fantasy baseball keepers Archives

This is the draft board for a draft I am currently participating in at Fantrax. Grabbing the leagueId from the URL unlocks an awesome new feature in fantasy baseball Draft Buddy version 3.0, now available for download.

Whirlwind of a weekend here! Daughter’s birthday, another family birthday to attend, Family Day holiday (yes that is a thing), ongoing development work for Dynasty League Football and somehow, some way, I was able to pull together a HUGE update for fantasy baseball Draft Buddy.

Draft Buddy is still free to download, use and update to Opening Day. The new features require a new download if you already have an earlier 2019 version. Read on for details.

More Projection Options

ATC and THE BAT projections are now available to import directly into Draft Buddy via the Update Projections feature on the action tab. If you missed it, check the ATC + THE BAT post for details about these projections. Detailed, high quality fantasy baseball projections from Ariel Cohen for ATC and Derek Carty for THE BAT.

You can scrap the ATC and THE BAT Projection Pal files I posted previously. Getting these projections in Draft Buddy is now way simpler. On the action tab, select the projections you want to import, and hit Update Projections. If you want to import both, select one, import and then use the buttons to move that first set from section Site A to Site B or C. Then select another set and import. Update Projections always pulls the data into Site A, the first large yellow section found on the hitters data and pitchers data tabs.

I will update ATC and THE BAT in line with our other scheduled updates. Note these are also available in Last Player Picked dollar value calculator. Again, huge thanks for Ariel and Derek for providing their projections for us!

Draft Buddy’s Baseball Projections

This is where using the name Draft Buddy for both the software and the website can get slightly confusing, but I ask you to please roll with it. Draft Buddy (website) has its own fantasy baseball projections. These are also available via Update Projections, and in fact are the new default projections in Draft Buddy (software).

They are based on Steamer projections (original default) but include our own playing time adjustments. Much of my fantasy baseball analysis this year is focused on playing time after noticing some issues with the Steamer projections pulled direct from Fangraphs.

A combination of reading The Fantasy Baseball Process by Jeff Zimmerman of Fangraphs and Tanner Bell of Smart Fantasy Baseball (highly recommended), noting Rudy Gamble at Razzball does similar with Steamer, and reviewing playing time from various sources, this seemed like a positive course of action to improve my own fantasy baseball knowledge and to improve Draft Buddy.

I plan to post my process for the Draft Buddy projections, which are also in Last Player Picked and the basis for our online cheatsheets. That now makes six projection options for Draft Buddy – Draft Buddy, ATC, Steamer, THE BAT, Zeile and ZiPS. ZiPS is not yet available. Unfortunately (?) there are still only three sections for projections in Draft Buddy but you can choose any combination of the six to fill the three spots.

Fantrax Integration

This one is huge and arguably deserves its own announcement. It is huge if you play fantasy baseball on Fantrax.com, which you really should. Fantrax is an excellent league manager product they’ve built and no wonder their site continues to experience excellent growth.

I am noticing more and more people mention Fantrax as their league manager, and not just for fantasy baseball. They manage leagues and contests for seven different sports. We ran the inaugural Draft Buddy RotoBowl roto fantasy football league on Fantrax last year.

Get the Fantrax leagueId from the URL of any page for your Fantrax fantasy baseball league.

Input the Fantrax leagueId in the Fantrax Integration box on the options tab in Draft Buddy.

Anyway, thanks to newly available integration with Fantrax, you can now import draft results, keepers and franchise names into Draft Buddy based on your Fantrax leagueId. For those who use the fantasy football Draft Buddy and the MyFantasyLeague.com integration features, you know this is an absolute game changer.

No more selecting each player via drop-down lists for the keepers tab. No more finding and selecting each player off the cheatsheets to add them to the draft report tab. For keepers, copy in the entire roster by team and click a button. For draft results, click a button and everything updates. Its a huge time saver and helps you keep focused on your draft.

I have old videos showcasing the fantasy football Draft Buddy integration with MyFantasyLeague.com for keepers and draft results. The Fantrax integration works very similarly, and I hope to create new fantasy baseball specific videos soon.

New Download Version 3.0

To get all of the newness (a.k.a. awesomeness), we have a new version 3.0 Draft Buddy available for download. You will find the projection changes on the action tab. The Fantrax integration options are on the options tab. All you really need is your Fantrax leagueId and you are set.

If you have any questions then let me know. Enjoy!

Fantasy baseball prospects - Peter Alonso, Mets

Welcome Rick to the team. He specializes in digging for fantasy baseball prospects for dynasty leagues, such as future New York Mets 1B Peter Alonso, currently playing Double-A for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

Always looking for the “next big thing”, I have a lot of experience scavenging the minors for the next impact fantasy baseball prospects. I’m hoping to use this weekly space to provide owners with some targets and big-picture tips throughout the 2018 campaign. Since few prospects make an impact in their rookie season, I will usually focus on keepers for the future.

We all want to find the next Albert Pujols, the guy who seemed to come out of nowhere and built a Hall of Fame career, starting with his rookie campaign where he bashed his way to .327/37/130 while qualifying at three positions.

Unfortunately those guys don’t grow on trees, otherwise they wouldn’t be called generational players. Ronald Acuna is probably that next guy (minus the position flexibility), but he likely isn’t available in your league since the hype surrounding him is so great. Which is the problem…

So who is available in your league? Well it mostly depends on the number of teams, roster spots per team and the rules your fantasy league utilizes. I usually play dynasty leagues, since it allows me to grab youngsters, follow them up to The Show and then help lead me to the title. You usually have to take a few risks along the way, but there are ways to minimize those risks and still profit from keen pickups.

Power Outage at First Base

Looking back, it always seemed like every MLB team had a masher at first base. You know, the guy who looked more like an offensive lineman than a baseball player and they seemed to grow on every Major League tree. That guy could catch well enough to not hurt your team at 1B, but probably was better suited for the DH role. What he brought to the table was a slugging percentage around .600 and the homers and ribbies that was the nucleus of your fantasy lineup.

Today it seems like power hitting first basemen are few and far between, and deeper leagues mean getting creative on finding your guy. Often, MLB teams will move a third baseman who isn’t quick enough to handle the hot corner or an outfielder who doesn’t have tracking ability or speed to first base. So scanning the lower minors for true first basemen isn’t always the answer. Players usually end up playing at least part time at 1B by the time they get to the upper end of the minor league system, so there are signs of where they are likely to end up.

Prospects Watch

Bobby Bradley (Indians) and Ryan McMahon (Rockies) are the guys you probably know about. Bradley will be a better power threat but McMahon will post a better average. Both will be studs and should not be on your waiver wire if you can keep them for the next few years. McMahon has been sitting on the Colorado bench this season and has struggled in his few at bats so far (1 for 20, 10 K) so maybe his owner is souring on him. It could be time to move in with an offer. Bradley is in Double-A, so he will not be up until next year in all likelihood.

Other guys with notable names are Brendan McKay (Rays), Nick Pratto (Royals), Pavin Smith (Diamondbacks) and Evan White (Mariners). They are all highly touted but are too far down the minor league pipeline to help you in the next few years. Guys that far away can sometimes go off the rails and not pan out, so I like to focus on players in Double-A or higher. Three guys I like are Peter Alonso, Ronald Guzman and Josh Naylor.

Peter Alonso, NYM

Peter Alonso is going to have to navigate a minefield to get the starting first base job in Queens. But even though he has an aging Adrian Gonzalez and a young Domonic Smith ahead of him, he should be the New York Mets starting first baseman by 2020. He doesn’t walk or strikeout much and is a good contact hitter. Think of him as a right handed Eric Hosmer with fewer stolen bases.

Ronald Guzman, TEX

Ronald Guzman is the closest to the Majors. He started the season playing at Triple-A Round Rock and was called up to the Texas Rangers for a short time to fill in for injuries. But, he is also the least likely to develop into a power monster. He’s a power alley hitter who will hit for a good average. Consider him along the lines of Mark Grace.

Josh Naylor, SD

Josh Naylor is the mystery man of this group from the San Diego Padres organization. His body shape is a little un-baseball-like in that he’s under 6 foot but tilts the scales over 250, but he hits big. His batting practice shows are legendary, but he needs to be more selective to realize that power in games.

Early indications are that this might be the season where he puts it all together so stash him now before one of your league mates beats you to the punch. If he realizes his ceiling, he’ll post vintage Adrian Gonzalez-like numbers.

Patience But Not Indecision

Some of the worst advice available comes from those who recommend sitting on a fantasy squad for several weeks before making major moves. Owners who draft and then wait to see how things pan out are cautious not to overreact, but they also miss out on the breakout players.

Saving a roster spot or two for the guy who might blossom is always advisable. You don’t have roster space for all the potential breakout candidates, so you have to be very selective. You have to also be willing to cut bait on guys who don’t progress the way you need, so don’t get too attached.

Tip of the Week

If you need a first baseman right now, you might be able to pry Jose Martinez away from his owner. He’s off to a hot start and this is for real (think of a JD Martinez-like late bloomer). Make sure you throw the recent injury into your trade discussions as well as sharing playing time with Matt Carpenter and Jedd Gyorko as reasons your league mate needs to trade Martinez to your team.

Announcing Draft Buddy 3.0 – More Projection Options + Fantrax Integration