Archive for Projections

This week, I finish up the Pod vs Steamer series that pits my Pod Projections against the Steamer projections. Today, we move on to pitchers, where I’ll compare the ERA forecasts from each of the systems and identify those pitchers I am projecting for significantly better ERA marks. Though Steamer is the best pitching projection system out there, it struggles on pitchers that have shown consistent BABIP and HR/FB rate suppression skills and deficiencies, as what usually works for the majority of pitchers — projecting a heavy dose of regression to the MLB mean — means it misses on those uncommon exceptions. I use Statcast’s xBABIP now for my projections, so I’m not afraid to forecast a mark that strays from the league average. However, I certainly still include some regression as we don’t always have enough batted balls in a pitcher’s history for that mark to stabilize.

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The Pre-Season Recap Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

The focus of this podcast is on fantasy baseball strategy.

Today, we look back at the topics and highlights of our pre-season coverage. We give a preview of what you can look forward to on the show in the coming months.

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Yesterday, I compared my Pod Projections in the stolen base category to Steamer and identified five hitters I am forecasting for a meaningfully higher stolen base total. Today, let’s now look at the hitters I’m projecting for fewer stolen bases than Steamer. I’ll only highlight the fantasy relevant names as there are a number projected for limited playing time that aren’t worth discussing.

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The Spring Training Injury Update Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Spring Training Injury Updates

Batters

• Alex Bregman
• Xander Bogaerts
• J.T. Realmuto
• Trent Grisham
• Rhys Hoskins
• Nick Madrigal
• Brandon Belt
• Ji-Man Choi
• Adam Haseley
• Lorenzo Cain
• Kole Calhoun
• Evan Longoria
• Miguel Andujar
• Brendan Rodgers
• Jarred Kelenic

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

Guest: Ray Murphy

Strategy Section

• Snake Draft
  • General Strategy & Method
  • Strategy differences between shallow & deeper formats
  • Early observations of 2021 drafts

RotoBaller Mock Draft

• Setting the statge – Rules & Format
• Live Draft !!!
  • Draft Board: https://rtsports.com/rotoballer
• Draft Recap

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As part of my preseason prep, I watched a Kris Bubic start from last season. During it, Rex Hudler, who is never short on opinions, brought up an interesting point. The more pitches each batter sees, the quicker the batter becomes with the pitcher repertoire, and the more likely the batter gets a hit. At first, I thought someone else was speaking, but no, the concept warranted further investigation. It’s the same theory behind the times-through-the-order penalty but the new effect could be felt depending on how many pitches a pitcher throws per hitter and depth of arsenal for the pitcher. That idea started me down a wormhole that led to many questions and one subpar answer, but there seems to be at least one nugget of wisdom in Rex Hudler’s head.

First off, with less than a month before the season starts, it’s not an ideal time to start a study that could take weeks to iron out. I barely have enough time to report news, velocity readings, and draft my own teams. The following “answers” are not set in stone and there are so many more questions to investigate. I could either shelve the ideas for months or just make a snippet available and let others run with the ideas while I grind through the fantasy season. I’m giving others the chance to refine the ideas before I come back to them.
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The Pod Projection process sharing continues! The 2021 forecasts are now available and include nearly 600 player lines. As usual, I’ll dive into my projection methodology (detailed in Projecting X 2.0) by sharing my process on several hitters and pitchers.

2021 Pod Projection Index
Ha-seong Kim
Trent Grisham

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Only two months after publishing the first one of this year, it’s time to get forecasting again with another 2021 Pod Projection! The 2021 forecasts are now available and include nearly 600 player lines. As usual, I’ll dive into my projection methodology (detailed in Projecting X 2.0) by sharing my process on several hitters and pitchers.

2021 Pod Projection Index
Ha-seong Kim

Today, I’ll analyze 2020 fantasy breakout, Padres outfielder Trent Grisham. A 2019 minor league performance spike between Double-A and Triple-A put him on fantasy owners’ radars, but his MLB debut that year was a mixed bag. Still, he entered the 2020 season as a trendy sleeper, and he certainly delivered on those hopes by going 10/10 over the short season and easily outearning his cost. Now, fantasy owners aren’t entirely sure how to value him. His NFBC ADP since Feb 1 sits around 71, but he’s gone as early as pick 46 and as late as 119. Clearly, there’s little agreement on his 2021 value, which isn’t too surprising given the limited MLB sample we have to evaluate. So let’s go metric by metric, discussing and projecting each, and ultimately calculating a full projection line, which will be compared to the rest of the forecasts shared on his player page.

Plate Appearances: 631

Grisham spent the majority of his time batting leadoff last season. When he didn’t hit leadoff, he typically batted second. So unless he endures an extended slump, expect him to hit at or near the top of the order. My projected PAs assume he hits leadoff, but I didn’t give him full credit considering the slight risk he takes a seat against some left-handers.

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

Guest: Alex Fast

LABR Recap

• Reactions to the LABR Mixed Auction League Draft

Strategy Section

• Closers
  • How should we draft closers in 2021?
  • What closer tiers are the best return on investments?
  • Is it better to pick a named closer on a bad team or an uncertain closer on a good team?
• Relievers
  • How should we set ourselves up for in-season play with relief pitchers?
  • How much are reliever ratios a consideration while drafting, as opposed to only considering the closers role (saves)?
  • When should you draft a valuable middle reliever over a named closer?

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

Guest: Stephania Bell of ESPN

Tommy John Surgery

• Timelines
• ** New TJS Procedure: Internal Brace
• Updates on returning TJS pitchers
  • Noah Syndergaard
  • Chris Sale
  • Luis Severino
• Updates on players with prior TJS
  • Jordan Hicks
  • Michael Kopech
• How to manage pitchers with elbow concerns in fantasy.

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