by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

Who are the next wave of superstars in Major League Baseball? That’s what we are about to dive into, as we go position-by-position, looking for the best players who are 25-years old or younger (as of April 1, 2018). Obviously, things will be slightly skewed to those who have already reached the Majors and produced, but minor leaguers and their upside will not be ignored.

First base a significant infusion of young talent last year, with Rhys Hoskins (though he’s going to shift to the outfield) and Cody Bellinger both emerging in the Majors.  Sprinkle in a few other high upside options and it’s easy to see a bright future at the position.  Who are the options you want to target?  Let’s take a look:

1) Rhys Hoskins – Philadelphia Phillies
Age – 25

We’ve already dug into Hoskins, in detail, which you can read by clicking here.  The obvious key for Hoskins is his ability to pair strong plate discipline with significant power.  Take a look at these SwStr% from ’17:

• Triple-A – 6.4%
• Majors – 7.1%

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by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

There has long been high expectations for Jose Quintana, and despite a slow start with the White Sox the trade across the city and into the NL only added to the hype.  However at the end of the day his overall numbers fell flat, though it didn’t come as a complete surprise for us here at Rotoprofessor. T hose who purchased our 2017 Fantasy Baseball Draft saw him labeled as a potential overdraft, when we said:

“There is something to be said about Quintana’s steady approach and he brings elite control.  However his groundball rate fell last season (40.4%) and he doesn’t have strikeout upside (7.6% SwStr% in ’16).  While he got the job done in ’16, can he continue to thrive with just one “true” skill?  Throw in the name recognition, thanks to trade rumors, and the risk outweighs the reward (as the cost will likely be a Top 30 starter).”

Obviously if you paid a top 30 starter price tag you will bitterly disappointed with these numbers: Read more

by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

It was a tale of two halves for the Twins’ Kyle Gibson, who went from unusable to a surprisingly relevant option in the second half. It was an across the board change and certainly makes you wonder if there is potential value heading into 2018.

Before we dig in, first let’s look at his splits:

The improvement in the home run rate shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering his 50.8% groundball rate on the season. A career 3.17 BB/9 also tells us that his struggles there are not the norm, and a 68.8% first half strand rate told us that an improvement was coming. The surprise may have been the jump in strikeouts, considering a 6.24 K/9 for his career. Read more

by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

It’s easy to make cut decisions on injured players this time of year, but what about those who are still on the field and struggling to produce (or whose outlook has simply changed)?  Let’s take a look at a few players who we’d be comfortable moving away from in redraft formats (obviously keeper leagues have different rules and many of these players would be worth stashing):

Nick Williams – Philadelphia Phillies – Outfielder
A highly touted prospect he’s had a nice rookie campaign, hitting .287 with 10 HR, 48 RBI, 39 R and 1 SB over 298 PA.  However strikeouts have been an issue (28.2%), and his September plate discipline has been downright horrific:

• SwStr% – 20.5%
• O-Swing% – 51.8%

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by Ray Kuhn

History. When it comes to baseball, history is all around us. Perhaps the best thing about it, is that you never know when or in what form it will come. While, other than success of the Cleveland Indians’ individual players, their now 22 game winning streak hasn’t mattered in the realm of fantasy baseball, it certainly has been exciting to follow. Let’s jump right into some of the stories from a fantasy perspective that stood out from a busy Thursday in baseball:

1)      Garcia Has Finally Arrived…
While the days of referring to Avisail Garcia as “Baby Miggy” have passed, we must first remember that the onetime top prospect is still just 26 years old. So if we are going to refer to 2017 as a breakout campaign for Garcia, it could be a logical conclusion to draw. It is quite possible that what we are seeing this season is the ceiling for Garcia, I’m not sure we can expect much more from him in 2018, and even though it his performance might not reach the levels we thought when he made his debut in 2012, he has developed into a productive outfielder. Yesterday though, Garcia had his best game of the season as he went 5 for 5 with a walk. Garcia hit a three run home run in the 6^th inning (his 17^th of the season), and he also singled four times while driving in four more runs. On the season, Garcia has 77 RBI and is batting .333 while benefitting from a .397 BABIP. Read more

by Ray Kuhn

Yesterday was a strange day in baseball. Neither Rhys Hoskins or Giancarlo Stanton went deep last night, as at this point, we truly had become accustomed to automatic home runs from each of them. Also on a day where the Mets confirmed that Yoenis Cespedes would join the ranks of their players sidelined for the season, we actually saw one of their players go the other way. Based on how poorly he did to start the season, there might actually not be any fantasy impact, but Matt Harvey is returning to the mound on Friday. Let’s take a look at some of the performances that did stand out from a relatively busy Monday in baseball:

1) Another Win for Nola…

Just as with Hoskins, it felt like a reoccurring theme here with Aaron Nola. For a stretch, every fifth day, Nola threw another strong outing that we had to highlight here as he is one of the few bright spots of Philadelphia’s rebuilding season. Nola picked up his 10 victory of the season with seven strong innings against Atlanta on Monday as he allowed just one run on five hits. The right-hander, who didn’t walk a batter, struck out six while lowering his ERA to 3.46. After going 10 starts in which he didn’t allow more than two runs, it was a good sign to see Nola rebound after allowing 12 runs in 11.1 innings in his two most recent starts. With 148 innings, Nola is already past the 111 innings he threw last year in Triple-A, but in 2015 Nola logged a combined 187 innings, so I wouldn’t be worried about him down the stretch. Read more