We’ve added a number of new metrics to the player pages and leaderboards related to the automated ball-strike challenge system, pitcher arm angles by pitch type, and spin rates by pitch type. These metrics first made their debut on MLB’s Baseball Savant, and we’re excited to bring them to you on FanGraphs.

And if you missed it, we added a number of Statcast Bat Tracking metrics last week.

Here are all the details:

• There is a new plate discipline section labeled “Statcast – ABS” on the leaderboards page. All the metrics in this section reflect how the ABS strike zone will be called and is the new default view for all plate discipline stats. Specifically, the zone is defined as:
  

  Like the plate, it is 17 inches wide. The top end of the zone is at 53.5% of the player’s height, while the bottom is at 27% of the player’s height. The depth of the zone is 8.5 inches from both the front and back of the plate to its center.

• Our previous strike zone definitions are still available under the “Statcast – Legacy” view.
• We’ve also added a more granular look at the strike zone, labeled “Statcast – Strike Zone Breakdown.” This includes the Heart (H-stats), Shadow (S-stats), Chase (C-stats), Waste (W-stats).

  

• There’s an even more granular view of the shadow zone, which splits it into pitches that are in the strike zone and in the shadow zone (SI-stats) and pitches that are in the shadow zone and outside the strike zone (SO-stats).
• Arm angle stats have been added by pitch type. Arm angle is defined as:
  

  a horizontal line extending from the location of the pitcher’s throwing shoulder and the location of ball at the time of the pitch.

• Spin rate stats have been added by pitch type. Spin rate is defined as:
  

  the spin on the baseball when the pitch is released. It is measured in revolutions per minute.

This application is now closed. Thank you for your interest. We will be in contact with potential candidates soon.

RotoGraphs is now accepting applications to join our staff as a contributing writer.

Contributors typically write two to three times a week. Familiarity and comfort with fantasy baseball and the data on FanGraphs is a requirement, but just as importantly, we’re looking for writers who can generate their own ideas and questions while providing interesting analysis and commentary on the game of fantasy baseball. From standard roto redraft to long-term keeper leagues, identifying intriguing prospects and breakouts to managing a fantasy roster, we want to cover it all.

We use rigor, creativity and the latest analytical tools to provide useful, interesting insights and advice to fantasy managers. And while we take our responsibility to support fantasy managers seriously, we’re also willing to be silly and keep things light. After all, fantasy baseball is supposed to be fun! Read the rest of this entry »

OOPSY peak projections for all minor and major league players are now available for FanGraphs Members.

I’ve been publishing current season OOPSY projections since 2025. They broadly fit in with the other FanGraphs systems in terms of methodology (and accuracy), though like all projection systems, they have their own methodological quirks. OOPSY makes use of its own aging curves, major league equivalencies, park factors, league scoring environment factors, regression, and recency weights to project players. For those interested in learning more, the OOPSY introduction, 2025 review, and recent Top 100 Prospects list provide a more detailed overview of my methodology.

Since 2022, OOPSY peak projections have been featured on Scout the Statline and, since 2024, they have also been featured on RotoGraphs, where I’ve used them to generate fantasy-oriented top prospect lists. Last month, after incorporating defense into the projections using our prospect team’s work on The Board, I published OOPSY’s first top prospect list with a real-life focus, ranking prospects by peak projected WAR. Read the rest of this entry »

FanGraphs now has a Statcast Bat Tracking section available on both the player pages and the leaderboards.

The following stats are included, with basic definitions from the MLB Statcast glossary. Please refer to the linked Statcast glossary page for more in-depth descriptions of the statistics.

Bat Speed (BatSpd): “How fast the sweet spot of the bat is moving, in mph, at the point of contact with the ball (or where the ball and bat would have met, in case of a swing-and-miss).” (MLB glossary link) Read the rest of this entry »

Following the introduction of contract incentive data last month, the RosterResource payroll pages now have much more detailed player-level contract information! I think we’ve always done a great job of showcasing a team’s payroll calculation, but we’ve lacked detailed information for individual contracts, especially long ones that go beyond the seven-year timeframe displayed on the team payroll pages.

To view a player’s contract information, all you have to do is click on the little clipboard icon next to the Contract column on the team payroll page:

Read the rest of this entry »

I started this project nine and a half years ago. I’ve gone through multiple outside developers, cleared countless hurdles over an unknowable number of hours, taught myself a ton about coding and modeling, and studied thousands of variables. But finally, six years after the introduction of THE BAT X for hitters, THE BAT X for pitchers is finally here!

Similar to THE BAT X for hitters, the pitcher version starts with the classic version of THE BAT (which was built long before Statcast and all the advanced metrics we have now, and mostly just makes use of surface stats) and blends in my brand new pitcher “stuff” model, which I’m calling THE BATcast. (Get it, because it’s THE BAT using Statcast data?) Read the rest of this entry »

Today, we are proud to announce a new site feature: The FanGraphs Lab. The Lab is a collaboration between the editorial team and the engineering team here at the site, a joint effort to create more ways to sort through and visualize the huge crush of data that pervades baseball these days.

The FanGraphs Lab is a space for experimental data visualization and exploration tools that we believe might one day have a permanent place on the site. The key word there is experimental: One of the reasons we’re so excited about the Lab is that it’s never been easier to go from an idea for a new tool or visual to a functioning version of it. It’s not quite “if you can dream it, you can do it,” but it’s closer than you might think, which means that there’s a lot of room for innovation. The Lab will have a permanent home at www.fangraphs.com/lab. It will also be accessible from the main page of the site on the right navigation bar:

This project grew out of a discussion between the two of us. Actually, “discussion” might be the wrong way to put it: Ben just kept sending Sean links to new apps he had built in rickety programming languages, fun graphing tools without any immediate use case. Instead of politely telling Ben to shove off, Sean came up with a process for turning those concepts into functioning FanGraphs tools. First, with development assistance from Claude Code, Ben rebuilt his initial ideas in the FanGraphs code base. Next, Sean integrated these new pages into the site’s data and infrastructure. From there, we bounced ideas off of each other and iterated until we were happy with the output. After taking a few months to jump-start the process, the first prototypes are coming off the assembly line now. Read the rest of this entry »

We now have all the 2026 projections available on the site. Frequently, we get asked about the differences between the projection systems and how often they’re updated, so here’s a quick primer on what’s what.

Primary Projections

Primary projection systems are generated independently and do not aggregate any of the others.

ZiPS: ZiPS projections are run by Dan Szymborski and have been available on FanGraphs since 2010. ZiPS are updated as needed leading up to the season and updated daily throughout the season. You can read more about ZiPS here.

ZiPS DC: ZiPS DC is exactly the same as ZiPS, except it’s prorated for our RosterResource playing time projections. ZiPS DC playing time is updated daily both leading up to the season and during the season, and the underlying performance projections are updated the same as ZiPS (as needed prior to the season and daily during the season).

Steamer: Steamer projections are run by Jared Cross, Peter Rosenbloom, and Dash Davidson and have been on FanGraphs since 2012. For Members, we also have platoon projections, context neutral projections, and percentile projections. They are all updated daily leading up to the season and during the season.

Steamer600: These are exactly the same as Steamer projections except every position player is prorated to 600 plate appearances (450 for catchers). Starting pitchers are prorated for 200 innings pitched, while relievers are prorated for 65 innings pitched. It’s updated daily leading up to the season and during the season.

THE BAT: Run by Derek Carty, THE BAT projections have been on FanGraphs since 2018. They are updated daily leading up to the season and during the season.

THE BAT X: Also run by Derek Carty, THE BAT X projections are currently for hitters only and are differentiated from THE BAT by including Statcast data. They are updated daily leading up to the season and during the season. You can read more about THE BAT X here.

OOPSY: Run by Jordan Rosenblum, OOPSY debuted on FanGraphs in 2025. Playing time for OOPSY is updated daily leading up to the season and during the season utilizing RosterResource. The underlying performance projections are updated as needed leading up to the season and daily during the season. You can read more about OOPSY here.

Composite Projections

Composite projection systems are an aggregate of primary projection systems. These types of systems tend to do better when tested against actual player performance.

FanGraphs Depth Charts: FanGraphs Depth Charts projections are a 50/50 blend of Steamer and ZiPS prorated to our RosterResource playing time projections. They are updated daily leading up to the season and during the season.

ATC: Compiled by Ariel Cohen and available on FanGraphs since 2017, ATC is a weighted composite of a number of projection systems based on their past performance. ATC is updated weekly leading up to the season. During the season, it’s labeled as ATC DC and uses our RosterResource playing time projections. ATC DC playing time is updated daily, while the underlying performance projections are updated as needed during the season. You can read more about ATC here.

Here’s your chance to vote for the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards winners.

The SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards will recognize baseball researchers who have completed the best work of original analysis or commentary during the preceding calendar year. Nominations were solicited by representatives from SABR, Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, and Sports Info Solutions.

To read any of the finalists, click on the link below. Scroll down to cast your vote.

Contemporary Analysis

• Ryan Blake, “The Batter’s Eye at T-Mobile Park: A New Perspective,” Lookout Landing, May 8, 2025
• Hannah Keyser, “How Fast Should Your 12-Year-Old Throw?” New York Times, August 21, 2025
• Maddie Landis, “Baseball’s Gatekept Pitching Metric: Inside Vertical Approach Angle,” Talk Sox, September 7, 2025
• Michael Rosen, “How Much Do Trail Runners Matter? An Investigation,” FanGraphs, September 8, 2025
• Stephen Sutton-Brown, “Understanding Swing Processes Through Bat and Pitch Tracking,” Baseball Prospectus, September 22, 2025

Contemporary Commentary

• Davy Andrews, “Unfuzzing the Strike Zone,” FanGraphs, January 3, 2025
• Michael Baumann, “Jhoan Duran and the One True Split-Finger Fastball,” FanGraphs, September 17, 2025
• Ben Lindbergh, ”If Pitches Are Fixed, Baseball Is Broken,” The Ringer, November 10, 2025
• RJ McDaniel, “Wearing the Hat,” Baseball Prospectus, September 17, 2025
• Richard Staff, “The Secret Brotherhood of the Phantom Ballplayers,” Defector, July 21, 2025

Historical Analysis/Commentary

• Benjamin Alter, “Josh Gibson’s Place in History: A Statistical Analysis,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, Spring 2025
• R.J. Anderson, “What MLB’s salary cap history can tell us about the upcoming CBA negotiations,” CBS Sports, December 1, 2025
• Steven Goldman, “Every Day They Burn the Book,” Baseball Prospectus, April 3, 2025
• Jay Jaffe, “Never is a Long, Long Time: Permanent Ineligibility and the Hall of Fame,” FanGraphs, March 10, 2025
• David Roth, “Octavio Dotel Made a Life in Baseball,” Defector, April 10, 2025

John Dewan Defensive Analysis

• Zach Crizer, “Evolution in the Outfield: Is Center Field Morphing Into a Defensive Specialist Position?” Opta Analyst, March 24, 2025
• Daniel R. Epstein, “Stand in the Place Where You Are,” Baseball Prospectus, May 5, 2025
• Dan M. Kahan, “Fielding Before and After Baseball’s Great Transformation,” Journal of Sports Analytics, Volume 11, 2025

Voting will be open through 11:59 p.m. MST on Friday, February 6, 2026.

Mobile or Safari users, click here to access the survey

Results will be announced and presented at the SABR Analytics Conference, February 27-March 1, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona. Learn more or register for the conference at SABR.org/analytics.

As part of our constant, unwavering (some might say neurotic) efforts to make RosterResource the clearinghouse for everything baseball related, we’ve added contract incentive data to our Team Payroll pages and created a separate Payroll Incentives table.

Let’s walk through the new features, using Matt Strahm’s current contract as an example. In March of 2024, Strahm signed a one-year, $7.5 million extension with the Phillies covering the 2025 season. The contract also included a $4.5 million vesting option for 2026, which could increase by as much as $3 million for reaching 40, 50, and 60 innings pitched in 2025; Strahm exceeded all of those thresholds, throwing 62.1 innings. After the option vested, Strahm was traded to the Royals. Read the rest of this entry »