Anthony Franco99 posts

I’ve been doing my weekly previews all year, and I’ll continue to modify on the fly. Last week, I kicked off a new format where I look at one player who’s been hot and looks poised to continue at something resembling their current pace, one player who’s scuffling but might break through and a two-start pitcher who could be a plausible streamer. Keeping it Rolling - Josh Bell I had kind of given up hope for the Bell breakout. He clearly had plate discipline and bat-to-ball skills. But he was pushing 27, had almost two and a…

I’ve been doing my weekly previews all year, and I’ll continue to modify on the fly. Starting this week, I’ll try out a new format where I look at one player who’s been hot (Paul DeJong) and looks poised to continue at something resembling their current pace, one player who’s scuffling (Andrew Benintendi) but might break through and a two-start pitcher (Lucas Giolito) who could be a plausible streamer. Keeping it Rolling- Paul DeJong DeJong’s fourth in MLB in Fangraphs WAR. He’s quietly off to a spectacular start.…

We’ve got a month of data to draw on now. Early-season performances are becoming more meaningful by the day. A player’s results may still be fluky, but owners can start to justifiably alter their opinions on some players based on their process and plate discipline numbers. This week, I touch on a couple young position players seemingly breaking through after down 2018 seasons. Dansby Swanson Perhaps no metric is a better indicator of a hitter’s process change than swing rate. There’s nothing he can control more; whether he…

This week in trend tracking, I’ll pivot to cover some noteworthy veteran arms. Last week, I looked at some young position players showing some promising signs of improvement, so this week will present quite the change in perspective. Where Zack Greinke Remains Elite An unsustainable home run rate has plagued Greinke in the early going. That said, he’s continued to show some masterful traits in the season’s early going. His strikeout and walk numbers alone might suffice to keep owners intrigued; Greinke has a top ten K%-BB%…

No one wants to draw massive conclusions through the first two weeks of the season. We should still be focused on analyzing matchups first and foremost. Nevertheless, some interesting process trends stand out. We’ll kick off this week with a former top 50 prospect in Rafael Devers, whose early-career results haven’t quite met expectations.The regular season is upon us! Don't worry, there's still time to add that "one more league!" You can start a league at Fantrax.com 364 days a year.Rafael Devers Showing…

We’re starving for information, dying to buy into certain trends or indicators. We’re still very much in nonexistent sample territory, though. Mostly, we’re relying on our preseason opinions on players and playing favorable matchups. Results aren’t particularly meaningful right now.That said, we can look for process changes. Which players are doing certain things differently than they used to? Which hitters are hitting the ball harder than expected? We’ll start with an up-and-down hurler who seems to be embracing a…

Weekly at Fantrax, I’ll be tracking player trends and upcoming favorable matchups. I’ll hit on players to start in weekly leagues. In the early going, of course, there’s no in-season performance trends to monitor. Thus, the opening look at Week 1 of baseball is entirely based on favorable matchups. Houston Hitting Owners are playing Houston’s top hitters. Alex Bregman, George Springer, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa are must-starts, no matter the matchup. Houston’s lesser-profile guys are strong targets next week, too. The…

Projections are the most reliable indicator of future performance. There’s room for context, of course, but the best indicator of what a player will do is what he has done. What do fantasy owners do, though, when the models themselves can’t agree? Using Baseball prospectus’ PECOTA and Fangraphs’ ZiPS and Steamer systems, we can find some notable players on whom the computers have differing opinions. Last week, I looked at notable position players who divided the models. I took the slight under on a 20-year-old superstar and…

Projections are the most reliable indicator of future performance. There’s room for context, of course, but the best indicator of what a player will do is what he has done. What do fantasy owners do, though, when the models themselves can’t agree? Using Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA and Fangraphs’ ZiPS and Steamer systems, we can find some notable players on whom the computers have differing opinions. This week, I’ll look at position players. Next week, I’ll pivot to the pitching side.Some of the discrepancies can be…

There may be no area of baseball more under-covered than post-hype prospects. You know the type; they’ve logged too much MLB time to remain on top prospect lists, but they’ve yet to establish themselves as quality players. Often, though, these players remain young with substantial upside. Because of injuries or riding the Triple-A to MLB shuttle, they’ve flown below the fantasy radar.Things can change significantly in only two years. Case in point: Baseball America’s 2017 top 100 prospects. While the top-10 looks quite…