Researching elite starters has taught me a number of things about pitcher development. One of the most valuable has been the reminder that progress is never linear.Blake Snell and Justin Verlander present recent examples of that. Verlander has been in obvious decline on two occasions now, and both times hes bounced back. 2016 Blake Snell displayed impressive talent but limited control. He was then relegated to AAA for portions of 2017, lost strikeouts, and saw his ERA increase, but we all know w[...]

New York Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom isn't optimistic that he'll strike a long-term contract extension with the team before his deadline of Opening Day on Thursday, March 28. The reigning National League Cy Young allowed no hits in three innings in his final spring tune-up against the Braves on Saturday. The 30-year-old is under team control through 2020, so the two sides could negotiate next winter if nothing gets done in the next couple of days. Contract stuff aside, deGrom is a fantas[...]

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Among expert drafts, starting pitchers are coming off the board earlier and more rapidly than in previous years. For instance, the LABR mixed league saw nine starters drafted in the first two rounds in comparison to just six in 2018 and five in 2017.Pitcher selection in expert drafts has been somewhat more aggressive than general fantasy draft trends, and it is clearly more aggressive than industry-wide rankings. [...]

2018 was a banner season for baseball's Marianos, as Mariano Rivera was headed full steam ahead towards a unanimous Hall of Fame entry and yours truly was cruising with the most accurate fantasy baseball ranks of the season per FantasyPros, unbeknownst to me until recently. I'm still riding high off of that and you're all going to have to hear about it.Some nice hits from last season's bold predictions piece included the resurgence of Trevor Story and Xander Bogaerts, the excellence of [...]

It is such an honor to have been selected to hit lead-off for the 2019 RotoBaller staff Bold Predictions. Sure, I asked for it due to time constraints but that's not how I will tell my story to the grand-kids. Bold predictions are everyone's favorite articles. They are fun, not always entirely plausible, while still possibly providing fantastic, league-winning advice.The majority of these predictions hinge on some serious injury risk, but no one ever remembers the guy who finished in second plac[...]

We're back with another edition of "Is It Legit?" to discuss another surprising breakout performer from the 2018 MLB season in order to assess his value heading into 2019.[...]

Value is everyones favorite word come draft season in fantasy sports. Here at Rotoballer, we put a big emphasis on comparisons to make sure you have the right information to assemble the best team in your league. In this edition of Early ADP Analysis, well focus on two young starting pitchers who have dealt with injuries through their careers but are looking for big 2019 campaigns for different reasons.Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jameson Taillon is very close to officially being tabbed t[...]