Zen And The Art Of Fantasy Baseball: Wise Concentration And Deep League Waiver Finds

The Moment of Zen:

Even if unfamiliar with any of the ins and outs of Buddhism, most have likely heard of the Noble Eightfold Path, which essentially acts as a broad guide not only for Buddhist practice but in a more general sense for living and acting “wisely.” The Eightfold Path is sometimes divided into three groupings:

Paññā (often translated as Wisdom)

1. Wise View

2. Wise Intention

Sīla (translated as Ethics)

3. Wise Speech

4. Wise Action

5. Wise Livelihood

Samadhi (translated as Concentration, often connected to Meditation)

6. Wise Effort

7. Wise Mindfulness

8. Wise Concentration

The eighth step in the path, Wise Concentration, considers what the Buddha referred to as four meditative absorptions, or jhanas. I won’t go further into what those are for fear of this piece turning into one long list of definitions. In each of the four, the “absorption” of meditation is key as it helps us learn and practice a quieting of the mind and the ability to block out distractions for the sake of extended focus on one object, idea, action, etc. (the most common focus is attention on the breath). Unlike what many of us might initially understand, for most practitioners, the goal of meditation isn’t so much reaching the point of the mind being completely blank (perhaps the Zen masters can do that, but I certainly can’t). The goal, for most of us at least, is “one-pointedness” of mind – attention on one object without distraction.

When I was first introduced to meditation, I was intimidated by the process because I thought there was no chance I could focus my mind without distraction. And, so far, that fear has proven to be true – but also not the point. One thing I’ve learned through Wise Concentration and the process of meditation is that my mind will indeed wander, but I have become exponentially better at becoming aware of my wandering mind, allowing me to re-focus on the object.

That simple process of losing “one-pointedness,” becoming aware of the distraction, and re-focusing on the object (or breath, etc.) has benefitted me in big and little ways in all aspects of my life. It is much easier now to block out the noise – at least for more extended periods of time – so that I can focus on details that before I likely would not have even noticed. I still have much work to do, but the process no longer seems intimidating as much as just being an acknowledgment that the wandering mind is natural and any improvement of focus is some level of accomplishment.

 

How in the world does this apply to fantasy baseball?

In the world of fantasy baseball, we are inundated with data. Those of us who enjoy the data have a much better chance of becoming consistently competitive in this game. Eventually, we have to learn how to predict player breakouts or collapses so that we can take advantage of them. Perhaps instinct will allow us to make those predictions to some extent, but probably not to compete with other really good fantasy players. To do that, we likely have to get comfortable with the parsing of the data.

As you might imagine, a one-pointedness of mind can be extremely beneficial in sifting through the flood of metrics that are available, that may not help us, so that we can find what will. I don’t claim to have the answers for what data is best, but I certainly have my favorite metrics to consider, which, so far, seem to be paying dividends, so to speak. 

For this article, I decided to put some one-pointedness of mind at work, one for pitching and a different one for hitting, to see if I could offer some help to those who play in the deepest of leagues. The stats I chose aren’t obscure by any means, so I’m not doing anything special. But if those stats help me find players I wasn’t aware of who are also satisfying other requirements I like, my interest is piqued to be sure. Here are two players who met those criteria:

 

One-pointedness for pitching – K-BB%:

The find: Bradgley Rodriguez, RP, SDP

If you’ve never heard of Rodriguez, count yourself among the majority. The young Padres fireballer, who is starting to make his case for more innings in the San Diego bullpen, has pitched fewer than 20 major league innings to this point. For most fans, Rodriguez is simply among the many faces that make up bullpen depth that fills all 30 MLB rosters – a group of players that few of us know much about.

I am starting to think, however, that we should get to know Rodriguez better. Full disclosure: My “one-pointedness” dive didn’t completely lead me to him – I’ve had my eye on him to start the year because he was dominant in his late-year call-up last year. But my K-BB% survey confirmed my interest.

His current numbers look impressive, small sample size warning applied: His 21.2% K-BB% certainly catches my eye, as does his 1.06 xERA and 2.64 xFIP. I’m a bit concerned about the 8.64 K/9 because based on last year, I’ve been expecting to see him be dominant in his short bullpen stints. A quick review of his Statcast page assuaged those concerns quickly – there’s a lot of red on that first graph! 

His velocity is slightly down this season compared to his short call-up in 2025, and his HH% is slightly up. I expect both of those to normalize, as will his K% (up) and his BB% (also up). In the aggregate, I’m ok with that collection of tools (even with the BB% eventually going up), especially considering his K/9 and GB% through the minors: he strikes guys out, and the few times he doesn’t, batters hit the ball on the ground. That’s a good combination in my book. Here are the types of stats I was most focused on for this exercise:

Year	IP	K/9	K%	K-BB%	ERA	xERA	xFIP	GB%	FB%
2026, SDP	8.1	8.64	24.2	21.2	1.08	1.06	2.64	62.5	29.2
2025, SDP	7.2	10.57	29	19.4	1.17	2.29	4.34	56.3	37.5
2025, MiLB (AAA-AA)	36.2	9.33	25.3	14.7	3.19	**	3.79	57.3	23.6
2024, MiLB (AA, A+, A)	61.1	11.01	29.5	17.3	2.64	**	3.73	42.3	37.2

Looking at his usage, the Padres tend to put him in the game in the 6th and 7th innings, just before the “big 3” of Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon, and Jeremiah Estrada. To me, this means a couple of important things: 1) Both holds and Ws are in the mix for him. And 2), if any one of the big 3 goes down, Rodriguez steps into a significant high leverage role. (Author’s Note: After completion of this article, Estrada was placed on the IL with elbow tendinitis, so Rodriguez’s opportunity may have arrived.)

Clearly, he isn’t an option for shallow leagues – yet, but in deep leagues where you need ratio help, or even in hold / sold leagues, he might be worth a speculative add at some point soon. I’ve already picked him up in a number of mine as I hope for K and W help, and maybe even a backdoor into save opps.

 

One-pointedness for hitting – PAs:

The find: Chase Meidroth, 2B/SS, CWS

In deep, highly-competitive high stakes league, Meidroth is widely rostered even in 15-teamers, but a look at the more mainstream sites shows that there’s plenty of Meidroth available in the leagues the majority of fantasy players participate in.

Frankly, I paid little attention to most of the CWS line-up, so I’m late to the party on Meidroth. But he definitely offers some stat help in important areas. A look at his current stat line won’t blow anyone away – until you look at it in the context of his yearly stats:

Year	PA	BA	HR	R	RBI	SB	HH%
2026, CWS	59	.208	1	6	2	0	44.7
2025, CWS	505	.253	5	54	23	14	36.1
2025, AAA	40	.267	3	11	4	2	40
2024, AAA (BOS)	558	.293	7	87	57	13	34

If you’re saying to yourself: “Why is this guy recommending a .200 hitter?” Reasonable question. The answer is this guy is not a .200 hitter – he’s just off to a slow start. His HH% suggests his average is going to come up. That assumption is especially supported when considering his plate discipline, both this year and over his career:

Year	BB%	K%	O-Swing%	Z-Swing%	O-Cont%	Z-Cont%	Contact%
2026	10.2	25.4	20.8	51.7	69.2	85.5	80.7
2025	8.9	14.3	22.3	52.4	79.6	91.8	88.4
2024	20	12.5	19	42	75	100	90.7
2022	18.8	12.7	17.3	44.3	78.4	93.8	89.4

He doesn’t swing out of the zone uncontrollably, he makes good contact, he is more than willing to take a BB, and he hits the ball on the ground over 50% of the time. Players like that, especially if they have a 45% HH%, tend to hit better than .208. His BABIP in the early-going is .270, which may look fine, but is well below his career numbers. His BA will move up soon enough.

His career numbers also show he is a contributor in SBs. And he’s hitting as the leadoff hitter – for an admittedly bad team – but he’s getting his PAs: he is currently tied for 85th among all hitters with his 59 PAs. Believe it or not, there is some talent at the top of the CWS lineup, so Rs become something he might also add. 

With Meidroth’s slow start, I would expect impatient managers to start dropping him, even in 15-team leagues. If I see him hit the waiver wire, I’m probably picking him up for his SBs, R potential, BA (which will improve), and his position flexibility.

 

Nothing about the two players I’ve suggested screams “league winner,” but I find the idea of a “league winner” is mostly a myth. Those who win fantasy do it by grinding for every stat they can get, and I think Rodriguez and Meidroth can be a helpful part of that process. 

Good luck. And until next week. –ADHamley