Rates & Barrels: A show about Baseball

DVR and Al look at some actionable news items from opening day, including IL stints for Justin Verlander, Max Fried and Ryan Pepiot, and they consider players worth pursuing on the waiver wire, such as Elehuris Montero, Clarke Schmidt and Hunter Gaddis. Rundown 0:34 A new approach to the waivers show 1:40 Opening day lineup Implications 31:37 Injury news impacting waiver options 35:42 Other pitchi...

DVR returns to join Eno and discuss their takeaways from the 2023 draft season including teams' varying processes for promotion prospects on Opening Day, a few of their most heavily-rostered players, and a few things they need to go right to have a successful season. Rundown 3:45 Taking a Moment to Look Back at Draft Season 8:34 Was DVR's Heavy Targeting of Fringe Top-100 SPs Too Risky? 15:28 Lean...

Welsh and Eno are discussing Grayson's option to the minors and discussing prospects with stand out stats from spring training. Rundown Follow Eno on Twitter: @enosarris Follow Welsh on Twitter: @isitthewelsh e-mail: ratesandbarrels@theathletic.com Subscribe to The Athletic at $2/month for the first year: theathletic.com/ratesandbarrels Subscribe to the Rates & Barrels YouTube channel: https:/...

Eno dropped his top-10 bold predictions for the season on the Athletic this weekend. Welsh is picking to find which makes Eno nervous, plus a breakdown of Eno's main event draft. Rundown 3:10 - Which prediction made Eno nervous 8:00- Bold Ryan McMahon call 10:38 - Votto story and the Reds pitching staff 16:03 - Welsh wonders about pitch shape manipulation 26:23 - Prospects make the bigs 32:21 - We...

Eno and Al look at the Phillies’ roster in the aftermath of Rhys Hoskins’ season-ending injury and consider first base replacements in fantasy. They also discuss FAB options for both 12- and 15-team leagues. Rundown 1:20 Replacing Rhys Hoskins 7:47 Spend early in FAB or save up? 13:06 12-team FAB hitting targets 26:36 12-team FAB pitching targets 32:32 15-team FAB hitting targets 42:00 15-team FAB...

Eno and Al look at the players who have moved up and down the farthest in NFBC ADP over the last week, and they also discuss the fantasy fallout from the injuries to Adam Wainwright and Raisel Iglesias. Rundown 1:24 Who takes Adam Wainwright’s spot in the Cardinals’ rotation? 7:44 Who gets saves for Atlanta with Raisel Iglesias out? 10:36 Top ADP risers overall 27:34 Top ADP hitting risers 41:29 T...

Eno and Welsh react to Roki Sasaki's electric stuff in the WBC. Project Prospect continues as the guys look at players that were optioned, but could still be up soon, as well surprising names still in camp. Rundown 3:20 - Roki Sasaki reactions 14:35 - Brandon Pfaadt 23:10 - Christian Encarnacion-Strand 27:12 - Addison Barger 33:37 - Kyle Manzardo 38:52 - Gavin Stone 41:52 - Bryce Miller 47:09 - Be...

So much news one little weekend can pack in. Eno and Welsh discuss Altuve's injury, should we be worried about Soto's oblique and Eno digs into some of the biggest Stuff+ numbers from the WBC. Rundown 4:19 - Jose Altuve's injury and how to draft him 22:34 - Juan Soto's oblique 29:45 - Jacob DeGrom's first spring start 32:55 - Brandon Nimmo 34:43 - Jurickson Profar to the Rockies 39:34 - Weird Vaug...

Eno and Al discuss the latest news items, including some positive developments for Kyle Wright and Byron Buxton, and they look at several position battles that are still looming with opening day less than two weeks away. Eno also identifies several pitchers who are Stuff+ laggards. Rundown 1:08 News updates: Edwin Díaz, Kyle Wright, Byron Buxton, Mitch Haniger, David Villar, Eric Haase, Jackson Jo...

Eno and Al talk about the latest injury updates, including Edwin Díaz’s knee injury, Tony Gonsolin’s return from a sprained ankle and Harrison Bader’s strained oblique. They also consider whether certain spring training stats have meaning, such as Michael Toglia’s playing time and Oscar Colás’ lack of strikeouts. Rundown 1:16 The media reaction to Edwin Díaz’s knee injury 6:05 Implications of Díaz...

Welsh watched Jacob DeGrom pitch his first live game on the Rangers backfield Tuesday, so Welsh and Eno breakdown the videos. We've also got 10 prospects to watch for re-draft leagues that don't currently have a set job. Rundown 5:10 - Welsh's live look and video of Jacob DeGrom's first game against live hitters 12:21 - Where and how to draft DeGrom 27:05 - Jasson Dominguez 35:10 - Mark Vientos 37...

Eno returns from his Florida trip with some wild tales for Welsh, as well as some great conversations and perspectives with players. Eno and Welsh also dig into some interesting March ADP trends from the NFBC. Rundown 6:18 - Eno talks with Clay Holmes, Pete Fairbanks and more 14:36 - Can a starter have one pitch to a righty or lefty and succeed? 19:56 - Is adding a pitch tangible enough to up some...

Eno is at the trop recording live on location. Welsh and Eno are talking about the latest spring training injuries and the new stuff+ release. **Warning: Welsh is a dummy, and had a mic issue that is less than we normally expect** Follow Eno on Twitter: @enosarris Follow Welsh on Twitter: @isitthewelsh e-mail: ratesandbarrels@theathletic.com Subscribe to The Athletic at $2/month for the first year...

Eno interviews Chris Langin, the Director of Pitching at Driveline Baseball. They discuss whether this season’s rule changes will impact pitchers’ preparations, and they also delve into the process behind the creation of unique pitch shapes. Eno and Al then discuss some fantasy-relevant perspectives to take away from the interview. Rundown 0:46 Eno introduces his interview with Chris Langin 2:21 C...

First Year Player Draft ranks can be tricky. How do you value the newest coming prospect class, and how do they relate to overall prospect lists? Chris Welsh and James Anderson talk about to tiers of FYPD ranks, what happened to the pitchers and some deep names to watch. Rundown 2:48 - Druw Jones and Jackson Holliday 3:49 - Welsh and Druw Jones Snippet 8:07 - James Wood 14:49 - Kodai Senga and Mas...

Fresh off of drafting his AL LABR team, Eno discusses his process and assesses his results, and he and Al talk about some of the more interesting winning bids. Rundown 1:33 What did Eno take away from his title-winning 2022 season in AL LABR? 5:53 Eno talks about his preferences for his endgame players 8:05 Eno discusses how he allocated his budget 12:35 Al asks Eno about some winning bids that su...

Greg Jewett joins Al to discuss his general approach to drafting relievers this season and to discuss likely opening day closers who could lose their jobs and relievers who could emerge from committees to become primary closers. Rundown 1:45 How is Greg approaching getting saves in his drafts this year? 7:25 ADP conundrums: Félix Bautista, Clay Holmes, Jason Adam 18:00 Closers who are potentially...

Eno and Al dig into the biggest news items from the early portion of spring training and assess the fantasy impacts. Rundown 1:47 News impacting pitchers (Tyler Glasnow, Joe Musgrove, Chris Sale) 12:33 Gavin Lux and Yordan Alvarez updates 22:05 A position battle on the Cardinals 25:43 Injury news in the NL Central: Seiya Suzuki and Tyrone Taylor 31:00 How will the Rockies replace Brendan Rodgers?...

Which rookies should you target in your 2023 drafts? Eno and Welsh breakdown all the pitchers, from the guys who have a locked down job to speculative adds. Rundown 4:13 - Grayson Rodriguez 13:01 - Hunter Brown 18:45 - Kodai Senga 26:29 - Cade Cavalli 34:00 - Andrew Painter 40:42 - Hayden Wesneski and Ken Waldichuk 44:41 - Brandon Pfaady, Ryne Nelson and Drey Jameson 51:00 - Ricky Tiedemann and ot...

Spring training is here and Eno and Welsh react to it all. How do the Padres pay everyone, who is on the outs? Pitch clock mania, stolen base numbers are up and lots of player reactions. Rundown 6:36 - Machado contract 15:20 - Pitch clock 25:24 - Spring training stolen base numbers 34:56 - Yordan Alvarez still not swinging a bat 38:51 - Suzuki oblique injury worries 40:55 - Masataka Yoshida NOT go...

Eno interviews Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar, and they talk about the work that Nootbaar has done at Driveline and how it helped him at the plate. Eno and Al also look at other hitters who share Nootbaar’s proclivity for pulling flyballs and discuss the degree to which they weigh news of changes in players’ offseason training regimens. Rundown 1:17 - Eno talks about Lars Nootbaar’s 2022 break...

Eno and Al talk about processes for finding deep pitching sleepers, and then they discuss several pitchers whom fantasy managers should tuck away as late-round targets, especially in deeper league. They consider three groups of pitchers who may be undervalued: contact managers, pitchers on lesser teams and rookies. Rundown 1:12 - Eno talks about the projection system he uses to identify sleepers 7...

Which rookies/prospects should you pay attention to for 2023 drafts? Eno and Welsh discuss players the have locked down jobs, some of the fringe to break camp and a dart throw or two if you're feeling lucky. Rundown 3:53 - Pitching + projections 15:16 - Corbin Carroll 24:52 - Gunnar Henderson 32:45 - Masataka Yoshida 37:12 - Triston Casas 40:46 - Triston Casas vs Josh Jung 43:53 - Ezequil Tovar an...

Eno and Al look at the potential impact of some of the new MLB rules on stolen base production. Eno also discusses the new rules and catcher preparation routines with former major league catcher and Mariners bullpen coach and quality control coach Stephen Vogt. Rundown 0:21 Some big Rates & Barrels news 3:20 Summary of the new rules that could impact stolen bases 6:53 How much will the rules r...

Eno and DVR examine the outfielders going outside the Top 200 overall in early fantasy baseball drafts.  Rundown 0:45 Riley Greene: Can We Learn Anything From Jarred Kelenic & Dylan Carlson? 7:14 Alex Verdugo: Steady Value as OF4 or OF5 8:42 Joey Meneses: More Intriguing Than Previously Acknowledged? 13:34 Digging Through Oakland's Outfield (Ramón Laureano, Seth Brown & Esteury Ruiz) 23:24...