Archive for Featured

Starting Pitcher Chart – May 2nd, 2025

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their performance for 2025 (I changed over from 2024 #s on April 15th), their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far (this changed as of April 14th), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

Read the rest of this entry »


Mining the News (5/1/25)

Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

American League

Mariners

Logan Evans was fine in his MLB debut with 2 HR, 3 K, 3 BB, and 1 HR in 5 IP. Diving into his pitch mix makes him out to be a junk ball pitcher.

Logan Evans Pitch Information
Pitch Model FF SI FC SL/ST CH CU
OverallBot (50 avg) 33 26 62 62 53 49
Pitching+ (100 avg) 71 76 92 129 106 78
pERA comps 5.22 5.06 1.97 3.21 2.57 2.81
AAA Usage 3.2% 28.3% 7.5% 54.4% 3.0% 3.5%
MLB Usage 9.0% 20.5% 24.4% 20.5% 16.7% 9.0%

No system likes his fastballs (four-seamer or sinker). As for his secondaries, their grades range from average to great. I’m interested to see how he performs over his next few starts. He might be a bench-and-monitor with the starting pitcher pool thinned out. Read the rest of this entry »


Starting Pitcher Chart – May 1st, 2025

Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their performance for 2025 (I changed over from 2024 #s on April 15th — a little earlier than last yr), their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far (this changed as of April 14th which is still a pretty small sample, but we can start attacking some cold lineups or be more careful with those performing well so far), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

Read the rest of this entry »


Starting Pitcher Chart – April 30th, 2025

Syndication: Detroit Free Press

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their performance for 2025 (I changed over from 2024 #s on April 15th — a little earlier than last yr), their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far (this changed as of April 14th which is still a pretty small sample, but we can start attacking some cold lineups or be more careful with those performing well so far), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

Read the rest of this entry »


Position Player Playing Time Changes: April 29, 2025

Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

Here are the latest playing time projection changes for position players since April 22nd. Chandler Simpson’s excellent first week should help solidify him as the starting center fielder for the rest of the season and beyond.

Read the rest of this entry »


Roto Riteup: April 29, 2025

Sometimes you need to just run for your life!

Read the rest of this entry »


Starting Pitcher Chart – April 29th, 2025

Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their performance for 2025 (I changed over from 2024 #s on April 15th — a little earlier than last yr), their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far (this changed as of April 14th which is still a pretty small sample, but we can start attacking some cold lineups or be more careful with those performing well so far), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

Read the rest of this entry »


Justin Mason’s Baseball Chat – April 28, 2025

Here is today’s chat transcript:
Read the rest of this entry »


Noteworthy OOPSY ROS Projections for Bats: April Edition

Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Now that one month of the season is in the books, it’s a fine time to check which hitters have improved their projections the most. To do this, I’ll refer to OOPSY rest of season (ROS) projections, a system I introduced at FanGraphs this offseason. OOPSY ROS is updated each day. Even though I focus on OOPSY ROS in this article, most of the referenced players have improved their projections across the different systems available at FanGraphs. For each player, I’ll also offer commentary on where I’d draft them in a standard 15-team Main Event league that was starting today, informed by a healthy mix of the FanGraphs auction calculator using OOPSY ROS and vibes.

Bear in mind that, across all projection systems, pre-2025 data still weighs much more heavily than 2025 data as pre-2025 covers a much larger sample of data. In fact, a single season typically never comprises more than half of the weight in a projection system, as projection systems usually weigh at least three years of historical data. Nonetheless, enough of the season is now in the books for certain players to have meaningfully altered their projections. The numbers referenced in this piece were collected on April 26th. I’ll take a look at pitchers in my next piece.

Read the rest of this entry »


Starting Pitcher Chart – April 28th, 2025

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their performance for 2025 (I changed over from 2024 #s on April 15th — a little earlier than last yr), their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far (this changed as of April 14th which is still a pretty small sample, but we can start attacking some cold lineups or be more careful with those performing well so far), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

No commentary on Monday’s board, but happy to answer any questions in the comments below!


Read the rest of this entry »