Crooked Pitch

• Chone Figgins batted .244 in April, .333 in May, and is now hitting .393 so far in June.
• In his last 8 games, Mark Reynolds is 12 for 30 with 5 doubles, 5 homers, and 11 RBI.
• After a fiery start, Johnny Damon only has 12 hits for the entire month of June, and is batting a measly .231 during that month.
• Since April 19th, Kyle Farnsworth has only given up 1 earned run in 18.2 innnings to go along with 19 strikeouts.
• Scott Rolen is batting a monsterous .415 in June, with a .325 mark for the season so far. He is only owned in 35% of ESPN fantasy leagues.
• In his last 13 games, Juan Pierre is 11 for 55 with only 3 walks.
• In his last 4 starts, Gil Meche has only given up 3 earned runs in 29 innings. During this time, he has only given up 19 hits while striking out 26.
• B.J. Upton is 7 for his last 21, and is hitting .281 so far in June after a terrible start to the season.
• Johan Santana has been anything but impressive so far in June. He is 1-2 with a 9.56 ERA, and has surrendered 24 hits and 4 walks in only 16 innings pitched.

(more…)

One of the finest arts of all fantasy sports, and one of the key ingredients to fantasy victory is the concept of buying low and selling high. It is the classic guessing game of fantasy sports, and those who do it well tend to see impressive results in the fantasy world.

How can one tell though?

How can we know that someone who is batting .340 in May will go on to bat .260 in June? Who can guess when a player homers twice in May, that the same player will homer 14 times in June? And who has the crystal ball that shows which pitcher will win 5 games one month, yet only win one game the following? The answer is…NOBODY!!!!!!!!!! You can raise your chances of being good at this classic guessing game by looking at certain statistics and trends, but a good hunch or gut-feeling can go a long way.

At one third of the way through the 2009 season, let’s examine a few possible sell high candidates.

(more…)

I received an e-mail from Gary asking about tips for exposure and linking to his new fantasy baseball blog. I told him I was happy to let him show off his chops right here at Crooked Pitch. He did just that, and with a topic that is near and dear to my heart. When you’re done reading this, check out his blog at Gary’s Fantasy Baseball Info.

As we all very well know, relief pitching is a vital aspect of any winning fantasy baseball squad.  Closers are often scarce, and with the exception of a few key players, not always very reliable.  However, there is a solution to this ongoing problem, and that solution is MIDDLE RELIEF!

In this article, I will review some middle relievers who are achieving higher point totals than their closing counterparts, as well as some closers who have not been pulling their proverbial weight.  The middle relievers I will discuss have been putting up well above average numbers so far, yet they are not owned in the majority of fantasy leagues.  Before analyzing why these players would be valuable on any fantasy team, we must first discuss why they are still available in the first place.

I have noticed that many fantasy players tackle the subject of relief pitching with the idea that they should get as many saves as possible, while having the least amount of blown saves.  Why this is obviously true, there is a lot more going on than that when it comes to relief pitching.  What many players fail to notice is that a top notch middle reliever who throws a lot of innings, with a good K/BB ratio, is very capable of putting up just as many points as a mid-level closer.  Some may scoff at the concept of a “top notch middle reliever,” however, in an age when starting pitchers depart after 5 innings; this is a concept that surely exists. 

(more…)