Drake Baldwin (C-ATL) appears likely to open the 2025 campaign as Atlanta's starting backstop. That is interesting news from a fantasy standpoint given Baldwin's status as the organization's top prospect. As a 23 year-old last season, he batted .276 with 16 dingers, 88 RBI, and 58 runs scored across 551 total PA at the Double-A and Triple-A levels. He showed strong command of the plate with a 13% walk rate against a 17% strikeout rate while registering an 8.5% swinging-strike rate and 23.5% chase rate. Baldwin showed off his plus hit tool with an 81.5% contact rate while his Statcast profile s ..read more

Julio Rodriguez Julio had a down year in 2024, as he slashed only .273/.325/.409 compared to his line of .275/.333/.485 in 2023. He homered 32 times in 2023 and only 20 times in 2024, which is why the slugging percentage was cut by nearly 80 points. Luckily, there are plenty of reasons ot be optimistic about Julio in 2025, and the basis for that is that his underlying markers were barely changed between 2023 and 2024. His chase rate remained parked at 37% between both years and his whiff rate only increased 2.6%. We actually saw a career low in GB% at 44.6 and career high in FB% at 26.2. His x ..read more

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The Luck o' the Irish hasn't been with several teams and players so far in Spring Training as a rash of injuries has hit them. The first game that counts will be tomorrow when the Dodgers and Cubs face off in Tokyo. SS Mookie Betts may not be playing in the two games of the Tokyo Series. He has been suffering an illness that has forced him to miss the exhibition games that the Dodgers have been playing against Japanese teams. He is going to have a workout today to see if he will be up to playing tomorrow. Manager Dave Roberts is going to be conservative with Betts so d ..read more

Nolan Schanuel If you play in a super deep league and find yourself desperate at the Corner Infield spot, consider Schanuel. He had a sneaky good 2024, displaying some of the best discipline and contact skills in all of baseball. His .343 OBP is driven by a 11.2% walk rate, thanks to only whiffing at 14% of the time (96th Percentile) and only chasing 21.5% of the time (91st Percentile). Even though he has 24th Percentile sprint speed, he stole 10 bags last year, and I'd actually project for more as he reportedly has worked hard to get into better condition and may get on base at even better cl ..read more

Keibert Ruiz (C-WSH) has enjoyed a productive spring in which he's hit .269 with 3 homers and 8 RBI across 29 PA. He underwhelmed in 2024 on the heels of a 2023 in which he seemed to turn a corner with a .260 average, 18 homers, 67 RBI, and 55 run scored across 562 PA. As a 25 year-old in 2024, Ruiz batted just .229 with 13 dingers, 57 RBI, and 46 runs scored, with his wRC+ dipping to just 71 after it came in at 94 in 2023. This regression happened as Ruiz raised his contact rate to 88.5% (from 87%) while his zone contact rate climbed to 94% (from 93%) and his swinging-strike rate dipped from ..read more

Injury Updates Bobby Witt Jr, SS, Royals Bobby Witt was recently hit in the forearm with a pitch in Spring Training and left the game. After getting tested, it was determined it was nothing serious, just a bruise. This is a relief for any fantasy manager who has already drafted, as they likely had to use a top-three overall pick on him. He is coming off of a 32 home run, 31 stolen base season while hitting for a .332 average. He is a true five-category superstar, and everything about his underlying profile backs that up. His .557 xSLG ranked in the 98th percentile, and there are really no worr ..read more

Max Scherzer, TOR Scherzer is currently dealing with a sore right thumb and will not be making his scheduled start on Thursday.  The Blue Jays are hopeful that this is a short time issue and that the former ace will still be fine for the start of the season.  2024 was a difficult campaign for the 40-year-old, as he only made starts for the Rangers and posted a 22.6% K% that is well below his normal level.  It's fair to question if the veteran has anything left in the tank, but he has been phenomenal so far this spring, allowing 2 ER's in 9 IP with a 14:0 K:BB.  His ADP is c ..read more

Hi Folks The 2025 Advanced Scoring Weights Hi Folks, If you play in a Rotisserie league, our Draft Advisory software is designed to give you the opportunity to favor the more predictable categories in your league.  Instead of each category having an even "1" weighting, it's an opportunity to play the percentages of predictability, allowing you to give different weights to each Roto category that are relevant to your league scoring. I'm sure many of you already know that categories such as Batting Average can fluctuate wildly on a yearly basis. So wouldn't it make sense to slightly underw ..read more

Roki Sasaki SP LAD Sasaki will make his MLB debut March 19 against the Cubs in the second game of the Tokyo Series, Kirsten Watson of Spectrum SportsNet LA reports. His splitter has caught the eye of hitters, though not their bats. Turns out he's got just 518 rpm on the splitter; the lowest rpm on a splitter of 2024 was 577 rpm. Slow is good when it comes to RPM on a splitter, but his 96.3 mph on his fastball is 2 MPH below his average last week. So be happy for slow but mindful of slower fastball. Draft early and often.  Lucas Giolito SP BOS Giolito (Hamstring) is scheduled to undergo an ..read more

Francisco Alvarez (C - Mets) The Mets announced Alvarez will miss 6-8 weeks after undergoing hamate surgery. This is a big blow for owners who have already drafted as Alvarez has slugged 36 home runs over the past 2 seasons and is seen as one of the better young hitting catchers in baseball. This does continue an injury trend for him tho as he played in just 110 games a year ago as he was hurt in early April. For teams that haven't drafted, the injury isn't the worst thing in the world and I would say Alvarez is a good draft target a little later in the draft than normal. I love stashing injur ..read more