We know that 2020 was a tough year for many managers to dedicate any attention to baseball. On top of the major global storylines, MLB and MLBPA were at odds for months, really souring the fans’ excitement for the season. A shortened season appealed to few and many opted to skip the year. Even those who played might’ve lost interest really soon and fell off.
In an effort to catch you up on the biggest storylines you might’ve missed, below are what you need to know heading into 2021. Feel free to drop more in the comments!
Devin Williams is an elite reliever
How You Remember Him From 2019: A reliever who just debuted as a 24 year old with solid numbers and little fanfare.
Who He Is Now: Fast forward to the end of 2020 and he was the most dominant reliever in the game (44 K-BB%, 61 GB%, 0.33 ERA, 0.86 FIP) earning himself NL Rookie of the Year. What was the biggest change? The development of this reverse slider, dubbed the airbender by Pitching Ninja. For fantasy he’s going in the 10th round of a 15-team league. Is he going to close? Not while Josh Hader is still around but the ratios should continue to be elite and a boon for roto managers. One thing to note: he suffered a shoulder injury that kept him out of the playoffs but word is he’s OK for spring training.
Dylan Moore (who?) breaks out
How You Remember Him From 2019: A utility player with below average offense used to give rest days to regulars
Who He Is Now: A legitimate power/speed threat who traded in grounders for line drives and began sailing pitches over the wall as his EV and barrel% crept up. Supposedly battling for the 2B job with Shed Long but he’s clearly the superior player. Excellent positional flexibility for your fantasy team and has a shot to be a 20/20 player, but downside still exists because a full season’s PA is not a lock.
Shane Bieber is a first rounder
How You Remember Him From 2019: A workhorse starter with strong strikeouts, elite control and an anchor to the middle of your fantasy rotation.
Who He Is Now: Now he’s the ace of your fantasy rotation. The addition of a cutter gave him a fifth pitch to give hitters a different look and turn over a lineup more often. But it’s his knuckle curve (26 SwStr%) that’s still his bread and butter. Not much to say other than it’s one of the few safe ace profiles out there and his first-round price tag is warranted. Yeah, he faced the hapless Central teams over and over in 2020, but the skills remain elite.
Saves are in the worst spot they’ve ever been
How You Remember Them From 2019: Saves, much like wins and quality starts, began feeling like an antiquated fantasy stat, especially in deeper leagues. Teams were very conscious of platoons and high leverage situations that preceded the 9th inning.
What They Are Now: It’s still “bad”. In 2020, 114 different pitchers recorded a save. That’s up from 97 the same timespan in 2019. Thirty-one recorded at least five saves. At the time of this publishing there are several teams entertaining committees and rare is it the situation when there’s a bonafide closer. You can tackle this two ways in 2021: accede and draft one high end closer with a surefire role and then pick and choose some names that *should* be closers. Or punt it and count on riding the carousel all season long with some shrewd FAAB/pick ups.
Mike Yastrzemski is the Giants’ best player
How You Remember Him From 2019: Best known as Carl Yasztremski’s grandson, Mike gets DFAed by the Orioles and traded to the Giants for cash considerations prior to 2019 Opening Day. Showed enough raw power to take advantage of heavy fly ball profile and posted a 120 wRC+ in his 411 PAs.
Who He Is Now: As a 29 year old rookie, Yasztrzemski got challenged in the zone a lot by opposing pitchers. 21 homers later, pitchers adapted their game plan to hit the shadow of the zone more, knowing that anything less than precise could end up in the left field bleachers. However, Baby Yaz’s counter to that game plan was to just look for those same pitches he was crushing in 2019, and not expand his zone outside of that spot. His 59.5% take rate on pitches in the shadow of the strike zone was 10th amongst players who saw 300 or more “shadow pitches”, and was a large part of a .297/.400/.568 slash line that led to a 159 wRC+ and an eighth place NL MVP finish. Yastremski isn’t going to be that guy going forward; he’s a heavy fly ball guy that hits his share of pop-ups, and the raw power is average. Still, he barrels up around 11% of batted balls, and flashed elite plate discipline in 2020. A .260 bAVG, 20+ HRs, and 85+ runs scored seems like a reasonable expectation in fantasy, and Yaz gets a substantial boost in OBP leagues (set the O/U on SB at 5). In real life, he’s an above average bat that can play all three OF positions, and comes with five years of team control. Mike Yasztremski should be the Giants’ best position player in 2021, which isn’t an indictment on San Francisco; it’s warranted praise for this late bloomer.
Jared Walsh is the future 1B of LAA
How You Remember Him From 2019: Someone who torched Triple-A in 2019 thanks to the juiced ball but fell completely flat in his 34-game MLB debut
Who He Is Now: The starting 1B of the Angels after a .971 OPS in the shortened 2020 season. He only played in the second half of the season but he showed a significantly better contact profile inside the zone and began hitting the ball to all fields rather than selling out to the pull side. He’s a cheap 25+ HR bat and another guy the projections might be underselling in the slashline department if the plate gains are legit.
Jake Cronenworth is no longer an afterthought
How You Remember Him From 2019: A Triple-A prospect in the Rays org who had turned in a strong 2019. Later traded to San Diego in the Tommy Pham trade.
Who He Is Now: A bonafide bat with above-average skills across the spectrum. He’s a statcast darling and projection systems are light on the power. Expect something like 18 HR/10 SB with a bump in OBP leagues. The caution here is that the team’s signing of international free agent Ha-seong Kim no longer entrenches Cronenworth at second. Garnering 600 PA may be hard to accomplish.
Randy Arozarena turned in a historic playoff performance
How You Remember Him From 2019: An above-average prospect who played great in a juiced Triple-A environment and debuted as a pinch hitter and defensive replacement.
Who He Is Now: A god amongst men after hitting 10 HR in 20 games (all-time record for HR and total bases...yeah yeah, more playoff games than ever before, still damn good) en route to a trip to the World Series. With an NFBC ADP of 57 -- fourth rounder in a 15-team league -- you’re going to need to pay up if you want him. Given the dearth of power/speed players, it’s a price I’d pay, though I’m weary of spending for breakouts.
Trent Grisham broke out
How You Remember Him From 2019: After torching Double-A and Triple-A he debuted with the Brewers and was league average. Finished the year with an unfortunate key error in 2019’s Wild Card Game vs. Washington.
Who He Is Now: The error is way behind him after a great 2020 where he was just one of six players with a 10 HR/10 SB season. Legitimate 20/20 potential as the Padres led MLB in steals last year. Lineup position unknown yet but big bump in OBP leagues and a coveted dynasty asset thanks to a mix of age, great athleticism, lineup and all-around skills.
Injury recaps (Luis Severino, Chris Sale, Noah Syndergaard)
How You Remember Them From 2019: “Healthy”
Who They Are Now: A trio of dudes who are likely to return mid-summer from Tommy John and bolster a rotation. Of the bunch, I expect Thor to get pushed the hardest and even then it’s relative to the other two. In redraft leagues you wouldn’t be blamed for skipping them (especially Sale who’s going about 80 picks higher than the other two) as they might be good for 15 starts at most, a third of which will be of the abbreviated variety.