Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout broke out of his spring training slump on Saturday. After starting 1-for-14, Trout hit two line drive singles and a home run on Saturday. While there is obviously no doubt about taking Trout with the first or second pick in all fantasy formats, it is nice to see the superstar outfielder break out of his slump and get his spring back on track.

This article references Charlie Blackmon, Daniel Murphy, Javier Baez, Joey Gallo, Jose Altuve, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Nolan Arenado, Robinson Cano, Rougned Odor, Tim Anderson and more! Points leagues are less popular than the traditional rotisserie or head-to-head scoring formats. Consequently, most fantasy analysis is geared toward the latter styles. As anyone who's played in a points league before knows, though, player values can be quite a bit different under those settings. All week, I'll be offering my thoughts on potential points league bargains and busts at every position. Today, we're looking at some potential second base sleepers and busts, or draft targets and[...]Keep on reading: Points Leagues Second Basemen: Overvalued and Undervalued

This article references Chris Young and more! The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have signed free-agent outfielder Chris Young to a one-year, $2 million contract with incentives. Young, 34, hit .235 with seven home runs and three stolen bases in 90 games for the Red Sox last season. He will have a hard time finding playing time in LA's crowded outfield. Expect him to be a fourth outfielder, drawing the occasional start when Justin Upton, Kole Calhoun or Mike Trout need a break. He will not be fantasy relevant unless an injury forces him into[...]Keep on reading: Angels Sign Outfielder Chris Young To One-Year Deal

This article references Chris Young and more! The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have signed outfielder Chris Young to a one-year, two million dollar contract with incentives. Young, 34, hit .235 with seven home runs and three stolen bases in 90 games for the Red Sox last season. He will have a hard time finding playing time in LA's crowded outfield. Expect him to be a fourth outfielder, drawing the occasional start when Justin Upton, Kole Calhoun or Mike Trout need a break. He will not be fantasy relevant unless an injury forces him into re[...]Keep on reading: Angels Sign Outfielder Chris Young

This article references Mike Trout and more! Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is coming off of another other worldly season and Angels owner Arte Moreno said he is open to the possibility of a contract extension for Trout, though there have not been any discussions to date. Trout is currently under control through 2020. "Let's put it this way: It's always in our minds, we're always thinking about it," Moreno said. "If you look at long-term plans, you're always trying to position yourself for something like that. But we have three y[...]Keep on reading: Mike Trout Could Get Contract Extension

This article references A.j. Pollock, Alex Bregman, Andrew Benintendi, Anthony Rizzo, Billy Hamilton, Byron Buxton, Cameron Maybin, Charlie Blackmon, Dee Gordon, Delino DeShields, Eduardo Nunez, Elvis Andrus, Francisco Lindor, Hernan Perez, Jonathan Villar, Jose Altuve, Jose Peraza, Jose Ramirez, Lorenzo Cain, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Nelson Cruz, Paul Goldschmidt, Rajai Davis, Travis Shaw, Whit Merrifield, Wil Myers and more! Steals are an important statistic in fantasy baseball. They represent 10% of scoring categories in 5x5 leagues and earn an equivalent value or more to singles, runs and RBI in points leagues. Comparing runs and stolen bases, the fantasy significance of a steal is certainly overvalued versus its real baseball relevance. The Run Expectancy table (RE24) appears to frown upon stolen base attempts. RE24 quantifies changes in run-scoring probability throughout an inning based on number of outs and [...]Keep on reading: Should Fantasy Managers Swipe Left and Chase Steals?

This article references Billy Hamilton, Bryce Harper, Carlos Correa, Charlie Blackmon, Clayton Kershaw, Dee Gordon, Jose Altuve, Manny Machado, Max Scherzer, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Trea Turner and more! We at Rotoballer love to draft. In fact, we love it so much we couldn't wait until March or even February to start drafting! So we decided to share the results of our latest fantasy baseball mock draft, accompanied by a series of articles analyzing each round. Here's the complete rundown: Round 1  Rounds 2-4 (coming Sunday, Jan. 28) Rounds 5-9 (coming Monday, Jan. 29) Rounds 10-15 (coming Tuesday, Jan. 30) Rounds 16-23 (coming Wednesday, Jan. 31) Sleepers/Busts/Values (coming Thurs[...]Keep on reading: Early Mock Draft Analysis, Round 1

This article references Jose Martinez and more! St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jose Martinez hit .309/.379/.518 in 307 plate appearances in 2017, and although he doesn't have a clear path to playing time this season, there are reasons to believe his performance last year can be repeated. Despite the fact that he'll turn 30 this summer, Martinez had elite plate command in 2017. He ranked fifth in all of baseball only behind Aaron Judge, Joey Votto, Mike Trout and J.D. Martinez, in wOBA, which accounts for quality of contact and amount of conta[...]Keep on reading: Jose Martinez One To Watch In 2018

This article references Aaron Judge, Albert Pujols, Alex Gordon, Anthony Rizzo, Billy Hamilton, Charlie Blackmon, Dee Gordon, Didi Gregorius, Eduardo Nunez, Ender Inciarte, Freddie Freeman, Giancarlo Stanton, Hanley Ramirez, J.D. Martinez, Joey Votto, Jose Altuve, Jose Ramirez, Justin Turner, Kendrys Morales, Kris Bryant, Manny Machado, Marwin Gonzalez, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Mitch Moreland, Nelson Cruz, Nicholas Castellanos, Paul Goldschmidt, Robinson Cano, Scooter Gennett, Shin-soo Choo, Zack Cozart and more! With spring training on the horizon, fantasy baseball draft season is in sight, as well. That means it's time to pore over rankings, go through countless mock drafts, and do plenty of research trying to find that diamond in the rough other owners are undervaluing. Luckily, more statistics are available than ever before to determine which players to target and which to avoid. Statcast has opened up fans and teams to a plethora of new and useful data, bringing statistics like exit velocity an[...]Keep on reading: Using xwOBA as a Predictive Tool for Hitters

This article references Aaron Altherr, Aaron Judge, Chase Anderson, Cody Bellinger, Eddie Rosario, Jose Berrios, Justin Verlander, Kyle Barraclough, Luis Severino, Marwin Gonzalez, Mike Trout, Trevor Story and more! If you're a voracious consumer of baseball analysis -; a judgment that, if you're reading one of my articles almost three months before the season starts, I would deem fair -; you've heard the following phrase plenty of times: Better a year too early than a year too late. This, of course, refers to older players' inevitable decline. The sentiment is simple and sensible. You'd rather miss out on a player's last good year in the sun than risk suffering through paying full freight on a season whe[...]Keep on reading: Forgetting The One That Got Away