Wins Above Fantasy

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified ) Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) break down a group of pitchers who have made meaningful improvements over the course of the season, separating sustainable skill growth from surface-level results by examining changes in strikeout ability, Stuff+, velocity, pitch mix, and other underlying process metrics. Intro -- 0:00 Jack Flaherty — 6:21 Dustin May —...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified ) Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) break down a group of hitters who have made meaningful improvements from the first part of the season to the second, separating sustainable skill growth from surface-level production by digging into contact quality, plate discipline, and underlying process metrics. Intro -- 0:00 Blaze Alexander — 11:53 Bryce Eldridge —...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified ) Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) discuss the biggest surprises of the 2026 fantasy baseball season so far. They break down unexpected risers on the player rater, emerging breakout performances, surprise contributors across the league, and which trends look sustainable heading into the second half of the season. Intro -- 0:00 Ben Rice — 7:50 CJ Abrams —...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified ) Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) discuss several notable first-half breakouts and disappointments, examining whether fantasy managers should buy, sell, or hold as the season approaches its midpoint Intro -- 0:00 Bryce Eldridge — 6:55 Zack Gelof — 6:55 Bryan Reynolds — 21:40 Matt Chapman — 21:40 George Springer — 32:33 Jackson Merrill — 37:55 Dylan Crew...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified ) Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) revisit their biggest preseason calls—bold predictions, Chalkboard bets, and SP sleepers—to see what’s aging well, what’s gone off the rails, and what’s still hanging in the balance. Intro -- 0:00 Parker Messick – 4:57 Logan Henderson – 11:00 Ben Rice – 13:50 Kevin McGonigle – 18:25 Wyatt Langford – 23:20 Eury Pérez – 3...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified ) Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) break down the top priority hitting and pitching prospect stashes for the rest of the fantasy baseball season, highlighting fast-rising bats, potential impact call-ups, and longer-term dynasty arms to monitor. They also discuss several injured MLB names worth stashing before their returns. Intro -- 0:00 Luis Lara — 5:34...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified ) Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) dig through the waiver wire pitching landscape, discussing several under-rostered starters showing intriguing skill changes, pitch mix adjustments, and recent signs of life. The episode focuses on identifying which breakouts might be real, which struggling arms deserve patience, and how fantasy managers should approach...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified ) Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) discuss fantasy baseball buy-low hitters by focusing on expected stats, fastball performance, damage metrics, and other underlying indicators that suggest better production could be coming. They break down struggling stars, potential regression candidates, and a few hitters whose current production may not match the qua...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified ) Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) break down early-season barrel rate trends now that batted ball data has begun to stabilize. They revisit last year’s approach—starting with barrel rate and layering in supporting metrics like pull air%, hard-hit rates, and plate skills—to identify 2026 standouts, underperformers, and year-to-year improvers. The episode...

Wins Above Fantasy – Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) and special guest Dan Weber ( @DTWeb313 ) look at early-season meaningful hitter changes, focusing on metrics that stabilize quickly like chase and swinging strike rate. They highlight hitters improving contact without sacrificing power, plus a second group showing bat speed gains with stable or improved swing decisions, identifying potential breako...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) look at early-season meaningful hitter changes, focusing on metrics that stabilize quickly like chase and swinging strike rate. They highlight hitters improving contact without sacrificing power, plus a second group showing bat speed gains with stable or improved swing decisions, identifying potential breakouts, buy-...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) break down the early-season waiver wire landscape, focusing on the tricky balance between patience and aggressiveness in early weeks. They highlight under-20% rostered players worth adding in 12–15 team leagues, while also flagging a handful of names to monitor as roles, skills, and small-sample breakouts begin to ta...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) break down the first week of the MLB season, focusing on what actually matters in small samples. They highlight actionable early-season signals like bat speed gains, velocity jumps, and pitch mix changes. Intro - 0:00 ABS discussion — 5:00 Pete Crow-Armstrong, Liam Hicks, Matt McLain — 13:00 Isaac Collins, Cam Smith,...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 )roll out their 6th annual “Chalkboard Picks,” identifying three targets and three fades each for the 2026 fantasy season based on players finishing at least 20% above or below their ADP on the end-of-year Player Rater. Intro - 0:00 George Springer - 5:45 Jackson Merrill - 13:18 Brice Turang - 20:00 Cal Raleigh - 26:50...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) make their annual bold predictions for the 2026 fantasy season, focusing on low-probability outcomes that could happen if underlying skills, development, and health break right. Intro - 0:00 Wyatt Langford reaches 70 combined home runs and steals - 6:51 Parker Messick finishes as a Top 30 SP - 14:30 Matthew Liberator...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) get hyped for draft season and break down the start to TGFBI. Intro - 0:00 Steve's TGFBI Van’s TGFBI Board Ronald Acuna Jr. - 13:00 Elly De La Cruz - 18:00 Mason Miller - 25:40 Junior Caminero - 33:15 Ketel Marte - 39:35 Hunter Brown - 42:15 Freddy Peralta - 47:40 Rafael Devers - 51:00 Mookie Betts - 54:18 Eury Perez...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) highlight a group of late-round starting pitcher sleepers. Intro - 0:00 Kris Bubic - 5:45 Logan Henderson - 11:15 Kodai Senga - 16:45 Parker Messick - 21:50 Cody Ponce - 25:25 Mike Burrows - 29:50 Max Meyer 37:00 Ryan Weiss 43:00 Carlos Lagrange 46:30 Ryan Weathers, Joe Musgrove - 50:10 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWi...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) break down a series of position-by-position ADP battles, debating which similarly drafted players at the same position offer the better profile based on skills, trends, and risk factors heading into 2026. Intro Ronald Acuña Jr. / Julio Rodríguez — 5:30 Kyle Tucker / Fernando Tatis Jr. — 14:00 Trea Turner / Zach Neto...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) examine where projection systems diverge and how those gaps can create draft value, highlighting key hitting and pitching targets and fades. Intro Projection gaps = draft value ATC strong for power, RBIs, Ks ZiPS leads stolen bases OOPSY highlights ERA/WHIP edges Playing time assumptions matter Hosted by Simplecast,...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) break down November–January NFBC ADP risers, examining why the market is moving and which changes are worth buying into. Intro -- 0:00 Edward Cabrera to Cubs; Tatsuya Imaito Astros --7:17 Cody Ponce -- 17:35 Mike Burrows-- 22:35 Sean Manaea -- 28:15 Konnor Griffin -- 32:55 Jordan Walker -- 37:00 Riley O’Brien -- 42:0...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) celebrate Episode 200 with a Christmas wishlist of fantasy targets, highlighting mispriced upside across the draft board — from high-octane arms like Jacob Misiorowski, Trevor Rogers, and Jack Leiter to bats such as Yandy Díaz, Ben Rice, and Yordan Alvarez, plus bullpen upside in Abner Uribe and international intrigu...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) dig into early NFBC ADP for 2026, breaking down which players the market is mispricing — from rebound stars like Kyle Tucker and Jackson Merrill to skill-backed arms such as Dylan Cease and Sandy Alcantara, plus deeper upside swings who could surge as draft season sharpens. 0:00 Intro Kyle Tucker — 4:20  Jackson Merr...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) revisit one of their favorite in-season edges — tracking year-over-year Statcast changes — but with an offseason lens to see which early-season signals actually held up. Using Fangraphs’ Season Stat Grid and Podhorzer’s retrospective articles as a guide, they break down the biggest movers in Max EV, bat speed, barrel...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) discuss the second-half of the PL Podcasts Mock Draft as well as hand out their MVP awards for the fantasy baseball season. Draftboard 0:00 Intro 2:00 Playoff and World Series Thoughts 10:00 – Trey Yesavage 22:20 – Jakob Marsee 23:40 – Troy Melton 30:30 – Roki Sasaki 33:50 – Colson Montgomery 36:00 – Drake Baldwin 40...

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett ( @Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele ( @stav8818 ) are back after a long break to officially turn the page to the offseason. They review their 2025 “Chalkboard” picks — two targets and two fades each — breaking down which calls hit, which missed, and what takeaways they’re carrying into 2026 fantasy draft season. Draftboard Intro / Draft Landscape Takeaways – 0:00 Ju...