WHAT, PRECISELY, IS THE MARK OF HUMANITY, IF NOT THE ETERNAL SOUL? For myself, dear reader, this question remains unanswered, as from my personal vantage point within existence, there appears to me no power greater than that with which man both enslaves and empowers fellow man.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Adley Rutschman
Please see our player page for Adley Rutschman to see projections for today, the next 7 days and rest of season as well as stats and gamelogs designed with the fantasy baseball player in mind.
12 Team, H2H Points Dynasty Startup Mock Recap: Call Me Dave
February 11, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 11 Commentsby: Hobbs
For a two-time World Series Champion with over 40 years of experience in MLB front offices, Dave Dombrowski gets a bad rap. The consensus on the baseball operations veteran seems to be that his only formula for success is to either ink big contracts or swap top prospects for elite talent that comes accompanied with hefty salaries. However, Dombrowski’s maneuvers have largely come as a result of the hands he has been dealt and the relative competitiveness of his various organizations at the time of his hire. He turned the 1997 Florida Marlins, a 1993 expansion team, into a World Series Champion. He built one of the greatest starting rotations in modern history in Detroit. He came to Boston in 2015 with a mandate to take the Red Sox to the top and did just that in 2018. Is he perfect? Far from it. Can he win a championship? Clearly. You should desire the same.
I say this to explain why I frequently refer to my strategy in dynasty leagues as Dombrowski-esque. It is not simply because of Dave’s suave, shiny gray hair to which I look forward to sporting myself in my mid-50s. In these formats, managers are drafting using such polarizing strategies that the key is to seek out excess value by pitting your opposition’s own intelligence (or so it may seem) against them. Seek opportunity where it presents itself, and if that means honing in on proven talent to win now, then do so. There will always be newer, shinier (but not as shiny as Dave’s hair) prospects to target in these leagues down the line. That’s why today I will be reviewing my selections in the 12 team, H2H points dynasty startup mock that fellow Razzballer Dylan Vaughan Skorish and I partook in this past week. Although I will reveal all of my selections, my focus in this piece will be to review my strategy and discuss the prospects I targeted in this mock draft.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Top 10 Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball
February 7, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 63 Commentsby: The Itch
I don’t have some big introductory explanation here. I trust you grasp the premise and intend to skip this paragraph, but if I still have your eyes for the moment, I’ll say I imagine a start-up build for a 15-team, 2-catcher dynasty league when parsing through the lists and try to explain when a player’s value varies based on settings. If you’re in a contention window, your rankings should look a bit different than they’d look on the front end of a rebuild. I’ll flag some players along the way for whom the disparity in value can get especially large from build to build.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Baseball is in good hands. Look no further than Grey’s top 10 for 2021 fantasy baseball, where you can witness the likes of Ronald Acuna Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto and Mookie Betts ranked ahead of the greatest player of our time, Randy Arozarena. Just kidding, I really do mean Mike Trout. Venture further into the top 20 and you’ll find Christian Yelich (No. 11), Bo Bichette (No. 12), Nolan Arenado (No. 16) and Luis Robert (No. 20). Side note: what a steal Yelich is going to be in 2021, amiright? But the point I’m trying to get to (and I really am trying), is that right now in baseball we have a beautiful mixture of established veterans performing at high levels (dare I say their prime?) at the forefront of the game and a deep group of emerging young players quickly breaking through into the top 20 talents in all of baseball. The sport, as a whole, is in tremendous hands and the picture only improves when one looks to the plethora of talent trickling down the prospect pipeline. Wander Franco, Jarred Kelenic, Adley Rutschman, Julio Rodriguez and Royce Lewis are all pounding on the door, just to mention a few names, and I haven’t even broached the subjecting of pitching talent in baseball today. Long story short: it’s a good time to be a baseball fan, but still a bad time to be short, or tell long stories.
Of the five prospects named above, all could potentially debut in the Majors in 2021. I’m excited about them all. But as I began writing this piece, I realized that despite their varying long-term outlooks, there’s one positional prospect I’m more excited about owning in re-draft leagues this year than any of them — and their name might surprise you.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Top 20 Catchers for 2021 Fantasy Baseball
January 20, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 100 Commentsby: Grey
After we went over the top 10 for 2021 fantasy baseball and the top 20 for 2021 fantasy baseball in our (my) 2021 fantasy baseball rankings, it’s time for the meat and potatoes rankings. Something to stew about! Hop in the pressure cooker, crank it up to “Intense” and let’s rock with the top 20 catchers for 2021 fantasy baseball. Am I at all selling you on the top 20 catchers being good? No? Good, don’t want to give you the wrong impression. Here’s Steamer’s 2021 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2021 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. The projections noted in this post are my own, and I mention where tiers start and stop. Anyway, here’s the top 20 catchers for 2021 fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more? Top 10 Baltimore Orioles Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball
December 2, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 19 Commentsby: The Itch
With escapism impossible on the football side, we turn to the baseball team in Baltimore. After a surprising season that saw the Orioles playing meaningful games in October, 2021 looks like the opening of a window.
Please, blog, may I have some more?A subplot of this stand-off between the MLB and MLBPA is how duplicitous will MLB teams be in their excuses to not promote a top prospect if there’s no minor league season, which seems assured, at this point. What will the Orioles say to not promote Adley Rutschman? “We really wanted to promote Adley but we lost his phone number and they’ve discontinued 411, go figure.” “We wanted to promote Adley, but, after reading the Kama Sutra, we’re inclined to withhold climax for six to nine months.” “We did promote Adley. He’s now in charge of selling season tickets for the 2021 season. We have faith he can handle the promotion.” One thing they can’t say with a straight face: “We really wanted to promote Adley Rutschman but he’s not ready.” So, they hold him down and he misses a full year of development? That seems dumb, even for them. However, you can’t go too wrong betting MLB teams will be dumb. Yes, I’m saying I’m not 100% guaranteeing Adley Rutschman sees real playing time this year, but he’s got a lot more of a chance this year now, than he had before. “Did someone say Chance?” Shut up, Chance Sisco! So, what can we expect from Adley Rutschman for 2020 fantasy baseball and what makes him a great dart throw?
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Alex Fast (@Alexfast8), with Pitcher List, joins the show to breakdown the Baltimore Orioles. We dive into their lineup to see which players can surprise people. Can Hanser Alberto, and Austin Hays keep up their .300+ average? What can we expect from Chris Davis in the future? As one of the premier power hitters in the past, he has struggled to make contact and show promise like he did in 2013 and 2015. Can the rotation keep their ERA under 4.50? John Means looks to anchor the rotation down and keep the Orioles competitive. The bullpen may be a strength of the Orioles and if given a lead could help the team win some games. The farm system is Top 15 in the MLB with guys like Grayson Rodriguez, and Adley Rutschman leading the charge.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Last night I awoke in a rush. I was sweating, panting almost – awakened by a nightmare more ghastly than you can imagine. One more horrific than the chronic nightmares I had as a child in which the tiny troll figurines stalked my bedroom through all hours of the night. One quick Google search and I’m reliving those dreams – and it’s all too real. Yet, even such horrors do not compare to the demons which disturbed my slumber last night.
Over the past several weeks, I have been struggling to cope with the delay of the Major League Baseball season – something I’m sure you can all relate to. While trying to keep a healthy perspective concerning the real issues and concerns of the present, I have been unable to keep my mind from wandering to the darkest corners of the baseball world. Before the Coronavirus even put the MLB season on hold, I dreamed of such harsh realities taking form. *queues Danny Glover voiceover* You can call it a vision. You can call it a coincidence. I don’t care what you call it, but last night, it got worse.
I found myself walking through an unfamiliar land in which Airpods were even more popular than they are now. Wandering through the streets, I was passed by an Amazon drone engaged in an air delivery. While gazing at its sheer beauty, I stumbled through the gates of Camden Yards and a game program subsequently blew though the wind and onto my startled face. As I pulled the flier away and began to read its text – I instantly gasped in disbelief. 2023 All-Star Game: The Long-Awaited Return of the Midsummer Classic it read, with an action shot of superstar catcher Adley Rutschman spread across the front page.
As I stood in disbelief, I overheard a conversation between two young fans, arguing who indeed was the top backstop in the game, Rutschman or San Francisco’s Joey Bart. But what about J.T. Realmuto, I thought? Or the mid-career development of Willson Contreras? I continued to eavesdrop with the hope that more details would soon become clear.
Please, blog, may I have some more?When I began this series of rankings with the top 10 college baseball prospects, it was explained that I would be detailing “the top 10 college baseball prospects to target mid-season (and beyond).” As we embark on this incredible journey (which is a wholesome, classic film chronicling the beautiful friendship of dog, cat and dog again), I must forewarn you that we have officially crossed the threshold into the “beyond.” Yes, that is correct – I am indeed your tour guide, Michael Newman (as played by Adam Sandler), who will now use his universal remote control to reveal to you with 100% projection accuracy college prospects No. 11-25 as it relates to future fantasy output.
Before getting into the thick of things, I need to make two very brief and entirely unrelated remarks that will in no way provide any meat to the bones of this article. First, I apologize for the excess of film references I have made already, but don’t expect them to be curtailed any time soon. Second, if you truly have not seen The Incredible Journey, drop what you’re doing right now and buy it on Amazon Prime for $2.99. Best three dollars you’ll ever spend. Even better than the authentic George Springer banging stick I snagged off ebay for three measly bills.
As we dive into the latter stages of these rankings, one thing needs to be made seriously clear: with the exception of a few names on this list, the vast majority to follow likely fall under the category of finds for deeper leagues only. If you’re in a serious dynasty league in which the draft is primarily prospects and upcoming college guys on an annual basis, I would consider all of these players. Use the information given below and then draw your own conclusions about who to target based on the specificity of your league.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
