (Corbin Burnes 234, Brandon Woodruff 211, Freddy Peralta 195, Eric Lauer 117, Adrian Houser 105, Hader 102)

.260+ AVG (min. 350 PA): 2 (Willy Adames .285, Kolten Wong .272, Omar Narváez .266, Avisaíl García .262)

65+ Runs: 4 (Luis Urías 77, Wong, Christian Yelich 70, Garcia 68)

65+ RBI: 2 (Garcia 86, Urias 75)

10+ HRs: 7 (Garcia 29, Urias 23, Adames 20, Wong 14, Manny Piña 13, Tyrone Taylor 12, Narvaez 11)

5+ SBs: 8 (Lorenzo Cain 13, Wong 12, Jace Peterson 10, Yelich 9, Garcia 8, Jackie Bradley Jr. 7, Taylor 6, Urias 5)

BEST BUY: Christian Yelich

That’s right, gimme the guy coming off his dreadful 101 wRC+ season with 9 HR/SB in 475 PA. I’m just not sold that he’s cooked after a brutal season and a half. His struggles have pushed him outside of the top 100 picks (ADP of 104) and I’m taking the discount. His plate skills were back on track, but his batted ball profile still lagged throughout most of the season. With a better BABIP, this would’ve looked like one of his Marlins seasons. I obviously don’t think he gets all the way back to 2018-19 levels, but I’m taking the discount on a 30-year-old former MVP.

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Mining the News (1/5/22)

Dan Straily 스트레일리 is looking to join a major league club after pitching in Korea.

Here is a brief history of his recent results.

The righty posted a 3.22 ERA and 24.75% strikeout rate over 360 1/3 innings with the Busan-based Giants, and perhaps the most intriguing statistic is the fact that Straily allowed a modest 22 homers in the hitter-friendly KBO.

Straily also allowed 22 home runs during his time with the Orioles, except that total came over only 47 2/3 innings, resulting in an ugly 9.82 ERA in 2019. A move to the bullpen didn’t help Straily get on track, and while the Phillies acquired Straily at that year’s trade deadline, he didn’t see any big league action in Philadelphia. Injuries contributed to that down year, as Straily mentioned in the reader chat that he only discovered after the season that he had been pitching with a torn meniscus.

Straily said in his chat that “we changed something on almost all of my pitches to make them better,” using such familiar pitching analysis “toys” as “Rapsodo, Driveline, and Edgertronic cameras” to both improve his changeup and add velocity to his fastball.

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