Wins Above Fantasy

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett (@Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele (@stav8818) are back in the saddle to kick off the 2027 offseason with the annual PL Podcasts Mock Draft. They cover their biggest takeaways, some scary Halloween positional cliffs, and the team they built from the 1.1 slot.

Draftboard

• Intro, World Series and the Mock Draft — 0:00
• Biggest Takeaways — 8:23

• Top-of-the-board eye poppers: Jacob Misiorowski, Pete Crow-Armstrong, CJ Abrams, Cam Schlittler, Brice Turang, Konnor Griffin, Miguel Vargas
• Bargain-bin veteran pitchers
• A disappointing first round and a shallow SS pool

• Happy Halloween: Scary Positional Cliffs (2B, OF, 3B, SP) — 18:13
• Our Draft: Drafting From 1.1 — 33:24

• Shohei Ohtani at 1.1
• Favorite values: Hunter Brown and Jake Bauers

• Least Favorite Aspect of Our Team — 43:05
• Full Board View: Value Picks — 49:00

• Max Meyer
• Jackson Jobe
• Walbert Ureña
• Kaima Taira
• Chase DeLauter
• Munetaka Murakami
• Early thoughts on the SP “honeypot”

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett (@Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele (@stav8818) revisit their 2026 Chalkboard and Bold Predictions, breaking down what they got right and wrong and what they can learn from their process heading into 2027.

• Intro — 0:00
• Jackson Merrill — 5:42
• George Springer — 15:10
• Zack Wheeler — 20:35
• Cody Ponce — 25:25
• Isaac Paredes — 26:18
• Kevin McGonigle — 29:15
• Brice Turang — 34:25
• Cedanne Rafaela — 35:30
• Andy Pages — 35:30
• Cal Raleigh — 40:43
• Chandler Simpson — 40:43
• Trevor Rogers — 40:43
• Wyatt Langford — 48:45
• Matthew Liberatore — 48:50
• Jake Burger — 48:55
• Griffin Jax — 49:20
• Eury Perez — 49:31
• Parker Messick — 54:50
• Ben Rice — 54:57
• Jack Leiter — 55:30
• Kevin McGonigle — 55:45

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett (@Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele (@stav8818) look at some of the most surprising statistical performances of the 2026 season, highlighting players who have put up unexpected numbers across the fantasy landscape.

• Intro — 0:00
• Kazuma Okamoto — 4:30
• Miguel Vargas — 13:00
• Colson Montgomery — 14:30
• Luis Garcia Jr. — 10:00
• Chandler Simpson — 17:30
• Nick Gonzales — 21:00
• Otto Lopez — 22:30
• Gabriel Moreno — 23:00
• TJ Rumfield — 24:00
• Josh Naylor — 28:35
• José Ramírez — 31:30
• Jackson Merrill — 35:59
• Ty France — 43:28
• Javier Sanoja — 45:00
• Jake McCarthy — 47:20
• Gabriel Moreno — 47:20
• Reid Detmers — 51:00
• Taj Bradley — 56:00
• Bryan Baker — 59:30
• Riley O’Brien — 1:00:00

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett (@Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele (@stav8818) look back at five early-season Wins Above Fantasy episodes to see which lessons, calls, and processes held up through the 2026 season.

• Intro — 0:00
• WAF 208 — Early-Season Observations — 6:00
• WAF 209 — Waiver Wire Adds/Watches — 16:20
• WAF 210 — Early-Season Hitter Changes That Matter — 24:50
• WAF 213 — Buy-Low Hitters — 35:45
• WAF 214 — Under-the-Radar Starting Pitchers — 49:30

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett (@Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele (@stav8818) talk hitters and pitchers who have quietly put together impressive August performances, exploring which breakouts are legitimate and which could be small-sample noise heading into the final month of 2026 and 2027.

• Intro — 0:00
• Jac Caglianone — 7:40
• Alec Burleson — 15:10
• Luke Keaschall — 21:16
• Chase DeLauter — 28:42
• Carson Benge — 35:50
• Liam Hicks — 40:40
• Ian Seymour — 44:30
• Jacob Lopez — 48:25
• Matthew Liberatore — 53:55
• Grayson Rodriguez — 58:30
• Tyler Mahle — 59:45
• Eduardo Rodriguez — 1:02:00
• Christian Scott — 1:07:00

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett (@Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele (@stav8818) highlight productive hitters and pitchers who have flown under their radar this season, exploring what has driven their success and which performances are worth believing in heading into 2027.

• Intro — 0:00
• Hunter Goodman — 4:30
• Sal Stewart — 14:40
• Jake McCarthy — 21:30
• Jake Bauers — 27:38
• Randy Arozarena — 33:07
• Brandon Lowe — 38:40
• Cristopher Sanchez — 44:00
• Chase Burns — 51:18
• Logan Gilbert — 56:08
• Gavin Williams — 59:13
• Payton Tolle — 1:04:05
• Bryan Woo — 1:10:00

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett (@Van_Verified) and Steve Gesuele (@stav8818) discuss players who have performed best since the All-Star break, identifying the underlying skill changes they believe are real and what those improvements could mean for the rest of the season.

• Intro — 0:00
• Jackson Merrill — 3:30
• Austin Riley — 12:23
• Ceddanne Rafaela — 18:00
• Fernando Tatis Jr. — 23:00
• Wilyer Abreu — 28:00
• Griffin Conine — 37:05
• Nolan McLean — 40:30
• David Peterson — 45:50
• Roki Sasaki — 49:55
• Troy Melton — 56:00
• Trevor Rogers — 58:34
• Brandon Pfaadt — 1:01:50
• Eury Pérez — 1:05:00

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett (@Van_Verified) Steve Gesuele (@stav8818) and special guest Dan Weber (@DTWeb313) look ahead to 2027 fantasy baseball drafts by conducting a 15-player mock first round, discussing where they believe the market will value players next spring while debating surprises, values, and notable omissions.

Draft Results

• Intro — 0:00
• Shohei Ohtani — 7:30
• Aaron Judge — 13:50
• Pete Crow-Armstrong — 18:30
• Bobby Witt Jr. — 25:45
• James Wood — 31:22
• Yordan Alvarez — 37:00
• Junior Caminero — 43:00
• Juan Soto — 48:00
• Jacob Misiorowski — 52:00
• Elly De La Cruz — 58:40
• Nick Kurtz — 1:03:50
• Ben Rice — 1:08:00
• CJ Abrams — 1:08:00
• Tarik Skubal — 1:14:00
• Mason Miller — 1:16:40

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett (@Van_Verified) Steve Gesuele (@stav8818) look back at the biggest players they missed during draft season, what changed, what they got right (or wrong) in the evaluation process, and the lessons they'll carry into 2027.

• Intro — 0:00
• Nick Kurtz — 5:42
• Pete Crow-Armstrong (PCA) — 13:18
• Yordan Alvarez — 21:10
• James Wood — 24:48
• CJ Abrams — 28:30
• Andy Pages — 36:39
• Munetaka Murakami — 37:30
• Jesús Luzardo — 40:10
• Dylan Cease — 40:10
• Sonny Gray — 46:50
• Justin Wrobleski — 50:30
• Foster Griffin — 53:17

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wins Above Fantasy – Van Burnett (@Van_Verified) Steve Gesuele (@stav8818) break down the rest-of-season strength of schedule landscape, highlighting the best team schedules to exploit for fantasy value and identifying hitters and pitchers worth targeting before the fantasy playoffs.

• Intro — 0:00
• Teams to Target — 3:00
• Cleveland Guardians — 15:00
• Houston Astros — 21:00
• Texas Rangers — 21:30
• Tampa Bay Rays — 37:20
• Minnesota Twins — 42:38
• Kansas City Royals — 48:07
• Los Angeles Dodgers — 1:00:00
• Athletics — 1:05:12
• Detroit Tigers — 1:08:42

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 — 17:00
• Justin Wrobleski — 22:02
• Sonny Gray — 30:05
• Eury Pérez — 36:00
• Foster Griffin, Sean Burke, Cade Cavalli — 44:22
• Emmet Sheehan — 52:10
• Roki Sasaki — 56:40
• Chad Patrick, Ryan Weathers — 1:05:00

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 — 17:40
• Spencer Horwitz — 21:40
• Victor Caratini — 24:30
• Fernando Tatis Jr. — 28:45
• Michael Busch — 33:45
• Carson Benge — 36:40
• Curtis Mead — 42:25
• Jacob Young — 42:25
• Brandon Nimmo — 42:25
• Adley Rutschman — 54:00
• Dominic Canzone — 55:15
• Jake Burger — 58:25
• Caleb Durbin — 1:02:14
• Sam Antonacci — 1:05:50
• Tristan Peters — 1:14:00

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 — 12:45
• Jordan Walker — 21:54
• Jacob Misiorowski — 28:10
• Cam Schlittler — 28:10
• Munetaka Murakami — 38:10
• Miguel Vargas — 44:31
• Casey Schmitt — 50:10
• Otto Lopez — 56:30
• Dillon Dingler — 1:02:05
• Alec Burleson — 1:08:00
• TJ Rumfield — 1:13:45

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Crews — 44:5
• Dustin May — 46:50
• Reid Detmers — 52:45
• Bryce Miller — 58:11
• Kyle Bradish — 1:02:40
• Jared Jones — 1:04:50
• Parker Messick — 1:09:22

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 – 30:50
• Griffin Jax – 36:37
• Matthew Liberatore – 41:55
• Cal Raleigh – 43:50
• Zack Wheeler – 45:00
• Andy Pages – 50:00
• Brice Turang – 55:25
• Max Meyer – 58:36
• Kodai Senga – 1:00:25
• Ryan Weiss – 1:00:25
• Mike Burrows – 1:00:25

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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
• Edwin Arroyo — 11:00
• Charlie Condon — 21:45
• Cole Carrigg — 26:50
• Braden Montgomery — 30:13
• Hendry Mendez, Kaelen Culpepper — 34:15
• Kade Anderson — 43:30
• Ryan Sloan — 48:00
• Wei-En Lin — 52:00
• Jared Jones — 58:00
• Spencer Schwellenbach — 59:00
• Hunter Greene — 1:00:00
• Didier Fuentes, Ryan Waldschmidt — 1:01:50

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 streaming and upside chasing in a difficult pitching environment.

• Intro -- 0:00
• Griffin Jax / Drew Rasmussen — 8:30
• Drew Anderson / Troy Melton — 17:45
• Ben Brown — 26:20
• Zac Gallen — 35:15
• Zebby Matthews — 39:22
• Brandon Sproat — 45:45
• Anthony Kay — 49:50
• Kumar Rocker — 57:20

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 quality of their contact.

• Intro -- 0:00
• Fernando Tatis Jr. — 12:55
• Gunnar Henderson — 19:10
• Cal Raleigh — 24:40
• Ketel Marte — 32:30
• Roman Anthony, Ronald Acuña Jr. — 37:05
• Pete Crow-Armstrong — 46:35
• Trent Grisham — 50:35
• Bo Bichette — 53:15
• Corey Seager — 56:45

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 focuses on hitters making meaningful skill changes (stance, swing decisions, contact quality), and what those changes might mean for fantasy value going forward.

• Intro -- 0:00
• Michael Harris II — 9:10
• Sal Stewart — 15:45
• Kevin McGonigle — 21:00
• Dillon Dingler — 27:20
• Carlos Cortes — 32:00
• Casey Schmitt — 41:35
• Christian Walker
• James Wood — 54:30
• Mike Trout — 58:32
• Spencer Steer — 59:50
• Heliot Ramos — 1:04:15
• Angel Martinez — 1:07:15

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 breakouts, buy-lows, and profile changes heading into the heart of the season.

• Cam Schlittler — 3:45
• Jacob Misiorowski — 9:50
• Shota Imanaga — 14:45
• Jesus Luzardo — 20:52
• Reid Detmers — 26:35
• Emerson Hancock — 30:37
• Will Warren — 35:42
• Chase Dollander — 42:45
• Jack Leiter — 49:00
• Mystery Pitcher — 54:38

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.