The best and worst rotisserie categories
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Baseball adopted advanced stats long before any other sport. It's time you and your fantasy league did as well. While the terms "analytics" and "sabermetrics" may irk some, these stats provide a better understanding of a player's production and can make fantasy baseball much more holistic and enjoyable.
Below are a few categories that you should consider adding to and subtracting from your current league. The aim here is to use stats that will allow the truly superior managers and teams to rise to the top, while limiting the degree to which luck or situational factors come into play.
The Best
OPS or OBP: Using OPS or OBP is a strong way to move off volume-based stats, which can be impacted by injuries or the sheer number of games per week. More importantly, these on-base metrics reward the value of a walk unlike the classic batting average. Going with OPS also pays a fair reward for players who knock extra-base hits with regularity.
Net Steals: Steals is a standard fantasy stat, but a player's total steals doesn't truly represent proficiency on the basepaths. Swapping steals for net steals adds the element of punishment for players who get thrown out and offers a better representation of your team's actual running ability. Why shouldn't you be punishing players for their mistakes?
Saves + Holds: Considering the prominence of relievers in today's game, they deserve some recognition in fantasy. By adding Holds, middle relievers become real fantasy players and force owners to reconsider their draft strategy and roster construction. It also expands the player pool and forces owners to add another layer of baseball knowledge to their repertoire.
K/9: Similar to OPS and OBP, K/9 limits the impact of volume-based stats. This can in turn reduce the streaming strategy that can uproot a pitcher's fantasy value as managers add and drop starters in hopes of attaining a lofty weekly K total. K/9 again expands the player pool as it adds value to relievers and setup men that consistently supply one of baseball's three true outcomes.
Quality Starts: In situations where a pitcher doesn't rack up the Ks or wins, quality starts reward him for what could have still been a strong overall performance. They also minimize team factors that have long been a thorn in pitcher-specific statistics. Just because a pitcher doesn't have nasty stuff doesn't mean they fail to provide significant contributions each time out.
The Worst
Wins: At what point will everyone accept that wins is a horrid stat? Wins are often determined by the performance of the pitcher's team and have so many caveats in terms of middle relievers stealing decisions that this stat should have been abandoned long ago. It's in no way indicative of a pitcher's performance, simple as that.
Batting Average: Giving up on average will fly in the face of almost every fantasy baseball league. Sticking with a player's batting average fails to reward players like Jose Bautista, who gets on base with the proficiency of a DJ LeMahieu. Instead of average, look to OBP and OPS, categories that better level the playing field.
WAR: Firstly, there is no official way to calculate WAR. Different formats come out with different numbers; just ask SP Robbie Ray, who had three different WARs last season. Secondly, if you're looking to work new stats into your league, you should be focusing on metrics that participants can calculate, project, and follow on their own. Baby steps, folks.
Total Bases: The fact that total bases only rewards bases generated via hits doesn't really reflect the true total bases a player accumulates. Neglecting walks and steals is a major flaw in properly representing how many bases a player totals. The stat also puts an even greater emphasis on home runs, as a homer is worth at least one RBI, one run, one HR, and four total bases.