Ranking Players by Fantasy Baseball Category Dominance

Everyone has always been fascinated by how a player’s age may affect performance during a fantasy baseball season, so I have updated my database to show each player’s age as of February 1, 2009. Most experts seem to think that players who are between 26 to 28 years old are the most likely to have their initial breakout season, and usually good players can maintain their fantasy baseball performance level through the age of 32. Of course there are always exceptions to these general observations of a player’s age and how it affects fantasy baseball performance, so this year I’ll provide the information and you can make your own decisions during your fantasy baseball drafts.

My newest innovation for improving a RotoRank subscriber’s ability to build a great team during their fantasy baseball drafts, I have developed a new ranking system that identifies players who rank in the Top 50 in each of the ten most common rotisserie fantasy baseball scoring categories.

SHARB is the rating that the RotoRank system will use to identify the ultimate fantasy baseball hitter. A player that can produce top 50 statistics in each of the hitting categories within you league can help you build the foundation you need to take advantage of your fantasy baseball draft guide.

S = Top 50 in Stolen Bases

H = Top 50 in Home Runs

A = Top 50 in Batting Average

R = Top 50 in Runs Scored

B = Top 50 in Runs Batted In

SKEWP is the rating that the RotoRank system will use to identify the ultimate fantasy baseball pitcher. A player that can produce top 50 statistics in each of the pitching categories can allow you adjust your fantasy baseball draft strategy in response to your competitor’s strategies.

S = Top 50 in Saves

K = Top 50 in Strikeouts

E = Top 50 in Earned Run Average

W = Top 50 in Wins

P = Top 50 in WHIP

It will be extremely rare to find players that score in the top 50 in all of their possible scoring categories. Hitters have the disadvantage of competing against a large number of players who specialize in certain categories. For example, leadoff hitters will usually perform well in Batting Average, Runs and possibly Stolen Bases; however, Home Runs and RBI are not likely to be strong categories for them. Pitchers are designed to only score in four of their five rotisserie categories, so every pitcher will likely be out of the top 50 in either Wins or Saves.

The following list of 55 players reveals the fantasy baseball players that are likely to post top 50 statistics in three or more of the SHARB or SKEWP rankings.

Roto	Common	Category	ID	Pos	Name	Team	Age
6	10	S+H+A+R+B	14833	1B	Berkman, Lance	HOU	32
1	1	S+H+A+R	16180	SS	Ramirez, Hanley	FLA	25
2	2	H+A+R+B	15928	3B	Wright, David	NYM	26
4	5	H+A+R+B	15374	1B	Pujols, Albert	STL	29
5	4	H+A+R+B	13966	3B	Rodriguez, Alex	NYY	33
7	12	S+H+R+B	14621	OF	Beltran, Carlos	NYM	31
8	9	S+H+A+R	15899	OF	Holliday, Matt	OAK	29
10	6	S+H+R+B	15894	OF	Sizemore, Grady	CLE	26
12	11	K+E+W+P	15186	SP	Santana, Johan	NYM	29
13	8	H+A+R+B	15741	OF	Hamilton, Josh	TEX	27
14	19	H+A+R+B	13822	OF	Ramirez, Manny	LA	36
19	22	S+H+R+B	15000	OF	Soriano, Alfonso	CHC	31
22	37	S+A+R+B	14236	OF	Abreu, Bobby	NYY	34
31	59	K+E+W+P	15823	SP	Harden, Rich	CHC	27
40	32	H+A+R+B	15888	3B	Youkilis, Kevin	BOS	29
41	41	K+E+W+P	14685	SP	Halladay, Roy	TOR	31
3	3	S+A+R	15702	SS	Reyes, Jose B	NYM	25
9	7	H+R+B	16150	1B	Howard, Ryan	PHI	29
11	18	K+E+W	17002	SP	Lincecum, Tim	SF	24
15	13	H+R+B	16621	OF	Braun, Ryan J.	MIL	25
16	23	H+R+B	15719	2B	Utley, Chase	PHI	30
20	14	H+R+B	15753	1B	Teixeira, Mark	NYY	28
21	17	S+A+R	16468	2B	Kinsler, Ian	TEX	26
24	28	S+A+R	15384	2B	Roberts, Brian	BAL	31
25	25	H+R+B	15959	1B	Gonzalez, Adrian	SD	26
26	26	H+R+B	15721	OF	Bay, Jason	BOS	29
27	49	H+R+B	14288	OF	Dye, Jermaine	CWS	35
34	38	K+W+P	16643	SP	Hamels, Cole	PHI	25
35	29	H+R+B	14768	3B	Ramirez, Aramis	CHC	30
37	40	K+W+P	15838	SP	Haren, Dan	ARI	28
42	27	A+R+B	15695	1B	Morneau, Justin	MIN	27
43	46	S+A+R	15089	SS	Furcal, Rafael	LA	30
45	56	H+R+B	16463	2B	Uggla, Dan	FLA	28
47	43	H+A+B	14307	OF	Guerrero, Vladimir	ANA	32
49	35	S+A+R	15408	OF	Suzuki, Ichiro	SEA	35
50	48	S+H+B	16236	OF	Hart, Corey	MIL	26
57	47	K+E+W	15562	SP	Peavy, Jake	SD	27
58	72	H+R+B	13713	1B	Delgado, Carlos	NYM	36
63	39	H+A+B	14918	OF	Lee, Carlos	HOU	32
67	70	S+E+P	14173	CL	Rivera, Mariano	NYY	39
74	75	K+E+W	17007	SP	Matsuzaka , Daisuke	BOS	28
76	73	H+A+B	15104	3B	Huff, Aubrey	BAL	32
77	67	K+E+W	15534	SP	Lee, Cliff	CLE	30
78	103	K+W+P	15396	SP	Sheets, Ben	MIL	30
87	85	K+W+P	16665	SP	Shields, James	TB	27
90	117	H+R+B	13492	UH	Thome, Jim	CWS	38
99	69	S+E+P	16328	CL	Papelbon, Jonathan	BOS	28
121	91	S+E+P	17152	CL	Soria, Joakim	KC	24
132	86	S+E+P	14952	CL	Nathan, Joe	MIN	34
165	133	S+E+P	15296	CL	Fuentes, Brian	ANA	33
168	150	S+E+P	17100	CL	Marmol, Carlos	CHC	26
189	255	S+E+P	15604	MR	Soriano, Rafael	ATL	29
228	158	S+E+P	15870	CL	Jenks, Bobby	CWS	27
299	253	S+E+P	16009	CL	Qualls, Chad	ARI	30

As you can see from the above list, some of the players who score well in three category rankings do not necessarily have high fantasy baseball rotisserie rankings. With this additional information, RotoRank subscribers can select these category specialists later in their fantasy baseball draft to gain an advantage over other owners.

Another good use of the SHARB and SKEWP category rankings is that you can identify players who get a majority of their value from one category. For example, if you have a player ranked in the top 150, and they excel in the Stolen Bases or Saves, you can conclude that their value is based in performing really well in one specific category.

I am going to make every effort to include these new categories into all of my existing RotoRank Reports, but at the very least, my subscribers will be able to download an Excel Spreadsheet that contains this data.

Fantasy Baseball Updates