My initial 2017 fantasy baseball rankings have now officially been posted at FantasyPros... I attempt to create rankings that give an idea of how far I plan to move players up and down my draft board based on some
For 2017, we have 134 starting pitchers currently on draft boards. Only 37 (28%) of them met my data-heavy criteria for identifying the best fantasy pitchers. Find out who they were in this post.
By combining the xISO data with my analysis of HitTracker data, I can more confidently identify players who should see an increase in power numbers in 2017.
Once we have a player's xBABIP, we can convert it into their expected batting average (xAVG) by looking at how many balls they hit into play that year and seeing how their AVG would be affected if they had
Using new batted ball data, researchers are able to better identify a hitter's true skill set and compare his outcomes over a season to the expected outcomes for someone with his hitting profile. We can take advantage of this
I'm looking for pitchers who can throw strikes, avoid walks and create strikeouts by making batters miss. This means these pitchers control their games as opposed to relying on their defense on balls put in play.
Dating back to 2007, there were 29 hitters who met my criteria and were also in their team's Opening Day lineup. Of those, 21 (72%) were drafted twice as high the next year and 90% outperformed expectations that season.
By comparing rankings within the Special Blend projections to the Average Draft Position data from FantasyPros, I can get an idea of some of the more undervalued players this season.