by: Mike
The Braves, like the Padres, are incredibly stacked in the minor leagues. This is scary, considering they’re also in the mix to repeat as NL East champions and sport young stars like Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna on their MLB roster. tl;dr – Good team that’s probably gonna be good for a while.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
by: Roto-Wan
NL West | NL Central | NL East || AL West | AL Central | AL East
As the resident save chaser, I feel it’s my duty to give you some names that you maybe don’t expect to get shots at saves this year. Bullpen’s are more volatile than the fake friendships on the Real Housewives programs my wife watches to get back at me for monopolizing the TV during the NFL season. I did this exercise last spring and Wily Peralta was in there. I almost didn’t publish it after including him, if that gives you an idea of what we’re dealing with here. I’m not talking the closer in waiting or guy that got 30 saves two seasons ago. I’m going to do my best to write a name so repulsive you consider never reading my column again. We’ll go division by division, starting with the NL East.
Please, blog, may I have some more?NL West | NL Central | NL East | AL West | AL Central | AL East
I don’t pay much attention to Spring Training Statistics. You never know who the statistics are coming against. Baseball-Reference did, however, have an amazing tool last year that attempted to quantify the quality of opposing pitchers or batters faced during spring training games on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being MLB talent and 1-3 being high A to low A level. This tool is great, but it averages all the Plate Appearances or batters faced. You would still need a deeper dive to see if your stud prospect smacked a donger off of Chris Sale or off of your kid’s future pony league baseball coach. So what should we watch for in March when we’re starved for the crack of the bat? Ignore “best shape of their life” stories and Spring Training statistical leaderboards. Pay attention to injuries and lineup construction and position battles! Also pay attention to where Bryce Harper and Manny Machado sign… Note that those two signings can instantly eliminate some of the position battles detailed herein.
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: Mike
It’s chucking down snow in my neck of the woods. Perfect time to hole up and make a list of the top 100 prospects for 2019 fantasy baseball. Before we begin…an observation. The roads are empty around here except for pizza delivery cars. Ordering a pizza in a blizzard seems like a dick move to me. So I’m dedicating this post to the real heroes – the pizza delivery boys and girls braving a foot of snow in their crappy car to make sure Edna has her half-pepperoni, half-bell pepper medium pie while she watches reruns of Friends on Netflix. Moving on, if you’re just tuning into this station, we’ve already gone over the top 25 prospects for 2019 fantasy baseball as well as the top 50 prospects for 2019 fantasy baseball. For thoughts on every player and to see each team’s top ten prospects, visit our 2019 minor league preview index. Concerning these players listed below, my goal when drafting/picking up one of them is to net some sort of positive value and see them playing regularly. Essentially, this final group is composed of players with 50ish overall ratings on the scouting scale…not your superstars or even All-Stars, but a decent shot to carve out a career in the big leagues.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
by: Geoff
This is for all the people that have come up to me over the last few weeks and asked “Yo, Ralph when’s that Top 100 droppin’ son?” And I said, “When it’s finished”. This is for y’all, one love! Oh but wait, there’s more to come too. This is simply a sweet, sweet 20% of the overall ranks. The full 500 will drop on Sunday. I want to thank all of my readers over the years for supporting me in all that I do here. These rankings posts are a lot of questioning your evaluations, and even more sleepless nights. So, I hope you enjoy. As for the Top 100, I’ve gone a little heavier in discounting pitching than in previous years, instead favoring upside bats. Why? Because pitching prospects are like reflections in side view mirrors, all much closer than they appear. Think about Shane Bieber vs. Tyler Glasnow, one guy was hyped to the max, the other was a boring strike-thrower that likely would never crack a top 250 for fantasy. Who would you rather own now? Speaking of upside, you’ll see the second half of this list is a little more upside heavy with some breakouts mixed in for good measure. What can I say? I like the young upside hitters. This exercise was a process,I began by listing nearly 700 players, then went player by player ranking each on a “would I trade this guy for this guy” trip, then I stared at the list changing ranks over and over again while I smoked like a German. That’s not a joke, this actually happened. All to whittle it down to the list below, the Top 100.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
by: Lance
It is with great honor I submit to the fantastic readers of Razzball my first prospect-centered column. The concept will be a fun one for anybody looking forward to Ralph’s prospect omnibus that will drop in the coming days (stay tuned!).
Two prominent lists dropped in the last few weeks. One comes from Fangraphs, the other comes from Baseball America. Below I look at a few players with large differentials between the two lists. This gets tricky with players who are on one list and not on another, but I made it work.
Before we launch ourselves into the prospect stratosphere, a few logistics…
Please, blog, may I have some more?
by: Grey
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”252906″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 10″]
During the slow Monday, when there was five games on the docket, and half of them were Yankees, I started thinking about some either/or’s. Though maybe because I was listening to Elliott Smith — that guy was uplifting! Luis Severino was out doing his norm — 8 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 2.20 and 0.93 WHIP with peripherals that are just as gorge — 10.7 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 2.83 xFIP. First either/or for you, wait for it, here it comes, follow the arrow –> Next year, Luis Severino or Kershaw? Is it even close? Don’t think it is. Okay, next either/or, Luis Severino or every pitcher not named Max Scherzer? Maybe, maybe not. There’s pitchers with better peripherals than Severino right now — Scherzer, deGrom, Cole, Corbin, Kluber and Syndergaard. Throwing the two Mets out because they’re injury risks; Corbin and Cole don’t have the track record; semicolons are fun. That leaves us with Scherzer, Kluber and Severino. So, three’s company, and Severino is Joyce DeWitt. Come and knock on my door! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?[brid video=”228554″ player=”10951″ title=”FantasyBaseballMailbag8″]
Yesterday’s Yankee/Rangers game started with a 1st-inning blast from Didi Gregorius (1-for-5, 2 RBIs, hitting .246) and his 11th homer. The return of The Gregorius D.I.D. giving fantasy owners one more chance to tell trade partners gimme the loot, gimme the loot! Also, in this game, Aaron Judge (2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, hitting .284) went bye-bye now with his 13th; Neil Walker (2-for-5, 2 runs, hitting .220) said get those tennis balls off my feet and hit his 2nd (this week); Nomar Mazara (2-for-5, 3 BRIs, hitting .274) said two teams can play that game and hit his 11th, and Ronald Guzman (2-for-4, 2 runs, 3 RBIs) hit his 5th homer, and his third game in a row, and the two time in a row I said to pick him up. Rinse, repeat. Also, in this game, Aaron Judge–Sorry, got carried away with the repeat gag. Speaking of gags: Fister, I hardly know ya! And I wish you BCC’d me on Sabathia. But the real news, Gleyber Torres (1-for-5, 3 RBIs, hitting .323) hit his 8th homer, and his 5th homer in five games) had his star mitzvah this week. Were you invited? Lou Bega performed. They had dreidel piñatas. The pot roast was cut-your-mouth dry. All the fixins! I know someone who wasn’t invited, Aaron Boone. Has to explain how Gleyber’s still hitting 9th. Can someone mansplain to me what’s going on? Did Neil Walker win a Boone family egg toss so he has to bat so high? Maybe if Boone’s entire coaching experience wasn’t hitting a walk-off homer, we’d have some idea how this should play out. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: Grey
Zach Eflin has to be one of the Phils fans favorite pitchers. His last name just rolls off their tongue. “You kiss your mother with that mouth?” “You’re Eflin right! And I’m kissing her right now. On Facetime. She’s a Merchant Marine, and stationed overseas. It’s actually very sweet how we kiss. With SnapChat filters. That dresses me in a baby bonnet. TMI?” Sure, it was a short schedule day, so this might have something to do with my joy at Zach Eflin. Yesterday, he went 6 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 7 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 0.71. It’s only through 12 2/3 IP so o?ekávání. I know. That’s what I thought too, but then I started looking at his numbers, and, ugh, it’s 12 2/3 IP, but you gotta be Eflin kidding me? He has a 9.2 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 94 MPH fastball, that is up two miles from last year. Maybe this is a blip, but maybe this is encouragement you receive to burp from your Facetime’ing mom. Also, in this game, Odubel Herrera hit some ding dongs — 2-for-3, 3 runs, 5 RBIs and his 4th and 5th homer — because ODB waited until everyone was out on him after last year. Damn, ODB, why you gotta ad-lib some fire after I’m no longer invested in you? ODB with more ad-libs than Quavo after a fifth of Cuervo, and Columbus, Ohio seeing the Cleveland Indians and being like, “Yo, I descubierto’d.” (I really had to fight for that third rhyme.) Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: Geoff
Every year a player shows up in April and makes you regret your ranking. The honor of “that guy” in 2018, at leats so far, goes to Juan Soto. Ranked 25th on my Top 100 Prospects coming into the season, if I re-ranked today, I’d move Soto up as many as 10 spots. Upon receiving an assignment to low-A Hagerstown, it was obvious from the jump his competition in the Sally was overmatched. Soto slashed .373/.486/.814 with 5 homers and 24 RBI in 15 games, and was quickly promoted to high-A Potomac of the Carolina League. So far through 5 contests he’s hitting .318/.400/.591 with a double, triple, and homer. Here’s a look at the homer he hit on Wednesday versus Wilmington. The swing is a thing of beauty, with a super quick and simple motion, strong wrists, and fast hands. It’s all evident in the video below.
Washington @Nationals OF Prospect Juan Soto’s 1st Home Run for High-A @PNats42 tonight. #Nats #Nationals pic.twitter.com/DHaTSczwOd
— NatsGM (@NatsGMdotcom) April 26, 2018
Soto is already looking like he belongs in high-A, and it wouldn’t come as a surprise if he spent a good chunk of the summer in AA Harrisburg. He’s moving toward a near certain Top 10 rank come mid-season, and a potential Top 5 come pre-season 2019. However, we won’t see Soto at the major league level until later on in 2019. To encapsulate, Soto is a year away, but an elite talent, one that needs to be owned in every dynasty league. He pairs the ability to hit for both power, and average, and shows advanced understanding of hitting. Working counts, making adjustments with two strikes, and avoiding strikeouts. He has a real shot to be the best rightfielder in the game in his prime years.
by: Geoff
Does anybody else remember the Adventures of the Gummi Bears? It was on the Disney Channel back in the day and it was THE Saturday Morning jam. Medieval, personified bears, that bounce like kangaroos. Where do I sign up, right? In one of the sloppiest and more unconnected openings in Razzball history, starting pitchers are nothing like Gummi Bears. No, they are not my Saturday Morning jam. They’re my Saturday Morning job, digging into numerous deep dives, for hours on end, trying to figure out which players are trending where. The results of these Saturday Morning exercises are below. As a reminder these rankings are for 5×5 roto with value focused on rest of season value for 2018. So, a player like Michael Kopech is ranked for his value over the entirety of the 2018 season. Not just the next month. In previous seasons, this post was a weekly ranking with a pitching profile included. This year we will continue the weekly pitching profile, but once a month we will update the rankings. Because honestly, how much can happen in a week? One or two starts? So there’s changes coming for 2018, but they’re slight, and you’ll still get the same quality profiles, notes, and ranks. You might also get a cupcake or a venereal disease, but no telling which one. The expiration dates will just be a little longer. On the rankings not on the cupcakes or your fresh batch of herpes.
Here’s my Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2018 Fantasy Baseball.
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: Geoff
First thing’s first, the Top 100 is here for your consumption. Now you can stop F$#@ing asking me. Kidding..kidding. This is complied from all the research I’ve done since November. Some players have moved up, others have moved down, some stayed the same, while others have straight left the top 100. My hope with the later release was that I would be able to do my deepest dive yet, and integrate the knowledge of off-season adjustments that we get in mid-spring. Hopefully this has led to my most extensive and comprehensive list to date. I’ve provided tiers within the rankings, to give you an idea of where one value level starts, and another begins. We’re going all the way to 300 this year with the next two 100s coming over the next two weeks. It’s the post you’ve been waiting for! I hope it was worth the wait…
Please, blog, may I have some more?A little birdie told me our 2024 Fantasy Baseball subscriptions are live. The little birdie also said it includes our Draft War Room. You really wanna lose in a fantasy baseball league to a little birdie? Would be kinda embarrassing, tbhhttps://t.co/1ag7IFSYS0
— Razzball (@Razzball) January 8, 2024
