Ray's MLB Ramblings
The Home Run, Part IV: HR/FB Ratios
We’ve been looking at the home run from a variety of angles this offseason, and it is time to wrap up the review of the past when it comes to the big fly. Earlier we talked about the HR/FB ratio for seasons from 2020-22. In this column we will bring the homer to fly ball Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
You Want, You Don’t Want
Here is a quick hitting article about players to target and those to avoid for each MLB team. The players in the “Want” column are obvious, you want ‘em, but with the Don’t Want, a brief description. These players are most players you don’t want to roster for one of the following reasons: (A) the Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
2023: Cheap Power
Power is seemingly everywhere in baseball these days, but that doesn’t mean we might not still be able to fine some cheap power sources late in drafts. To that end, here are a few potential sluggers that won’t cost you much on draft day. *NFBC ADP for the month of March. Triston Casas, 1B, BOS Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
The Home Run, Part III: Was It Earned?
In Part III of our review of the home run, we will take a look at how many homers were hit, how far they went, how many of them were earned and how many of them were rather fortunate outcomes for the men with the bat in their hands. PART I – History PART II Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
The Home Run, Part II: Gainers/Losers
In Part II of our look at the home run, we will explore the fly ball. There will also be talk about launch angle, as there should be, as we start to move away from fly ball rates a bit. We will take a look at some of the men who increased their ability to Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
The Home Run, Part I: History
The game is changing in 2023. Bigger bags, pitch clocks, limits to defensive position. Lots of change. One thing that doesn’t figure to change too drastically is the home run. In this piece we will explore the growth in the home run category from a league perspective before going a bit smaller by taking a Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
Strong K Rate, High Barrel Rate
In baseball, there are plenty of ways to be a good hitter. Two of the chief ways to gain the moniker of “good” when it comes to swinging the bat are (A) make contact and (B) hit the ball hard. To that end, let’s do some digging into strikeout and barrel rates. THE STRIKEOUTLeague Average Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
H2H – Players to Target & Avoid 2023
Most of us, if we are over 40, grew up playing fantasy baseball one way. We played a roto setup from Game 1 through Game 162 of the regular season, usually with that 5×5 setup we have come to know. However, there is a growing trend away from that direction as people are gravitating toward Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
Primer: H2H Baseball – How to Win 2023
Head-to-Head Baseball, or H2H, is a style of fantasy sports that has seen its popularity explode in all fantasy sports. Traditionally we think of H2H and think fantasy football, but the amount of fantasy baseball leagues turning to the H2H model has become profound. We will examine why this is and give some tips to Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
K%-BB% Hitters
Making contact matters. Being patient matters. When you put both traits together, more often than not, you end up with a batter who can help you in the batting average and OBP percentage categories. In theory at least, these type of players also should remain more consistent from week-to-week than those that hack away or Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
K%-BB% Pitchers
It only seems like every third article I write for pitchers is about strikeouts, but I do comment on them a lot. Here’s another article that focuses directly on the strikeout and the walk. This is about as basic as we can get with our analysis, but the fact is that strikeout and walk rates Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
Six-Man Rotations in 2023?
Which Major League Baseball teams are using the 6-man rotation? Which teams are contemplating use the six-man rotation? Here’s a report that shares what we know about teams plans with their starting rotations in 2023. THE STARTING POINT Point #1 – All teams have a plan. Point #2 – Not all teams will share their Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
I’ve Changed My Pitch Mix
In that never-ending struggle between batter and pitcher, one of the changes a hurler can make to stay ahead is to change up their pitch mix. This article will detail a host of hurlers who are adding a new pitch to attack hitters with in 2023. Ian Anderson, Braves The righty, after a terrible 2022 Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
2023 LABR Mixed League Draft
The 2023 fantasy baseball draft season is upon us. It is time for the most recent iteration of the LABR draft, one of the highlights of the preseason, put on my Steve Gardner and USA Today. What follows is a report of how my team came together in the 15-team mixed league. LEAGUE RULES This is…
The Stolen Base in 2023
The bases are bigger. The moves a pitcher can make to deaden the running game are fewer. Who are some of the runners that might see an increase in their steals total this season as a result of these chances as well as other factors, and who are some names to be wary of growth Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
The Strikeout From All The Angles
The strikeout is a thing of beauty. It’s clean and often speaks to the dominance of the hurler, so let’s wrap up our look at that result by taking a gander at this thing from a myriad of angles by putting it all together. We will take a look at K/9, K-Rate, First Pitch Strike Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
High K, Low BB, High GB, Arms
It is triangle of pitching time. What the heck am I talking about? If you are looking for a shorthand way to view pitchers, a down and dirty way to say thumbs up or thumbs down, this is what you should be looking at. You want strikeouts.You want to avoid walksYou want ground balls. First Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
2022 Review: Punchouts and Workload
Two components are extremely important to fantasy baseball success. One of those facets is missing bats which generally speaks to dominance and is often an indicator of significant success. The other piece is being available to actually generate those punchouts. Another way to put this piece of the equation is to say we want guys Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
2022 Review: Pitcher’s Workloads
What does the landscape of hurlers look like in baseball when it comes to workload? We all know the workload is down for starting pitchers, but how much are the innings down and how do you translate that knowledge into the fantasy game? WHAT HAPPENED IN 2019? 2019# Pitchers200 IP15180 IP33170 IP51160 IP66120 IP104100 IP13080 Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
MLB Averages to Know – Pitchers
What are the league averages for batters? What numbers should you be zeroing in on when it comes to pitchers in 2023? We will answer that question by looking back at the completed 2022 season to see where the baselines live. A few notes are listed below, just a few. Make sure to click on Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
MLB Averages to Know – Hitters
What are the league averages for batters? What numbers should you be zeroing in on when it comes to batters in the coming season? We will answer that question by looking back at the 2022 season to see where the baselines live. A few notes are listed below, just a few. Make sure to click Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
SWIP 2022 Review: Strikeouts & Walks
In virtually every fantasy baseball league ever played the last couple of decades, virtually since the start of the roto game actually, teams have used WHIP (walks + hits divided by innings pitched). It’s a solid way to look at pitching performance. Another way to look at how pitchers performed is to pay direct attention Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
MLB Twitter Polls
Ray Flowers runs polls on Twitter, but if you don’t see them in the 24 hours that they are posted, you might miss them. In case you missed any of the polls that he has run so far, here is a sampling of some of what has been voted on over at his Twitter account Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
Ray’s Ramblings: Net SB in 2022
Who led baseball in steals in 2022? Does anyone run anymore? Who was successful at swiping bases? Let’s take a look back at the 2022 season. 2022 STEALS LEADERS Jon Berti led baseball with 41 steals. Jorge Mateo was second with 35. Cedric Mullin was third with 34. Here is the full listing of all Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.