Paul Sauberer is one of the original Fantistics Analysts. Paul is a diehard fantasy baseball fan with political aspirations. Paul's earliest baseball memories are of the expansion Senators in the 1960s and his father buying him an entire box of 1969 Topps baseball cards. The Senators are no longer and the cards are definitely no longer in mint condition, but Paul's love of baseball continues. He transferred allegiance to the Orioles after the Senators left town and enjoyed the glorious times of the Birds in the 1970s. During that time, he also discovered table top baseball games (before "Rotisserie" meant anything outside of something to do with food) and that has led to decades of crunching numbers and following major league performances. Paul reacquainted himself with the Senators, now the Texas Rangers, while going to college in Texas and remains a Rangers' fan today, even after living on Long Island for 14 years with his wife and two children. Paul knows his baseball!
If you are of a certain age, the title of this report likely prompted fanfare from the 1986 Europe song appearing in your mind. If it doesn't come to you, that's what the Internet is for. We are now a...
We're now less than three weeks away from Opening Day (less than two weeks away from the Seoul opener for the Dodgers and Padres.) Rosters are taking shape. Injuries are projecting into impact on the season. Time is getting shorter...
Result stats like BA, wOBA, and SLG will rarely correlate exactly to analytics measurements like xBA, xwOBA, and xSLG. When the difference is wide during a season, that can indicate that there will be a regression the following season. The...
Looking For Regression- Pitchers Edition Result stats like ERA will rarely correlate exactly to analytics measurements like xERA, FIP, and xFIP. When the difference is wide during a season, that can indicate that there will be a regression the following...
Adolis Garcia- OF- TEX- Stats- Garcia has exceeded his homer expectations by a good margin this year. He was projected to hit 29 homers and he is at 39. Garcia has a 92.2 EV and 50.0% HardHit%. His Barrel% has...
Aaron Judge- OF- NYY- Stats- Injuries have greatly impacted Judge in 2023. His slash line of .259/.394/.588 with 32 homers in 406 PAs are very good but not up to the standard he set in 2022 of .311/.425/.686 with 62...
Lars Nootbaar- OF- STL- Stats- Nootbaar went 0-for-1 yesterday but drew 3 walks. It gives him a BB% of 14.8% for the season. Nootbaar's slash line is .273/.388/.443 so his OBP and OPS are helpful in leagues that count those....
Jasson Dominguez- OF- NYY- Rookie- Dominguez lived up to the hype of his MLB arrival. In his first MLB PA he homered off Justin Verlander. He didn't get any other hits, but that first one was notable. Dominguez will likely...
Tyler Glasnow- P- TB- Hot- Despite throwing only 49 of 85 pitches for strikes, Glasnow got some solid results yesterday. He tossed 6 scoreless IP, allowing 1 hit and walking 2 while striking out 4 in 6 IP. Glasnow has...
Julio Rodriguez- OF- SEA- Great Player- Rodriguez has seen a massive amount of regression to the mean over the last week. After the Mariners' game on August 15 he was slashing .256/.319/.432 with a .318 BABIP. In the 5 games...
Brandon Woodruff- P- MIL- Hot- Woodruff had a successful return to the Milwaukee rotation. He last pitched in the majors on April 7 and then went down with a shoulder injury. Woodruff struck out the first 5 batters he faced,...
Nathaniel Lowe- 1B- TEX- Stats- Lowe went 1-for-2 with a homer and 2 walks. He is slashing .281/.370/.444 with 11 homers this season. In the 7 games since the All Star Game, Lowe has gone 11-for-24 with 2 homers, 9...
Giancarlo Stanton- OF- NYY- Cold- Stanton went 0-for-2 with a strikeout to drop his average below the Mendoza line to .199. He is only hitting .157 with 3 homers since coming back from the IL on June 2. In that...
Kyle Schwarber- OF- PHI- Stats- Schwarber hit a grand slam yesterday in his 2-for-5 day. He also walked and scored a total of 3 runs besides the 4 RBI he picked up from the slam. It was Schwarber's 22nd homer...
Sean Murphy- C- ATL- Hot- Murphy didn't need any time to adjust to being back in the starting lineup yesterday. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and RBI. Murphy had been relegated to bench availability for over a week due...
Blake Snell- P- SD- Hot- Snell dominated the Rays last night, throwing 6 shutout IP and giving up 2 hits, walking 3, and striking out 12. He has 7 quality starts in his 14 outings, but those he hasn't gotten...
Andrew McCutchen- OF- PIT- Stats- McCutchen went 1-for-3 with a walk yesterday. The hit was his 2000th for his career. In 2023 McCutchen is slashing .265/.381/.423 with 8 homers and 7 steals. His Statcast numbers are fairly close to those...
Alex Cobb- P- SF- Hot- Cobb bounced back in strong fashion from a poor start the last time out. Last night he threw 7.2 scoreless IP against the Orioles. Cobb threw 70 of 103 pitches for strikes and allowed 5...
Julio Rodriguez- OF- SEA- Hot- Rodriguez may finally be shaking off his sophomore slump. He went 2-for-5 with a homer, run, and RBI. Rodriguez extended his hitting streak to 7 games and has multiple hits in all but one of...
Lucas Giolito- P- CHW- Hot- Giolito's name has been coming up in trade rumors recently and he did nothing to reduce his value yesterday. Sure, it was against the Royals, but allowing 1 run on 6 hits and a walk...
Adolis Garcia- OF- TEX- Stats- Garcia went 1-for-4 with a walk, 2 runs, and a RBI in last night's game. He is slashing .244/.307/.479 with 8 homers and 33 RBI in 137 PAs. Garcia has improved his underlying metrics across...
Nathan Eovaldi- P- TEX- Hot- Eovaldi turned in that rare achievement, the complete game shutout, against the Yankees yesterday. He allowed 3 hits, walked none, and struck out 8. Eovaldi was still hitting 98 mph in the 8th inning. He...
Eloy Jimenez- OF- CHW- FYI- Jimenez went 1-for-4 in his return from the IL. Jimenez has been plagued by injury since his rookie 2019 season, when he finished 4th in Rookie of the Year voting. In 2022 he had 327...
Randy Arozarena- OF- TB- Stats- Last year, Arozarena started the season with an abnormal number of ground balls. After the first couple of weeks he had a GB% of 66.7% and a negative launch angle. However, his EV and HardHit%...
C. J. Cron- 1B- COL- Hot- Cron kept up his hot start, going 2-for-4 with his 3rd homer of the year. He also rapped a double and 5 of his 7 hits in 2023 have been for extra bases. In...
With less than a week to go before Opening Day, players are getting stretched out. Also, injuries are getting more focus as they may determine some roster spots. There are players who are seeing their seasons delayed and those who...
One of the fun parts of Spring Training is to watch some young players perform really well. It can help solidify the prospect status of some, bring some on the radar, and even force a player onto a major league...
We are heading into mid-March. Real WBC games have started. This means we are starting to get into a more serious part of Spring Training. More and more fantasy drafts are taking place and we are seeing where players are...
The first Spring Training games were played yesterday. The leader in hits is the 19-year-old top prospect for the Padres. It's a great time of the year. It's also time to get back to talking in what some think is...
Shane Bieber- P- CLE- FYI- Bieber had what could be considered a poor game for him last night. He didn't get a quality start because he allowed 4 runs in his 6 IP. Bieber gave up 6 hits, walked none,...
Mitch Keller- P - PIT- Hot- After throwing 7 shutout IP against the Cardinals Keller now has 3 consecutive quality starts. He has progressed in each outing and allowed just 2 hits and walked 3 while striking out 6 yesterday....
Noah Syndergaard- P- PHI- Idea- Thor had another less than godlike performance on the mound for the Phillies. He was charged with 4 runs (3 earned) in 4.1 IP against the Giants yesterday. Syndergaard allowed 7 hits and walked 1...
German Marquez- P- COL- Hot- Marquez came out on the winning side of a 1-0 contest that was a match up with Max Scherzer. Marquez allowed just a single hit and walked 2 while striking out 5 in 7 shoutout...
Aaron Ashby- P- MIL- Caution- In his last start, Ashby was touched for 6 runs in 5 IP against the Cubs. It marked the 3rd time in his last 4 starts that he has given up at least 4 runs...
Franmil Reyes- OF- CLE- FYI- The Guardians designated Reyes for assignment yesterday in order to clear a spot on their 40-man roster for RP Jake Jewell. Reyes slugged 30 homers a year ago and hit 9 in 280 PAs with...
Alek Manoah- P- TOR- Great Player- Manoah threw his 16th quality start in 19 outings this season and ran his record to 11-4. He allowed 1 run on 7 hits in 6 IP while striking out 7 and walking no...