Written by: Ray Butler
Follow us on Twitter!@Prospects365
In January, I published a ‘survival guide’that outlined the many facets of thriving throughout fantasy baseball season. A lot of the feedback I’ve received from that article has been centered around this excerpt:
Expanding your portfolio of the ‘baseball people’ you follow on Twitter often gives you the edge in discovering breaking news, injury updates and prospect call-ups before your opposition does. The more competitive your fantasy league is, the more crucial it becomes to take heed of this recommendation. It’s impossible to overstate how much it’s helped me as a fantasy baseball player the past few seasons.
Twitter can be volatile. It can be divisive. Especially in the political world, the social media site has become the perfect medium for thousands of users to vocalize their entrenched, ‘dug-in’ views, and there’s no end in site.
Baseball Twitter can certainly be divisive, but our topics of conversation are weightless compared to other issues in present-day society. Instead of border security and government shutdowns, we take to our devices to yell at each other about Hall of Fame ballots. We debate the winner and lose of trades and free agent signings. Generationally, there’s a back-and-forth about the warrant of analytics and its continued emergence throughout the game we love.
Recently, @sadvil tweeted perhaps the perfect description of the beautiful disaster that is Twitter.
Truth be told, I love Baseball Twitter. If you manage your account properly, it’s pretty easy to create a community of different, (mostly) respectful voices that provide helpful, unique insight onevery facet of America’s pastime.
And because of this, Twitter is one of the best weapons at your disposal in the fantasy baseball world.
Whether you utilize the medium to attain news that’s relevant to your fantasy team, notable prospects or both, here’s an extensive list of the Twitter personalities that give me life and an underrated edge over my league mates on a daily, weekly and yearly basis.Note: Names are listed in alphabetical order by category
The News Breakers
Jon Heyman, Fancred. Account:@JonHeyman
Jon Morosi, MLB Network. Account:@jonmorosi
Jeff Passan, ESPN. Account:@JeffPassan
Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic. Account:@Ken_Rosenthal
Fantasy Baseball
George Bissell, Rotoworld. Account:@GeorgeBissell
Ryan Bloomfield, Baseball HQ. Account:@RyanBHQ
Ryan Boyer, Rotoworld. Account:@RyanPBoyer
Alex Chamberlain, Rotographs. Account:@DolphHauldhagen
Tristan co*ckcroft, ESPN. Account:@SultanofStat
Ariel Cohen, Fangraphs. Account:@ATCNY
Yancy Eaton, Scribe of Awesome Tweets. Account:@YancyEaton
Alex Fast, Pitcher List. Account:@AlexFast8
Ray Flowers, Fantasy Guru. Account:@BaseballGuys
Max Freeze, Freeze Stats. Account:@FreezeStats
Pitcher List, PitcherList.com. Account:@PitcherList
Walter McMichael, Real Fake Baseball Podcast. Account:@realfakewalter
Matt Modica, The Athletic. Account:@ctmbaseball
Cubby Nole, Fantasy Front Office, Account:@CubbyNole
Austin Perodeau, Six Man Rotation. Account:@roto_perodeau
Peter, FantasyGuru.com. Account:@draftcheat
Scott Pianowski, Yahoo. Account:@scott_pianowski
Fantasy Rundown, FantasyRundown.com. Account:@FantasyRundown
James Schiano, Prospects 365. Account:@FreePeteAlonso
Vlad Sedler, FantasyGuru.com. Account:@RotoGut
Andy Singleton, The Beisbol Show. Account:@PeoplezPen
Paul Sporer, Rotographs. Account:@sporer
Mac Squibb, Prospects 365. Account:@SquibberStats
Fake Teams, SB Nation. Account:@faketeams
Colin Weatherwax, Fantasy Benefits. Account:@CWeatherwax13
Scott White, CBS Sports. Account:@CBSScottWhite
Jeff Zimmerman, Rotographs. Account:@jeffwzimmerman
Advanced Analysts and Baseball Personalities
Jim Bowden, The Athletic. Account:@JimBowdenGM
Derek Carty, ESPN. Account:@DerekCarty
Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman, Cut4. Account:@CespedesBBQ
Buster Olney, ESPN. Account:@Buster_ESPN
Mike Petriello, MLB.com. Account:@mike_petriello
Eno Sarris, The Athletic. Account:@enosarris
Travis Sawchik, FiveThirtyEight. Account:@Travis_Sawchik
Jayson Stark, The Athletic. Account:@jaysonst
Dan Szymborski, Fangraphs. Account:@DSzymborski
Prospects
Eddy Almaguer, Prospects Live. Account:@EddyAlmaguer
James Anderson, Rotowire. Account:@RealJRAnderson
Baseball Farm, Baseball Farm. Account:@BaseballFarm
Ben Badler, Baseball America. Account:@BenBadler
Chris Blessing, Baseball HQ. Account:@C_Blessing
Lance Brozdowski, Prospects Live. Account:@LanceBroz
John Calvagno, Notes from the Sally. Account:@SALNotes
JJ Cooper, Baseball America. Account:@jjcoop36
Christopher Crawford, Rotoworld. Account:@Crawford_MILB
Eric Cross, Fantrax. Account:@EricCross04
Kyle Glaser, Baseball America. Account:@KyleAGlaser
Minor Graphs, Prospects Live. Account:@MinorGraphs
Scott Greene, Prospects 1500. Account:@Scotty_Ballgame
Hunt 4 Prospects, Hunt 4 Prospects. Account:@hunt4prospects
Imaginary Brick Wall, Imaginary Brick Wall. Account:@DynastyHalp
Connor Kurcon, Six Man Rotation. Account:@ckurcon
Alex “Juicy” Jansen, Baseball Farm. Account:@jensen_juicy
Keith Law, ESPN. Account:@keithlaw
Ralph Lifsh*tz, Prospects Live. Account:@ProspectJesus
Eric Longenhagen, Fangraphs. Account:@longenhagen
Dylan Matthews, Prospects 365. Account:@dmattprospects
Jonathan Mayo, MLB.com. Account:@JonathanMayo
Kiley McDaniel, Fangraphs. Account:@kileymcd
Adam McInturff, 2080 Baseball. Account:@2080adam
Jason Pennini, Prospects Live. Account:@JasonPennini
Kyler Peterson, Prospects Live. Account:@KPeterson813
Prospects1500, Prospects1500.com. Account:@Prospects1500
Jesse Roach, The Dynasty Guru. Account:@jaroche6
M-Rod, Prospects 365. Account:@MRodProspects
Smada, Prospects Live. Account:@smada_bb
Tyler Spicer, Prospects 365. Account:@tylerjspicer
Matt Thompson, Prospects Live. Account:@mdthompFWFB
Adam Tulley, Prospects 365. Account:@AdamT_Prospects
Shelly Verougstraete, Rotographs and others. Account:@ShellyV_643
Emily Waldon, The Athletic. Account: @EmilyCWaldon
Chris Welsh, In This League. Account:@IsItTheWelsh
Rich Wilson, Prospect361.com. Account:@RichWilsonP361
Jason Woodell, Prospects Live. Account:@JasonAtTheGame
Beat Writers
Angels: Jeff Fletcher, Southern California News Group. Account:@JeffFletcherOCR
Astros: Jake Kaplan, The Athletic. Account:@jakemkaplan
Athletics: Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle. Account:@susanslusser
Blue Jays: Gregor Chisholm, MLB.com. Account:@gregorMLB
Blue Jays: Andrew Stoeten, The Athletic. Account:@AndrewStoeten
Braves: David O’Brien, The Athletic. Account:@DOBrienATL
Braves: Mark Bowman, MLB.com. Account:@mlbbowman
Braves: Grant McAuley, Around the Big Leagues. Account:@grantmcauley
Brewers: Robert Murray, The Athletic. Account:@ByRobertMurray
Cardinals: Mark Saxon, The Athletic. Account:@markasaxon
Cardinals: Josey Curtis, SB Nation. Account:@vivaelbirdos
Cubs: Sahadev Sharma, The Athletic. Account:@sahadevsharma
Cubs: Jordan Bastian, MLB.com. Account:@MLBastian
Diamdondbacks: Zach Buchanan, The Athletic. Account:@ZHBuchanan
Diamondbacks: Nick Piecoro, The Arizona Republic. Account:@nickpiecoro
Dodgers: Andy McCullough, The Los Angeles Times. Account:@McCulloughTimes
Dodgers: Pedro Moura, The Athletic. Account:@pedromoura
Dodgers: Jorge Castillo, The Los Angeles Times. Account:@jorgecastillo
Giants: Andrew Baggarly, The Athletic. Account:@extrabaggs
Indians: Zack Meisel, The Athletic. Account:@ZackMeisel
Mariners: Corey Brock, The Athletic. Account:@CoreyBrockMLB
Mariners: Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times. Account:@RyanDivish
Marlins: Andre Fernandez, The Athletic. Account:@FernandezAndreC
Marlins: Craig Mish, Sirius XM. Account:@CraigMish
Mets: Anthony DiComo, MLB.com. Account:@AnthonyDiComo
Mets: Tim Britton, The Athletic. Account:@TimBritton
Nationals: Brittany Ghiroli, The Athletic. Account:@Britt_Ghiroli
Nationals: Patrick Reddington, SB Nation. Account:@federalbaseball
Orioles: Dan Connolly, The Athletic. Account:@danconnolly2016
Orioles: Roch Kubatko, MASN Sports. Account:@masnRoch
Padres: Dennis Lin, The Athletic. Account:@dennistlin
Phillies: Matt Gelb, The Athletic. Account:@MattGelb
Pirates: Rob Biertempfel, The Athletic. Account:@RobBiertempfel
Rangers: Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News. Account:@Evan_P_Grant
Rays: Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times. Account:@TBTimes_Rays
Red Sox: Matt Collins, SB Nation. Account:@OverTheMonster
Red Sox: Evan Drellich, NBC Sports Boston. Account:@EvanDrellich
Red Sox: Jason Mastrodonato, The Boston Herald. Account:@JMastrodonato
Reds: C. Trent Rosecrans, The Athletic. Account:@ctrent
Rockies: Patrick Saunders, Denver Post. Account:@psaundersdp
Rockies: Nick Groke, The Athletic. Account:@nickgroke
Royals: Rustin Dodd, The Athletic. Account:@rustindodd
Royals: Royals Review, SB Nation. Account:@royalsreview
Tigers: Anthony Fenech, Detroit Free Press. Account:@anthonyfenech
Twins: Dan Hayes, The Athletic. Account:@DanHayesMLB
White Sox: James Fegan, The Athletic. Account:@JRFegan
Yankees: Lindsey Adler, The Athletic. Account:@lindseyadler
Yankees: Erik Boland, Newsday Sports. Account:@eboland11
Weather and Daily Starting Lineups
Kevin Roth, Roto Grinders. Account:@KevinRothWx
Daily MLB Lineups, Daily MLB Lineups. Account:@DailyMLBLineup
There are over 100 accounts listed above. If you’re new to fantasy baseball or just now getting around to using Twitter to assist you in lineup or roster decisions, you’re in good hands. Baseball isoozing with journalistic talent from coast to coast. In my estimation, every big league team is blessed with at least one upper-echelon beat writer. Most have multiple dynamic journalists chronicling a team’s 162-game journey each season.
You’re also in the golden age of prospects. Not only is the talent in the minor leagues arguably better than it’s ever been, but there are multiple entities writing about prospects on an everyday basis. Of course you have the heavy hitters in Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, Fangraphs and MLB.com, but Prospects Live and Prospects1500 both do phenomenal work that will increase your prospect knowledge with a simple click of a button. I’d like to think we at Prospects 365 fall somewhere in that spectrum too.
Guys like Eno Sarris and Mike Petriello are constantly publishing predictive analytics and data, and there’s debatably no one better in the industry to follow if you’re looking to find hidden gems on the verge of breaking out who are already in the big leagues. Both do very complicated work, but they have the ability to explain their findings in a way that simpletons like myself can understand. You’ll be able understand too.
Following Jeff Passan and Ken Rosenthal are no brainers. Knowledge is power, and that pair provides more knowledge and news than any other duo in the industry. They should be the first people you follow if you haven’t done so already.
And really though, if you don’t follow Kevin Roth (or another sports-focused meteorologist) and a daily lineups account, you’re not getting the most out of your Twitter experience. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had the opportunity to change my lineup or pitching rotation thanks to weather announcements or seeing starting lineups two-to-three hours before first pitch. Being forewarned about impending weather or your star receiving a day off is perhaps the most underrated facet of using Twitter to give you an edge in the fantasy baseball world.
Now, nothing you’ve read in this article is of any use if you’re not consistent with your Twitter usage. I’m unhealthily addicted to the site and spend way too much time on it, but you really should check your feed a few times a dayat least. Of course, having the necessary tools to create an edge for yourself means nothing if you don’t take advantage of them. Yes, that means I’m giving you permission to be on your phone even more than you already are.
Twitter can be your secret weapon this fantasy baseball season. Take thirty minutes and make it happen.
Follow us on Twitter!@Prospects365
Featured image courtesy of NKC High School Baseball
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