
Power. It's why we're all here, right? As Kanye so eloquently penned:
I'm living' in that 21st century
Doing something mean to it
Do it better than anybody you ever seen do it
Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it
I guess every superhero need his theme music
No one man should have all that power
The clock's ticking', I just count the hours
Stop tripping', I'm tripping' off the power
See, it's power that rules supreme in fantasy baseball. Whether it's a pitcher's flaming fastball for strikeouts or a hitter dropping mammos into the light tower, power brings strength in numbers. Power is like the tide of fantasy baseball: when the tide rises, everything else rises; when the tide falls, everything else falls. So, if you want to accumulate the most stats possible, target power. And, for hitters, the best way to muster up power? The pull.
While it comes with
pros and cons, pulling the baseball provides more power as the batter generates more torque from the turn in his hips. Chubbs was right, it really is
all in the hips. As the body turns and the hitter gets out in front of the ball for contact, the shoulders, the hips and the wrists are all engaged to bring the bat through the swing creating the greatest exit velocity of the baseball. Now, before all the baseball purists yell at me, this is not to say that the best hitters in the game are those that only pull the ball. The truth would actually be the opposite, as hitters must be able to take what's given to them and hit to all fields. But...this isn't real life. We're talking fantasy. And in fantasy, gimme those pulled home runs all. day. long, because sometimes a hitter unlocks his development and success when he pulls the ball
more. Case in point? The creeper for week 9...
Adam Duvall, OF (16.9%) – I mentioned Duvall twice last week as he almost topped Trayce Thompson for the highlighted hitter, but he's jumped him this week all the way into the Top 100 rankings, which is rare for players owned in less than 20% of leagues. But that's where you can find Duvall, available in 80%+ of ESPN leagues. Duvall's taken over everyday duty in the Reds outfield and is producing like a fantasy darling since he took the job. The reason for his recent success (4 HR last 6 games) he highlighted himself in a
recent interview with Zach Buchanan, "'It’s probably because I’m getting the head [of the bat] out,' Duvall said. 'Your bat speed maxes out from the plate to a little bit past it. Anytime you can catch the ball out there, you’ve got a chance to do some damage.'" And that's just what he's doing: serious damage. Now, be careful with Duvall, as his sub-.300 OBP and 30%+ K% scream cold spells are coming, but he's pulling the ball so well that he's raising his average, blasting the ball out of the park and racking up the counting stats. Oh, and that power? Duvall has a .313 ISO. As Kanye said, 'no one man should have all that power.' But he does.
Enough creepin’…Here are your Top 100 Hitters for Week 9!
The reflexive of what I have been covering in the last few posts has been looking at trends with pitchers and the stealers themselves. In a steal equation, the catcher plays a part in this. If he wasn't involved, it would look like the scene from Naked Gun where Leslie Nielson is throwing the balls back. We wouldn't like that from a whole Enrico Pollazo type way, not one bit. So for now, let's stop googling that video and focus on the backstops, the teams running most against and their success (or lack there of). Yes, there are other factors into being caught stealing, a bad jump, shoes being untied, or maybe even a cramp. So before all the stat gurus get all huffy and puffy and get their mom's basements in a tizzy, let's just say that catchers and their caught stealing prowess are on the even keel that they are what their numbers say they are. As I discussed last week, stolen bases are down across the board this year and a downward trend has been materializing for years... this has direct affect on the numbers for caught stealing, and attempts. Without one you can't have the other. So here is some interesting stat dirt that I have dug up with teams to run against and the possible streaming value added by playing guys against those teams.
We're about 50 games into the season now meaning things are starting to take shape. I'm a firm believer that we should #killthewin but I can't help but be impressed that Chris Sale, Jake Arrieta and Stephen Strasburg all have 9 wins already. Arguably more impressive, Arrieta, Strasburg and Josh Tomlin all haven't lost yet. Tomlin is 7-0 with a WHIP under 1. The K's aren't great but there's a ton of value with how he's pitching right now. His ERA is sitting at 3.35 but it's not a fluke. Here's what was posted throughout Week 8:
Regulators Mount Up! Or if you're recovering from last two nights like I am, grab a Gatorade, a couple Tylenol, finish watching the second season of Bloodline and post all the spoilers so Grey flips out. If you're not hurting like me, then hopefully most of you are enjoying a day off and if you're not, I'll be sure to poor a little out for my DK homies that are out there grinding. First and foremost, I'd like to thank all of our current and former Military for their service. Without your selfless sacrifices we wouldn't be able to enjoy trivial things like copious amounts of alcohol, BBQ's and fantasy baseball, so again a HUGE THANK YOU! Now onto the trivial stuff. There's some nice early action this morning with Jeff Samardzija, aka Puke Soup and Jose Quintana, but since you partied like a rock star and woke up late, let's concentrate on the games that are still open. Nate Dogg aka
Nathan Karns is priced at a very reasonable $9,500 today, with a home start against San Diego. Currently Karns is averaging 17 points a start, granted he had a semi-clunker, 5 Ing, 3 K's and 3 ER last time out against Oak, but he's averaging a strikeout and inning. Not too shabby for an under the radar guy. Hopefully he gets a call from Velasquez and Cueto after the game so they can compare notes and laugh about the double digit K's they all racked up against an underwhelming Padres lineup.
Tanner Roark, $9,600 can be rostered with Karns and still leave you with plenty of dough for offense. I don't know what Dusty's been feeding Roark, but whatever he's doing the shizz is working cause dude is is striking people out. His K rates were mediocre/not too good previous to this year, but in 2016 he's averaging over 8 K's a game and he's lowered his K/BB over a full point from 2014. I thought his 15 K's vs Min was a fluke, but surprisingly he's still knocking them down.
New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well reserve your spot in the 25 Team Razzball Exclusive League set to run today to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! If you still feel helpless and lonely, be sure to subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays.
On Saturday, our prayers were answered. No, not the prayer about winning Powerball. Or the prayer about sweatpants becoming the new formalwear. Or the prayer about muttonchops being some magical aphrodisiac. Or the prayer about your mom forgetting that time you accidentally sexted her. Or that prayer about being as successful in real life as you are in fantasy. No, not those. The prayer about Yu Darvish returning and looking as dominant as ever. On Saturday, he threw the fastest pitch of his major league career, throwing three pitches for more than 98 MPH. The line of 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 7 Ks was solid, but I imagine this will be the start of him reaffirming his place in the top 10 starter conversation. Kevin from ESPN's "Get Him In Your Lineup" Department sang, "Yu, Yu got what I need...Yu say he just spends Yen...Yu say he just spends Yen...But baby Yuuuuuu,Yu got what I need!" Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Okay, if I'm being honest, what I've attempted to do in this post is completely experimental. While based on statistics it's really just a wild attempt to calculate which closers are bringing home the bacon. And by bacon, I mean points. And by points, I mean points. How many points is each closer going to get me (on average) in a given week. In other words, don't try this at home. I'm not even doing this at home.
Hello everyone, and welcome to Sunday!
Well, for the first time this year that I've covered Sundays, today we have a (somewhat) small 9-game Main Slate on our hands, but with the lack on 12+ games comes with so many options to select and draft our teams from. Maybe even too much offense today. There are so many bad pitchers, and so many great plays, it really sucked that I had to choose which made the cut into this article, especially because there are multiple good plays, yet they're at similar price points, so I had to choose the better play, unless there was a difference in format to play them, like a distinct GPP play to a distinct cash-game play. Specifically, I found a lot of great offense from the Red Sox, Orioles, Yankees, and Brewers, all who are in circumstances where Vegas has them in great high-scoring games, most notably coming from the Orioles-Indians game, where Vegas has them currently sitting at a 9 O/U. I'm excited to get into it today, and with some great offense coming all throughout yesterday, let's see if he can get some of that success today. Let's go!
New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well reserve your spot in the 25 Team Razzball Exclusive League set to run Monday May 30th to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! If you still feel helpless and lonely, be sure to subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays.
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