Hey all,

Just wanted to let you all know that as of now, I am officially writing for RotoBaller.com. RotoBaller is one of the more well-known sites in the fantasy community, which means that my writing for them will be more fantasy-focused than my writing here. Don’t worry, I’ll still churn out content here too.

Here’s a preview of the article, which was first posted over at RotoBaller.com:

Rule 5 Prospects to Watch

Every year the MLB Rule 4 draft, more commonly known as the First-Year Player Draft, gets a lot of attention from casual baseball fans and fantasy baseball players alike. In terms of fantasy relevance, though, the Rule 5 draft, which occurs during baseball’s annual Winter Meetings, is far more impactful than the Rule 4 draft for redraft leagues.

Last year’s draft did not bring anyone to fantasy relevance, but that does not mean that we can’t find fantasy-relevant players coming out of this draft. After all, Luis Perdomo, Joe Biagini, Mark Canha (remember him?), Delino DeShields Jr., and Odubel Herrera were all Rule 5 draftees between 2014 and 2016. I think some of this year’s selections can make an impact this year, and others will likely be relevant at some point in the next few seasons.

Here are a few names for re-draft and keeper-league owners alike to watch in 2018 (in no particular order):

Anthony Gose, P/OF, Houston Astros

Yes, this is the Anthony Gose you’re thinking of. Gose, after an abysmal 2016 season in which he was demoted from the bigs to Double-A, decided that he would try his hand at pitching. His efforts were not fruitless, though I would not exactly label his 2017 results a success. In 10.2 innings at High-A Lakeland, Gose pitched to a 7.59 ERA and 1.22 WHIP before injuries ended his season prematurely. His peripherals painted a much prettier picture, though: 2.65 FIP, 3.36 xFIP, and a ridiculously unlucky 35.7% strand rate that should normalize closer to 70% this upcoming season. Gose also reportedly reached 100 MPH on the radar gun several times and was able to strike out 11.81 batters per nine innings. Not bad for a former .240 hitter.

After the 2017 season concluded, Gose inked a min0r league deal with the Texas Rangers and was promptly stolen away from them by the division rival Astros in the Rule 5 draft. The rules of the Rule 5 draft state that players must spend the year in the big leagues in order to be kept, so Gose is going to get some MLB innings for the Astros early in the year. He’s not a mandatory add in any format, especially given that he is currently blocked from accruing saves by Ken Giles, Chris Devenski, Will Haris, and likely Michael Feliz, but keep an eye out for Gose, because if he has success at the big league level this season, he could be a great ratio buffer for people in rotisserie and H2H category leagues.

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(Image Credit: Tom Hagerty via Bleacher Report)