Introducing RosterResource Depth Charts!
As you might have already heard, RosterResource will be transitioning its baseball content to FanGraphs over the next few months. Effective today, the 30 depth charts can be found here.
Our first version is close to an exact replica of RosterResource, with a few important improvements. The load time is much faster, and player names link to the corresponding FanGraphs player page. In addition, the minor league power rankings, plate appearances, and innings will be updated daily as opposed to weekly.
In case you’re unfamiliar with RosterResource, here’s the lowdown. I created the site just over 10 years ago. It was initially called MLBDepthCharts but was renamed RosterResource a few years later. The idea was that the site would be an easy-to-read, visual interpretation of a team’s 25-man roster and organizational depth throughout the entire year. It has evolved over time, but at a pace that was never fast enough for me. With the move to FanGraphs, you should expect to see a cross-pollination of data and features from both FanGraphs and RosterResource in the hopes of bringing you a more useful product.
Here is most of what you can learn by visiting a RosterResource depth chart right now.
Player Info
- How Acquired
- The darker green background indicates players acquired since end of 2018 season.
- Options Remaining (pre-2019) and Rule 5 eligibility (pre-2019)
- Both are indicated in the “Options or R5 Status” column
- MLB Service Time (pre-2019)
Original Signing Info, Prospect Rankings, and Power Rankings
- Draft/Signing Info
- Prospect Ranking (updated FanGraphs overall and organizational rankings via THE BOARD)
- The TOP PROSPECTS section at the top of the page shows pre-season rankings.
- Power Rankings (overall and recent performance)
- A RosterResource ranking based on year-to-date production using several weighted categories.
Lineup Information
- Last six lineups
- Projected platoons
Starting Rotation
- Upcoming match-ups for the next six days
Bullpen
- Role, bullpen usage for the previous six days
Injured List
- Status, retroactive date, injury/surgery, injury/surgery date
- Paternity, Bereavement, Restricted list status is also indicated where appropriate
Minor Leaguers You Should Know
- MiLB power rankings (overall, by level, last 21 days)
- A RosterResource ranking based on year-to-date production using several weighted categories, including age and level.
- Separated by level during regular season
- Separated by primary position during offseason
- “Minor Leaguer You Should Know” criteria:
- On 40-man roster
- Is a top prospect (based on THE BOARD)
- Was a high draft pick
- Has had least an average performance during the previous season
- Players can be added/removed during the season
We should note that the FanGraphs depth charts, that have previously been found on this site either on the team pages or within the projected standings page, will not change. These depth charts have projected playing-time for the remainder of the season and serve a different purpose than the RosterResource’s depth charts, which reflect the current state of a team’s roster. So a sharp difference could arise if a player is injured or in the minors but is expected to get a lot of plate appearances throughout the year. The FanGraphs depth charts would show a high percentage of expected playing time, while the RosterResource depth charts would have the player in Triple-A or on the injured list.
While we think we’ve created a faithful reproduction of the RosterResource depth charts in this initial phase, there is always a chance we missed something. If you find anything that’s incorrect, or something that’s not working, please let us know in the comments.
This is freakin’ magical. Thanks for all the hard work!
Dude, this is great. So glad to have it here.
This is excellent because I always switch back and forth between the two. One thing I’ve already noticed is that, on the home page bar, it has an option on the bar for “Roster Resource,” whereas if you click off the main page(say onto an article), it still has the option for “Team” instead of “Roster Resource.”
Edit: And some pages have both options on the bar.
This should be fixed.
Fuck. Yeah.
Really excited to use this resource! Have you considered reducing the number of colors on each page? As a new user, it feels confusing.
Congrats! This is awesome. What about the closer depth charts, other baseball info, and the football part of Roster resource? Is the site staying active? Thanks.
Thanks! NFL, NBA, NHL depth charts will remain inactive. The important baseball features will eventually be moved over and then the Roster Resource website will cease to exist. Not sure yet on timetable.
Wow, this is really, really well done!
Are you guys maintaining this actual data (rookie eligibility, service, etc) from the same source you were previously using?
Fangraph’s data feed/algorithm has been known to occasionally get players wrong (It thinks Carson Kelly is Rookie-eligible this season, for example). It would be fantastic to have accurate information about service time here on FG.
The rookie filter on the leaderboards is doing it the “dumb” way and there was no previous source for service time. The data on roster resource and the player pages that pertains to service time / options / etc… should all be correct. If you see something that isn’t just let us know.
Yeah, I was just hoping to see this also improve those boards, I have embarrased myself more than once filtering rookies to talk about ROY discussions and talking about a player who isn’t eligible 😉
I’m very excited for this addition!
So Great!
awesome stuff – have been using the site for a couple years now & look forward to the integration with FG!
This is amazing. A work of art.
Now, if we can just get the options/Rule 5 status imported into THE BOARD, then all my wishes will have come true.
This is awesome!
Would only say that I liked how RosterResource would include prospect rankings from FG, BP, BA, and MLB. I understand if FG wouldn’t want to list them all, but I definitely liked that.
For some reason, on the Indians chart, it has Mike Freeman listed as Jonathan Baksh. Other than that, CLE looks good.
This is fixed. I had a few Player IDs wrong so we’re making the changes as soon as we notice. Jonathan Baksh was a 7th Rd pick of the Jays in ’06 and he made it to High-A. Also had an MLB player ID that was very similar to Mike Freeman.
When I lived in China, it was frustrating for me that Roster Resource was blocked by the Great Firewall (as its base data loads from a Google site). Having it native here is amazing.
Politically incorrect question but will RR continue to show prospect rankings from other services as additional info? Or will it now (as I expect) just pretend those rankings don’t exist?
I do like seeing the comparisons but we will not have any others. Kiley and Eric do a great job and they know their stuff so I’m good with just showing the FanGraphs rankings. Another good thing is that you’ll eventually be able to just click on the ranking and the scouting report will pop up.
Looks great! Any plans to add the team payroll feature?
Yes. I believe those are next up on the agenda. Contract info is already showing up on the player pages.
The RR power rankings is one of the best tools out there for in-season prospect evaluation. Please ensure that none of the utility is lost!
Thanks! It will be more organized now and updated daily. It was a 5-hour process for me to update once per week. Now it’s updated automatically every morning. I’m going to add a better explanation of how these work so it can be better utilized. We also need to add leaderboards.
I’ve been a fan of RosterResource for years, but incorporating this tool into Fangraphs is fantastic! Bravo!
Christmas in July!
Will the probable starting pitcher grid get ported over too?
It’s on our list of things to add. I have some ideas on how to make it really useful. Could get pushed to the start of 2020, but the team pages now have probable SP and probably opposing SP.
Very cool, that’s handy to have the opposing probables on the team pages.
One minor suggestion for the full grid I’d offer is to integrate the team schedules with the names of the pitchers into a single table instead of having them presented separately. I always have to scroll back and forth, and the days don’t line up vertically because the schedule extends out further in time than the probables do.
Regardless, thanks for all your hard work.
Amazing work you have done hear. Extremely impressive. Thanks for all the hard work and keep it up! You and the team at FanGraphs have been awesome!
Great move. Acquisitions like this will keep me renewing my membership. I remember that RosterResource used to have a slow-loading feature for people who were not members, I am assuming that will be gone?
The fast-browsing option will remain active for subscribers thru the end of this season, but it won’t be available after that since this move takes care of the loading time issue.
Awesome, thanks!
This is awesome thanks all!
I love this. RosterResource and FanGraphs are my top 2 resources for baseball, now i don’t even have to open a new tab!
One thing to add that I like on RosterResource is the “Streak” and “Last10” columns in the Standings section. I sometimes judge team motivation based on their recent record.
I love the depth charts so I’m glad to see them here, but from my use of Roster Resource, I find that they tend to misidentify platoon players.
For example, if you go to the Jays page, Justin Smoak is listed as platooning with Brandon Drury (with Drury starting vs LHP). That’s not really happening. I know it’s not easy to figure out who’s platooning, but my back of the envelope calculation has Smoak starting over 90% of Jays games vs LHP that he’s been available for. I’m not sure what the best way to determine a platoon player is, but it is an area for potential improvement.
Funny thing is that I meant to tag Sogard as the platoon, but Smoak is the one who actually sat vs the LHP a few days ago. Projecting these has gotten more difficult and I’ve been thinking about a better way to do this. In many cases, I think there are platoon players who are almost always in the lineup vs LHP but the players who sit are rotated. So it could make sense to tag the “vsL” and not necessarily have a corresponding “vsR” . Could be confusing, which is why it’s still up for discussion.
Have you considered a red/yellow/green system for that sort of thing? Like a LHB who only starts 10% of the time vs LHP gets a red mark vs LHP, and a green rating vs RHP? I dunno, maybe that’s overly complicated but I’ve found that the charts often shift to a platoon system when a guy just got a convenient rest vs a LHP.
It is a hard thing to track, I don’t envy the people who have to figure this stuff out for every team.
Probably too complicated for a projection. The “go-to” lineups typically change at least once per week so it’s hard with platoon because a team might face a lefty 1-2 per week. But it would be cool to see something like that for the actual breakdown (this is how often this player starts vs RHP/vsLHP).
Great stuff, thanks! Is there (or will there be) a way to view the full, updated MILB power rankings on a daily basis?
Not yet, but it’s on our list of things to add.
Holy shit
Wow. This is the best!
This is an awesome page to keep open in your browser at all times. A nice one-page overview of your favorite team, in real-time! Thanks!
So glad RR is part of FG! It appears Daniel Hudson is missing from the TOR roster.
Thanks Mark. I figured out why neither setup man was showing up for Yankees and Blue Jays. Fixing now.
GAME LEVEL 1 BILLION!
I’m not seeing the updated pitch counts for the relievers today, despite it being updated on rosterresource already. Also, do you think you can add the last 10 and current streak columns to the standings section just like RosterResource?
Thursday bullpen usage issue is fixed. Those are showing now. We’re looking closely for any bugs that occur this week. Thanks!
Possibly. I will add the suggestion to our list.
I’ve been a regular user of the RosteResource page for several years now. I’m stoked it’s now on Fangraphs. Being able to finally click on a player name and getting their stat (as opposed to running RR and FG simultaneously) is super convenient.
Always great work, Jason.