As usual, injuries have thrust players we typically ignore in most fantasy leagues into more active roles, which is usually the theme of these player recommendations.

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Yesterday, I used my xHR/FB rate equation to discuss the hitters whose actual HR/FB rate marks sat significantly below their expected marks. Today, I’ll check in on the hitters whose actual HR/FB rates are significantly higher than their xHR/FB rates. As a reminder, these are the marks unadjusted for home park.

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Last week, I analyzed the 2016 home-to-first times for hitters. With the background information out of the way, I’ll examine at the 2017 speed data to find who’s running the faster and slowest, who’s changed the most since 2016, and how home-to-first times compare to Bill James’s speed score.

With all the Statcast batted ball data getting analyzed, I continue examining the home-to-first times. Fantasy owners may believe speed is mainly used to determine stolen base threats. It’s more than that.

It’s an input to many other fantasy related factors which can help explain a player’s age-related decline. Faster players will beat out a few extra ground balls for hits thereby raising their batting average and on-base percentage. Speed allows a player to score more once on base. It can add to a hitter’s power profile. Also, speed can help keep a player maintain their fielding range at a premium defensive position instead of moving to a statue-like position (e.g. first base). Finally, a drop in running speed may point to an injured player.

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Last week, I discussed the early Brls/BBE (barrels per batted ball event) leaders and laggards from the Statcast leaderboard. Let’s continue our look at the metric, this time using my new Statcast fueled xHR/FB rate equation to identify the hitters whose xHR/FB rates are significantly higher than their actual HR/FB rates. The gap suggests these hitters could enjoy an imminent surge in home run power.

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Hope you need outfielders, because I got two for ya.

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Yesterday, I shared with you the top 15 hitters in the Statcast metric Barrels per Batted Ball Event (Brls/BBE). Today, I’ll tackle the bottom of that list, the laggards. These are the batters who have displayed no punch behind their batted balls. Since this list is far more boring and less interesting than the leaders, I will only pluck the fantasy relevant names, and those that are a bit of a surprise. There’s no need to list guys like Billy Hamilton as we know they will sit at the bottom.

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Late last season, the wonderful people at MLBAM graced us with a gift from the heavens — a new stat called Barrels. While there’s specific criterion that must be met to be considered a “barrel”, essentially, it’s a ball that a batter hits the crap out of. The stat is available on the Statcast leaderboard, which also includes the total number of batted ball events recorded for the batter. That allows for the calculation of an easy ratio, dubbed Barrles per Batted Ball Event, or Brls/BBE. I used this metric as the primary component of my Statcast-fueled xHR/FB rate. So now that the fine folks over at MLBAM have updated the numbers for the season, it’s time to dive in. Let’s begin by simply checking in on the leaders.

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Major League Baseball Advanced Media collects and distributes the hit and pitch tracking data. This data gives the general public some additional information previously unavailable like pitch spin and batted ball angle. The system has almost removed the need for stringers (people who collect batted ball and game data) except for plays wich get immediately described for the Gameday feed. Each batted ball get the designation of a bunt, ground ball, fly ball, line drive, or popup. Sometimes, it’s tough to designate each batted ball type. Today, I am going to look at the triple point for line drives, pop ups, and fly balls.

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This is an interesting pair of recommendations, as an established vet shares the same low ownership as a younger, relatively unknown quantity.

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It’s time to understand how ownership trends are playing out this year. I will start by breaking down one of the most common fantasy sites, ESPN. I will go over the batter ownership rates for different league sizes so owners know which players are applicable to them. Additionally, I will find the current replacement level player for each position.

With fantasy experts using ownership rates to help find potential waiver targets, it is important to know each league’s ownership level. Historically, I know I should only worry about players owned in 10% of leagues or less but not everyone plays in 15-team or deeper leagues.

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