Hitting for the Cycle #21
A Sunday Review - June 12, 2022
This is the Pull Hitter centric Hitting for the Cycle edition. No paid advertisement here. Just sharing probably one of the best fantasy baseball podcasts out there. No doubt that Rob DiPietro and his Pull Hitter podcast has been the greatest multiplier of increasing my knowledge in playing this game. It’s made playing the game more fun as well as me becoming more competitive. I’ve incorporated so much. Grateful for Rob’s curiosity and the insight he shares along with the knowledge from his podcast guests.
📖 What I’m Reading:
What percentage of time do you spend on who you will drop during your FAAB'ing?
Technically, a Twitter poll that Rob put out to the fantasy baseball community, but the comments on the poll results turned into a fantastic thread. Many of the top fantasy baseball players commented on their process in approaching weekly FAAB, and how they spend time evaluating their teams. Many set their lineups for the following week first, followed by evaluating league standings/team category needs, determine who to drop, and then start looking towards the waiver wire on who to add. Sometimes you have to work backwards to move forward. I encourage you to go down the rabbit hole of the comments as there are many gems of advice and ideas you can take to incorporate into your process. Thanks to Rob for asking this question to start a great discussion. "Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.” - E.E. Cummings
🎧 What I’m Hearing:
Pull Hitter Podcast - Hosted by Rob DiPietro
“Enthusiasms, enthusiasms, enthusiasms.” Many of the Pull Hitter podcasts are evergreen content that I have saved from the past couple of years where Rob has interviewed many fantasy players from all league types (e.g., high-stakes, dynasty, auction, redraft, points, etc.) Here are links to a couple of my all time favorites: Episode 45 and Episode 48. Both are from over a year ago and are classics. In terms of more recent pods and current season insight, I would definitely check out the weekly podcasts “Friday-Sunday Lineup Tool” episodes as well as the “Main Event FAAB Review”. Though focused mostly on NFBC leagues, you will always find helpful suggestions on player evaluations, and better gameplay processes.
📊 Metric of the Week:
Meatball %
The percentage of time a pitcher throws a pitch in the middle of the plate regardless of movement or velocity. These are the types of pitches that most likely turn into home runs as there is some correlation between this and a pitcher’s home run rate. We all might agree it is a bad pitch depending on where or more accurately how far it lands outside the park. Here is a list of the top pitching servers of meatballs this year via Baseball Savant.
💬 Quote of the Week:
“Don’t be a bag of shit.”
- Rob DiPietro