The Middle Infield episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Mike Gianella

Strategy Section

• Kentucky Derby Style (KDS) Draft Order
  • Which draft slot is most similar to an auction?
  • General preferences for slot selection
  • 2023 preferences for slot selection
• Middle Infielders
  • The shortstop and second base player pools
    • SS – Deep
    • 2B – Wide Bottom
  • Do you need to draft stolen bases from the middle infield position?
  • Jon Berti
  • Adalberto Mondesi
  • Bounceback middle infield candidates

Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week

ATC Undervalued Players

• Middle Infielders
  • Amed Rosario
  • Gleyber Torres
  • Jorge Polanco
  • Vaughn Grissom
  • Ketel Marte
  • Brendan Rodgers
  • Ezequiel Tovar
  • Luis Garcia
  • Nick Gordon

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Now that football season is over, it is time to really prep for baseball drafts!

Read the rest of this entry »

1/20/22

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

SS RANKINGS

• Trea Turner’s return to the NL East
• Bo Bichette’s speed drop-off
• The Fernando Tatis Jr. premium
• The run-scoring potential for Francisco Lindor
• It’ll be regression not the shift for Corey Seager’s AVG
• The volatility of Oneil Cruz
• New rules and Tommy Edman’s SBs
• Dansby Swanson in Chicago
• Petco’s impact on Xander Bogaerts
• The arrival of Wander Franco

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Read the rest of this entry »

Notes on some select SS:

Trea Turner heads back to the NL East on the heels of his first 100+ R/RBI season – his 3rd of 100+ runs, 1st reaching 100+ RBIs (previous high of 77). There has been some concern around his spike in Chase rate (36% O-Swing; career 29% coming into ’22) and it might have played a role in his power drop as his .169 ISO was well below the .213 he had from 2019-21. It is worth monitoring. I’m more inclined to fade him to allow a transition year after inking the huge deal with Philadelphia as opposed to major concerns about the Chase spike.

Bo Bichette had just two months north of .743 OPS, but one of them was the incredible 1.105 in September with 7 HR which helped him secure the #4 spot at the position despite a 12-SB dip down to 13 with just a 62% success rate. The rule changes could fuel a bounce back into the 20s and if he regains the elite efficiency from 2021 (96%) or something close to it, he might chase down Turner for the top spot, especially if he can lead the American League in hits for a 3rd straight season.

On a per plate appearance basis, Fernando Tatis Jr. is tops. It’s the fact that I tabbed him for 530 PA that pushes him down to 3rd. He has just been so absurd across his 1175 MLB PA that it’s hard to find any flaw beyond the missed time – 21 games for sure due to suspension and the ever-present shoulder risk. If the remainder of the suspension is all he misses, he has a realistic shot at being the top overall player.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve covered the slow foots at catcher and first base while seeing how cold the hot corner has gone. Let’s now speed things up and move over to shortstop, which is sneakily shallow. Just not in the way you’re thinking.

Read the rest of this entry »

There isn’t a consensus number-one pick or even a consensus top-three this early, but the guy we can bank on being a consensus top-five pick is Trea Turner. And he’s worth it, as you know.

This post is more a message of affirmation than a persuasive one, obviously, but Turner just signed a huge deal with the Phillies changing a couple of vital variables in the Turner owners’ favor.

Read the rest of this entry »

Oneil Cruz is probably a superstar in the making, but we should be unsure as to whether or not he can justify his mid-70s ADP, due to his low contact rate, low launch angle, mixed with playing most of his games in PNC Park.

Cruz’ career 92.1-mph exit velocity is electric and a large contributor to his .445 xwoBACON. When he makes contact, he straight-up mashes. But when is a big word, when we speak of his contact.

Yes, it’s a strikeout league, but Cruz’ 35% strikeout rate in 2022 was way above the MLB 22% average. And striking the ball hard doesn’t always yield great results.

Cruz’ 8.3-degree launch angle was well below the MLB 12% rate in 2022. Sure, he had a 16% barrel rate despite this low average launch angle, but his 49% groundball rate is a bit scary. And this wasn’t a result of MLB pitchers pitching him better than MiLB pitching, as he had a 51% groundball rate in Triple-A before getting called up.

Read the rest of this entry »

As promised, I am continuing to share potential arbitration targets going position-by-position. Last week we covered pitchers; today we cover infielders.  Read the rest of this entry »

With the season upon us, it is time to drop my final edition of my positional ranks. I will continue to update them live on the Sleeper and the Bust Patreon until the season gets underway and in-season as well.

You can review my ranks for other positions here: https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/category/rankings/ Read the rest of this entry »