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[...]

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Despite whiffing on more than half, my 2018 predictions were highlighted by the claim that Christian Yelich would return first-round value. I was also justifiably optimistic about Matt Chapmans breakout and Khris Davis impending title of Home Run King. So, I figured, the best plan of attack for 2019 was to use the same template for some of those accurate predictions: ___ returns first-round value, ___ leads the Majors in home runs and ___ is a top-10 *insert position.*Beyond that, I ran with a f[...]

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St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas allowed five runs in five innings of work on Tuesday. Mikolas struggled in Grapefruit League play last season before starring in the regular season, so his slow spring isn't much of a concern. He may have a hard time repeating last season's numbers, but he will still be a solid fantasy option in all formats.

Fantasy baseball, much like the sport itself, it is one of the more complex to follow closely. Compared to fantasy football, in which nearly every league was head-to-head before the advent of best-ball, fantasy baseball comes in a variety of formats. Many leagues are roto-style, 5x5 category-scoring, with cumulative season-long stats. [...]

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St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas, who will start the team's first Grapefruit League game this Saturday, plans to use his changeup more this year. "That's something I obviously want to work on, a pitch I want to have," said Mikolas, who threw his changeup 4.4 percent of the time, according to Statcast. "This is a chance to use it a lot and give a different look." In his first year back in the big leagues since 2014, Mikolas defied expectations and went 18-4 with a 2.83 ERA, 1.07[...]

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 415CURRENT ADP: ~445 overallANALYSIS: Its almost becoming a trend for players to travel overseas to play baseball after struggling to make it in the MLB, only to end up back in the Majors better than before. In 2017 it was Eric Thames and last year it was Miles Mikolas. You can now add Merrill Kelly to the list. The Arizona Diamondbacks signed Kelly to a two-year $5.5M contract in hopes of him bringing his success back from Korea into their rotation. Kelly spent t[...]