This article is part of our Baseball Draft Kit series.
The online Baseball Analytics Course includes access to cutting edge revolutionary software and data. Sports Jobs This Course Will Prepare You For The prevalence of technology is shifting the dynamics of baseball scouting, especially during the pandemic. This article appears in the 2021 RotoWire Fantasy Baseball Guide. You can order a copy here. I've been doing this feature for the RotoWire Fantasy Baseball Magazine for a decade, and this is the hardest one ever. We had the short, and awkward, 2020 season, one in which teams faced a limited subset. Software verifies the player’s identity and then permits a deposit to be made. The minimum age in most countries is 18. Some countries, especially where sports betting is not regulated, require no such verification process. The draft software uses an advanced AI that takes into account both value-based rankings and ADP. There is also a certain degree of randomization programmed in so your mock draft results are a bit different every time. Tip: Before beginning a mock draft, go to Drafts Duplicate a draft.
This article appears in the 2021 RotoWire Fantasy Baseball Guide. You can order a copy here.
I've been doing this feature for the RotoWire Fantasy Baseball Magazine for a decade, and this is the hardest one ever. We had the short, and awkward, 2020 season, one in which teams faced a limited subset of opponents and played in a limited subset of parks. The lack of a real exhibition season was reflected in lower offensive levels, including the lowest batting average, .245, since 1972, and once again, the highest strikeout rate ever – even though pitchers didn't bat for the first time ever.
There's no historical comp here. The shortest seasons in modern baseball, the strike-shortened 1981 and 1994 campaigns, saw teams average 107 and 114 games, respectively. Both were also accompanied by full minor-league seasons; last year, there was no affiliated minor-league baseball. It's hard to pick Wander Franco or pan Mackenzie Gore when they played nothing more than intrasquad games at the alternate sites.
The pandemic has exacerbated modern offseason trends as well. As I write this, the NFL playoffs are underway, and still more than half the teams in MLB have done nothing to improve themselves for 2021. The only top 10 free agents to sign were two pitchers who took the qualifying offer. Just one deal of more than two years has been signed. With so many free agents available, and so many teams agnostic as to their short-term fortunes, projecting playing time is a