Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Most Improved, Biggest Breakthroughs & Best Comebacks! (10/1 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 The 2025 season is over. Let's talk most improved, biggest breakthroughs, and best comebacks. Up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome in to FBT Express on Wednesday, October 1st. Here we are, October baseball. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White. And just a heads up, Scott put out an article with 40 different awards. So if you want to read about all those, make sure to check it out on the site.

Starting point is 00:00:26 We are going to focus on a specific. seven awards here, starting with the most improved hitter, Scott, who went to... I'm trying to find it. It's Geraldo Perdomo. Sorry, didn't have the spot queued up. Haraldo Perdomo, most improved hitter. There were a lot of deserving candidates, but obviously he makes the most sense. Hit three home runs last year, and it never had more than six. And across three full big league seasons, that jumped to 20 this year. And also, nearly doubled his previous high in steals with 27, basically improved across the board,

Starting point is 00:01:08 had more walks than strikeouts, which is part of the reason he was number one shortstop in head-to-head points leagues. Number three in Roto, though, at that star-studded position. And, you know, the exit velocities aren't impressive by any means, but expected stats on his baseball savant page, they pretty much back up what he did.

Starting point is 00:01:26 I don't know that anybody's going to draft him like he finished in 2025, but he was an impeccable. Actful player in 2025 for sure. The most improved pitcher goes to somebody you actually liked quite a bit before the season. Yeah, Nick Povetta was a sleeper of mine, and he blew away my expectations as well. Had never had an ERA below four before, but signed with the Padres, first time pitching in a park that would actually benefit a fly ball pitcher like him rather than hinder him. And 287 ERA.

Starting point is 00:02:00 right. Not only was it below four, it was below three. And he was a top 10 starting pitcher in points leagues. Looks like a little lower, a little outside of the top 10 in Rhodo, but still very good. Was an ace. Practically an ace, Nick Povett. I don't think he'll be quite that good next year, but he'll be in San Diego again. And that should mean that the venue plays to his strengths again.

Starting point is 00:02:27 The biggest breakthrough can only go, to one player. Caminero. Yeah, it was a big breakthrough. It was not unexpected, given that he was a top prospect, but I think the extent of the breakthrough was very much unexpected

Starting point is 00:02:52 because in that song, in the clip from the song you just played, I talked about him hitting his 35th home run of the season. And as I recorded it, an optimist about Junior Combinero's breakthrough, I thought, yeah, 35's pushing it, exaggerating a little bit, but that's fine. It's just a silly song.

Starting point is 00:03:12 He ended up hitting 45, ended up hitting 45. I believe only five players had more home runs than him in all the majors. So huge breakout. Common Arrow goes at 22, he becomes one of the game's premier power hitters. What about the biggest breakthrough mid-season edition? Gavin Williams. is my choice for this. At the halfway point, at the Allster break,

Starting point is 00:03:39 he had a 370 ERA, a 143 whip. An 8.8K per 9, 12th team leagues. That had them on the verge of being dropped, I'm sure, and most of them. But then in the second half, 218 ERA, 105 whip, 10K per 9. And I want to emphasize the 10K per 9 for Williams, especially in the second half.

Starting point is 00:03:59 Because at the start of things, the breakout seemed kind of fake. He wasn't missing that many bad. but he really found another gear in his last five starts, especially a 174 ERA, 66% strike rate. That's compared to 60% in the first half. And a 14% swinging strike rate, which is elite number.

Starting point is 00:04:19 So I definitely think by the end, that breakthrough for Gavin Williams was full and true. All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in FBT Express. Let's take a look at the biggest comebacks this season. The best comeback on the hitter side goes to

Starting point is 00:04:39 George Springer. And I hesitate to call it a comeback because only once had he ever been this good. 2019 is the only year where He Springer had a higher OPS than in 2025. And if you'll remember 2019, pretty much every hitter who was playing then turned in career best numbers

Starting point is 00:05:00 because the ball was so juicy. Springer had never hit over 300 before. he had only twice had 30 homers before. And listen to this. After the All-Star break in 2025, 369 batting average 1121 OPS. Springer did all of this as a 35-year-old who was being written off as a fantasy asset prior to this season.

Starting point is 00:05:26 It just seemed like he had declined too much. But big bounce back here in his age 35 season. All right. What about the best comeback on the Pets? pitcher's side, this one feels pretty obvious. Guy even older than Springer, it's Jacob de Grom. He hadn't thrown even a hundred innings in a season since 2019. Hundreds not a high bar to meet for a starting pitcher.

Starting point is 00:05:51 He hadn't reached it since 2019. This year, though, 172 and two-thirds innings. So he took on a big boy workload. And he wasn't as good as, you know, those short-inning seasons. but he was still very good. 13th best starting pitcher in both prominent scoring formats. And I like that there was a reason behind him being able to last longer. He averaged 97.5 on his fastball, which is still very good,

Starting point is 00:06:21 but it's the lowest he'd averaged on the fastball, again, since 2019, since he last took on that big workload. Talked about it at the start of the year. It seemed to work. So I think I'm going to be drafting Jacob de Grum with more gusto next year, despite his age. What about the best comeback midseason edition? Who turned it on when we needed the most?

Starting point is 00:06:42 Got to go with Michael Harris here. First half, he had 210 with a 551 OPS, was one of the biggest busts in fantasy. Second half, looked like Michael Harris again, 299 with an 845 OPS. And notably, even though he went a long way toward correcting his batting average in the second half, still was one of the biggest underachievers by expected batting average, according to Stackcast. So it feels like he deserved better, despite the improvement. And the improvement coincided with an adjustment at the plate,

Starting point is 00:07:16 went back to holding his hands up close to his ear like he did in minors, rather than in front of his stomach like he'd done for most of his major league career. That helped get Michael Harris back on track. All right. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to our full-lane podcast Fantasy Baseball today on Spotify. Apple Podcasts or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today Express.

Starting point is 00:07:41 And we will be back again on Friday. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.

Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Most Improved, Biggest Breakthroughs & Best Comebacks! (10/1 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

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