Hitter Profiles: Breaking Camp

April 3, 2021 | Top 100 Hitters | 7 Comments

Just like that Opening Day has come and gone in a flash. Well, a thunderstorm in Boston and COVID testing in Washington DC reminds us that we still live in one crazy world. But regardless, we have baseball and with baseball we have Fantasy Baseball to keep us occupied. Whether you have one or five or even ten teams, early in the season is when we search for those hidden gems.

In today’s article, we are going to review three young hitters that broke camp with the big league club due to strong springs. While spring training stats are generally useless to project into the regular season, they sure can help win a starting role. The real question we need to answer is: Does spring success mean it is time to invest? Do we have a Mike Olt on our hands or did we discover the next Mike Trout? While I am pretty certain we have not discovered the next Mike Trout, we need to dig in and see what type of value might be sitting on the waiver wire to add that young spark to your fantasy clubhouse. Because if we know anything, it is extremely important to have fantasy clubhouse chemistry!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Learn more about our 2025 Fantasy Baseball Subscriptions!

The best daily/weekly player rankings/projections (hitters, starters, and relievers) for each of the next 7-10 days + next calendar week starting Friday. Kick-ass DFS lineup optimizer and projections for DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo!.

I don’t have enough spam, give me the Razzball email newsletter!

Weekly Razzball news delivered straight to your inbox.

See all of today’s starting lineups

#	MLB Starting Lineups For Sat 8/16
	ARI \| ATH \| ATL \| BAL \| BOS \| CHC \| CHW \| CIN \| CLE \| COL \| DET \| HOU \| KC \| LAA \| LAD \| MIA \| MIL \| MIN \| NYM \| NYY \| PHI \| PIT \| SD \| SEA \| SF \| STL \| TB \| TEX \| TOR \| WSH \| OAK

Fantasy Baseball Streamers, Week 1: Ride the Wave

by: The Real Joey Bart

How awesome is it that baseball is back? I can’t tell you how excited I am to be back and providing some streamers again this year after that whack-a-doodle 2020 season. The first few days of baseball were absolutely fantastic, and I’m ready to hook you guys up for the rest of the season. The first week tends to be light in terms of streamers, but this one is different. I love some of the options out there, so let’s go ahead and get into it!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

John Means Biznizz Makes Sox Look Like Shiznizz

April 3, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 32 Comments

by: Dan Pants

Aaaand we’re back. Aaand John Means is an Ace now. Wait–rewind. Means stifled the Boston bats and spoiled their home opener Friday afternoon, allowing just a single base runner (one hit) in seven innings of work and striking out five to notch his first win of the season. I know exactly what you’re thinking outdated Fry meme–not sure if Red Sox are this bad or John Means is this good. Well, as bad as the Sawx looked, Means probably pitched one of his best games in ever. He commanded the zone with 65 of his 95 pitches thrown for strikes, and generated 14 swings-and-misses, eight with changeup alone, which can be an especially nasty pitch when he’s got it working, paired with his 4-seamer. After an awful start to 2020, Means finished strong in September with a 1.52 ERA, 0.63 WHIP and 30 strikeouts in 23.2 IP averaging around 94 mph on his fastball, up about 2 mph from 2019. Grey told you to BUY, gushing about his xBA and saying “if he can keep those gains, velocity increases, and stop handing out more gopher balls than a veterinarian with weird party favors, John Means could be a top 25 starter while costing nowhere near that price.” And that’s me quoting Grey! Look, I understand the hesitation owning Orioles pitchers, and Means HR/9 doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. In fact, when I drafted Means on draft day I got a audible “HA!” for the pick. But we’ll see who’s laughing in September. Sure things aren’t getting any easier for the homer-prone lefty as he travels to New York next week to take on the Yankees, but Means is owned in less than 50% of leagues and has got some major breakout potential. I think he’s worth a flier at that price wherever he’s available. Means means business! That’s two “means”, and that means something? Who else is confused? Where else you going to get an Ace after draft day. Now your chance! I means it!

Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

FanDuel: Joe Way Jose

April 3, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

by: MattTruss

Early season DFS can feel like a crapshoot. We have nothing but history , some spring training games and hunches to go by. One of those hunches is that Joe Musgrove ($8,600) is going to be a top 30 starter this season. Joe upped his K-rate in a major way last season and did enough to catch the eye of A.J. Preller. To be fair, it appears half the league caught Preller’s eye, but still. I am excited to see what Musgrove can do with an actual offense behind him and the most pitcher-friendly of parks. While I’m not sure the 12.5 K/9 of last season (in 39.2 IP) will stick around through a 162 game season I do think we can expect 10+. Arizona has some talent, but it’s still some time away from being a force to be reckoned with, leaving Musgrove a clear path to a win, a half dozen or so strikeouts and a whole bunch of FanDuel points. He’s the top pitcher on the board today and we get him as the fourth priced option. It’s an early season gift.

New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Ambulance Chasers: Mondesi Me, Now You Don’t

April 3, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Injury Report | 14 Comments

by: JKJ

Howdy, folks!

Oh how joyous it is to have baseball back! Lineups galore need setting! Waiver wire races have already started! What a time of year.

I’m just glad some of these injured guys have finally hit the IL so I can stash them and scoop up some replacements. Pretty peeved that some guys didn’t hit IL until it was too late to do anything about it for Opening Day.

I hope you had a successful first couple of days. Mine was a mixed bag, but I’m ready for Byron Buxton to go so ham. I know it’s easy to fall victim to inflated hype, but how can you not love this guy for fantasy? If healthy, of course; I imagine he’ll find his way into one of these updates sooner or later…

Alrighty, enough blathering. Let’s get yinz caught up:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Get Off Buy Vaughn!

April 2, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 464 Comments

by: Grey

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”750204″ player=”10951″ title=”RZBL%202021%20WAIVERWIRE%20WEEK%201″ duration=”155″ description=”undefined” uploaddate=”2021-04-02″ thumbnailurl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/thumb/750204_t_1617331099.png” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/750204.mp4″]

(NOTE: THIS POST WAS RELEASED EARLY THIS WEEK ON OUR PATREON. IT’S $10/MONTH OR $13/MONTH WITH AN EXTRA WEEKLY PODCAST.)

I enter a cave in the coastal region of the Sierra Leone, wearing a pith helmet and other garb you’d see on someone butterfly hunting. Only I’m not searching for a Pussycat Swallowtail. I press my hands to my mouth and call out, “Hey, Buy/Sell column, hey, are you in here!” My echoes reverb back to me with not a sound more. No indication it’s here. Then, suddenly, the Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell column rises like the WWE wrestler, The Undertaker, and holds a flashlight to its face for great effect, “What do you want?” We need you for another year of fantasy baseball Buy/Sell columns. “Okay, I was bored just laying here under an inch of dirt.” To get in the Buy section of this post, a player needs to be rostered in less than 50% of leagues, and more than 50% for the Sell side, i.e., Welcome back to another year of, “This guy is only owned in 7% of ESPN leagues?! WUT DA WUT!?” Or simply WDW. Okay, enough dinging-a-linging on the side note tip, let’s get down to bidness. Our first buy of the year is Andrew Vaughn. There’s Hobbs’s Andrew Vaughn fantasy, which I won’t be able to supplement in any meaningful way. He covers the stats. The White Sox are on the cusp. They had nothing to wait for in promoting Vaughn, and they didn’t wait. It’s White Boy Summer and Vaughn Chets all the boxes. T. Hanks. The projections don’t love Vaughn — 20/6, .215 average. Yes, that’s 20 homers and six steals in 500 ABs. But there’s not one league where I wouldn’t take a Vaughn flyer. With Eloy going down, the White Sox need all help they can get and they’re not turning to utility man Mendick to starch their socks, so to speak. Anyway, here’s some more players to buy or sell this week in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Making A Late Mitch

April 2, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball |

by: Jay

A name as old as, well, I’m not exactly sure how old the name “Mitch” is, but it certainly colors a perfect picture of a 40-year-old something software “cubicle” engineer. And why someone would want to engineer cubicles, that’s not really the issue at hand, it’s just like, what, a bunch of three walls put together? But one Mitch Haniger has officially piqued my interest, and y’all know what that means! I am about to hem and haw, waxing poetic during a roller coaster of emotion and analysis (more crying than math, as I always say) on the pros and cons of this right fielder for the Seattle Mariners. And yes, while the season has begun (sorta-kinda-lolCovid-sadface), and perhaps it’s a little late to pontificate on such matters, but I would make the argument it’s never too late to talk about these types of players. And do I mean about “these types”? Well, the fringe-types. But we’ll delve more into cubicles, math (oh god), and whatever random thing pops into my head. Abstract art, if you will…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Points Leagues: Players to Watch

April 2, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues | 2 Comments

by: Butters

It’s finally time, baseball is back. Drafts are done and you all won your leagues already. Wrong, you don’t win at the draft. Now the real work starts. Working the wire and staying on top of matchups is what brings home the trophy. So how do you do that? I’m glad you asked. Don’t over react to the way a guy starts the season, hot or cold. Too often we are tempted to put way more stock into the first two or three weeks of the season than we do for any other two or three week stretch. Don’t be that guy or gal. This is especially important with “stud” players who struggle out of the gate. You drafted them highly for a reason so don’t be too eager to cut bait. Baseball is a beautiful, weird, fluky game where tenths of a second or an inch can be the difference between an out or a hit. In a few weeks or so we’ll take a look at who’s start is legit and who isn’t. But basically it will boil down to the process behind the results. Don’t panic if one of your top guys puts up a couple zeros to open the season. If a guy is crushing the ball but always right at the defense, you just have to be patient. Eventually those will start turning into hits and hits are points. Now I know that this isn’t specific to points leagues, but the general principle still holds true.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

FanDuel: The Calm After the Storm

April 2, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

by: TroyKlauder

It feels odd to see a small FanDuel slate on a Friday, especially after a full day of action yesterday. But we’ve all waited so long for our baseball fix that a six game main slate isn’t going to stop us from building some lineups. Smaller slates arguably provide more of an edge than usual if you commit to stacking players from the same lineup, which is an important part of winning DFS contests. You will be rewarded for hitting on the right teams and making smart pitching decisions.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Opening Day Rules For Us April Fools

April 2, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 247 Comments

by: Grey

*rubs ancient lamp, a blue genie appears* I have three wishes for this baseball season. My first wish is “No one I own get hurt.” I didn’t draft Dinelson Lamet, Josh Donaldson or Trevor Rosenthal, so I made your job easy for you, great, powerful Genie. My 2nd wish is “Everyone I drafted do well.” I drafted Juan Soto, Trevor Story and Alec Bohm, so, really, I’m doing much of the heavy lifting for this wish too. My 3rd and final wish is “All defensive shifts are eight catchers stacked on top of each other like a totem pole.” Thanking you in advance, Genie. Wait a second, you’re not a genie, you’re Bartolo Colon in Blue Man Group paint. Damn you!

Okay, breathe in, breathe out. Take a moment. Really feel the ground below your feet. The air in your lungs. The soon-turds in your lower intestine. You’re alive. That’s the feeling. April baseball, you giant love muffin! I missed you so much. I’d get choked up, but I cried out all my tears at Luis Castillo’s start. Remember, the only thing you really should take away from yesterday’s player performances is: It’s one game. Anyway, here’s what I saw yesterday for fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2021 Bold Predictions on Vaughn, Harper, Trout and More

April 1, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball | 2 Comments

by: Hobbs

It is I, Hobbstradamus, here to predict all things as it relates to the 2021 fantasy baseball season! Well, rather, here to make eight detailed predictions about the upcoming campaign, all of which have played some role in how I constructed my onslaught of 2021 fantasy teams. What if we call it Baseball Hobbspectus? Any better? No? Okay, I’ll keep trying. But no matter what we call this or how creative I try to get, in the end, these are not empty predictions. I have stock in all of these. While some are much bolder than others, all of the statements to follow, if true, will translate to a varying degree of success across my teams this year. So, close your eyes, walk slowly towards the creepy humming sound reverberating through the walls, and enter the void with me as we run through some of my favorite and more interesting predictions regarding the upcoming season.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

One Man’s Trash: Andrew Benintendi

April 1, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball, One Man's Trash | 12 Comments

by: Son

MLB The Show is THE greatest sports video game. To be fair, baseball is the easiest game to make due to the fundamental nature of baseball, which is essentially a one-on-one battle with cursory pieces in the background. Basketball, football, hockey, and soccer all have multiple players moving in synch simultaneously which increases the number of variables that need to be accounted for. Anyways, San Diego Studios has done a masterful job of putting the best product out there. This isn’t an ad for The Show, though, but it’s relevant for this post. In The Show, the X button is for a normal swing, the O button is for contact, and the square button is for power. But with great power comes great responsibility because while you can check your swing with the x and o buttons, it’s all or nothing with the square button. Now, I don’t use the square button much except in 2-0 or 3-0 counts. I prefer to just use the x button because even with the mashers, it’s more than enough to drive the ball out of the park. In my early days of playing, though, I used to utilize the square button with the contact guys in favorable counts. There would be a stretch when I’d bop some over the fence which would get me to start utilizing the square button with those hitters in other counts. Like Pookie from New Jack City, the more I hit out, the more my thumb moved to the left side of the controller. Even while the average and OBP declined, and the strikeouts increased, the adrenaline rush from connecting kept the gig going. Kind of like our debt-fueled economy, which is a separate topic for another day. This reminds me of Andrew Benintendi. He always showed some pop, so he wasn’t some Juan Pierre-esque slap hitter, but he was known more for his power/speed combo. But then he started sniffing the power and bulked up, gaining over 20 pounds of muscle, mashing that square button. The strikeouts increased while the average and overall production decreased. As a result, he is no longer in Boston. Trash or treasure?

Please, blog, may I have some more?