Fantasy Baseball Player Notes

2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Notes

Position

Team

Kenta Maeda Note
	16. Kenta Maeda SP Fantasy managers rejoiced when Maeda was traded from the Dodgers to the Twins, but he surpassed even the loftiest of expectations. In the short season, Maeda went 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA, a 0.73 WHIP, and a 32.3% strikeout rate. In addition to simply being let loose with his innings, Maeda made a tangible change to his pitch mix, throwing far fewer fastball and more sliders and changeups (though his fastball was as effective as it had ever been last year, too). Maeda surely won't be able to repeat his numbers from 2020, as he allowed just a .208 BABIP, had an 80.2% LOB rate, and benefited from being able to feast on solely the NL and AL Central lineups. But even with some regression, he should still be a rock solid SP2, and should be drafted as such. 13 weeks ago

Jose Berrios Note
	25. Jose Berrios SP Berrios may not ever become the dominant pitcher many projected him to be, but he offers a strong floor for fantasy managers. Ignoring his 2016 cup of coffee, Berrios has pitched to a 3.89 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP, and a strikeout per inning in his career. And although his walk rate went up a tad and he gave up a bit harder contact in 2020's shortened season, his numbers didn't vary from his usual output significantly. Bank on around a 4.00 ERA, a WHIP somewhere around 1.25, and plenty of strikeouts. In today's fantasy game, that's more than adequate for a strong fantasy staff. 13 weeks ago

Alex Colome Note
	74. Alex Colome RP Colome has been a quality major league reliever for year, but last year, managed to drop his ERA down to a silly 0.81 and his WHIP below 1.00 for the first time in his career. His success was largely on the back of increased movement on his cutter (which induced a ton of weak contact, but which was also less of a strikeout pitch, leading to a drop in strikeouts), as well as Yasmani Grandal's pitch-framing skills. He'll now move to Minnesota where he'll likely form some sort of committee with Taylor Rogers. He's worth drafting, but only very late, and with the expectation that he won't pile on a ton of saves. 13 weeks ago

Taylor Rogers Note
	79. Taylor Rogers RP Rogers has been the reliever to roster in Minnesota for the past two seasons, but he's totaled just 39 saves over that span. Even with the shortened 2020 season, that's just not the total you want to see from a reliever if you're relying on him as an RP1, especially when the Twins as a team have totaled 92 saves over the last two years. Rogers's lack of saves is all about Rocco Baldelli's philosophy, rather than Rogers's lack of effectiveness (he's totaled a 2.80 ERA, a 1.04 WHIP, and a 10.8 K/9 over the last three years). Unfortunately, Baldelli is unlikely to abandon his committee approach with the additions of Alex Colome and Hansel Robles. Rogers is still a fine RP2, but certainly don't expect him to get every save chance in Minnesota. 13 weeks ago

Michael Pineda Note
	84. Michael Pineda SP

J.A. Happ Note
	140. J.A. Happ SP

Randy Dobnak Note
	176. Randy Dobnak SP

Tyler Duffey Note
	181. Tyler Duffey RP

Matt Shoemaker Note
	203. Matt Shoemaker SP

Cody Stashak Note
	252. Cody Stashak RP

Jorge Alcala Note
	292. Jorge Alcala RP

Caleb Thielbar Note
	347. Caleb Thielbar RP

Hansel Robles Note
	364. Hansel Robles RP

Jordan Balazovic Note
	389. Jordan Balazovic SP

Devin Smeltzer Note
	411. Devin Smeltzer RP

Lewis Thorpe Note
	461. Lewis Thorpe RP

Jhoan Duran Note
	488. Jhoan Duran

Luke Farrell Note
	728. Luke Farrell RP

Cory Gearrin Note
	737. Cory Gearrin RP

Derek Law Note
	751. Derek Law RP

Edwar Colina Note
	760. Edwar Colina RP

Ian Hamilton Note
	776. Ian Hamilton RP

Ian Gibaut Note
	819. Ian Gibaut RP

Robinson Leyer Note
	821. Robinson Leyer RP

Juan Minaya Note
	825. Juan Minaya RP

Kyle Barraclough Note
	843. Kyle Barraclough RP

Beau Burrows Note
	864. Beau Burrows RP

Danny Coulombe Note
	906. Danny Coulombe RP