Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and guest co-host Mike Ferrin of MLB Network Radio and the Diamondbacks’ broadcast crew discuss the D-Backs’ 17-game losing streak and more extended stretch of futility before bantering about Shohei Ohtani’s Player of the Week Award-winning performance and the potential for Ohtani to own All-Star Week, the call-up of (and expectations for) Rays infielder and MLB top prospect Wander Franco, and Manny Machado getting distracted by the wave. Then (50:09) Ben talks to biomechanics expert, former Dodgers analyst, and current CEO of Reboot Motion Dr. Jimmy Buffi about how sticky stuff enhances performance, whether Tyler Glasnow was right about the foreign-substance crackdown increasing injury risk, why injury rates are up this season, and whether Jacob deGrom’s ever-escalating velocity and series of minor injuries are causes for concern. Lastly (1:25:37), Ben talks to Rays pitching prospect Graeme Stinson about the lefty’s experience with sticky stuff, the wisdom and effects of the enforced foreign-substance ban, the experimental pickoff rules that have boosted base stealing in A ball, housing and nutrition in the minor leagues, and the founding and future of StatStak, the performance-tracking company he helped start during the pandemic. Audio intro: Grateful Dead, "Loser" Audio interstitial 1: Electric Light Orchestra, "Hold on Tight" Audio interstitial 2: Dave Clark and Friends, "Rub it In" Audio outro: Sharon Van Etten, "Seventeen" Link to list of longest losing streaks Link to Peacock plate appearance Link to Peacock backstory Link to Ohtani Player of the Week highlights Link to Ohtani’s Coors BP Link to FanGraphs Rays prospect ranking Link to Franco origin story Link to all-time list of youngest MLB players Link to video of Machado and the wave Link to Buffi’s first podcast appearance Link to Glasnow comments Link to Mike Sonne’s fatigue research Link to Buffi’s elbow/forearm study Link to Reboot Motion website Link to 2021 experimental rules Link to Jayson Stark on A-ball base stealing Link to Stinson’s Twitter account Link to StatStak website Link to Diamondbacks game story Link to article on sticky stuff and batted balls Link to average 4-seam spin rate by day chart Link to Meg on Lind Link to Maldonado video  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley follow up on previous discussions about player predictions and game postponements, answer listener emails about a sticky-stuff pitcher protest, the talent level in the College World Series, the wave as a player-distraction device, a six-year-old who roots for walks, and when the Astros will stop being booed (with an aside about foreign-substance use and the Hall of Fame), then unload a Stat Blast about the Twins and teams with the most and least lineup turnover after Opening Day, before closing with a “Meet a Major Leaguer” segment on Mariners outfielder Dillon Thomas and Monarchs two-way great Bullet Rogan. Audio intro: Franz Ferdinand, "Bullet" Audio outro: Franz Ferdinand, "Walk Away" Link to article about Puckett’s called shot Link to article about Nationals delay Link to Jeff Passan on sticky stuff Link to Ben on mid-PA pitching changes Link to Ben on college player development Link to info on distracting free-throw shooters Link to post about swinging against deGrom Link to tweet about swinging against deGrom Link to story on the Astros being booed in Boston Link to Baseball Prospectus IL Ledger Link to Stat Blast data Link to SABR on the Cobb replacement game Link to news segment about Thomas Link to video of Burrows throwing (up) Link to Baseball-Reference Negro Leagues hub Link to Bullet Rogan’s B-Ref page Link to SABR on Rogan’s 1921 game Link to MLB.com on Negro Leagues two-way stars Link to THT on Negro Leagues two-way stars  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Jose Altuve forgoing a home run trot, then break down the details of MLB’s plan to enforce the rules against foreign-substance use starting on June 21, covering the pros and cons of putting that plan into action at midseason and opting to ban all substances, what the effects on offense will be, whether Tyler Glasnow’s injury presages many more arm injuries ahead, a Scott Boras metaphor, and much more. Then (51:07) they bring on EW listener and criminology scholar Josh Beck to explain what the principles of punishment and deterrence can tell us about the efficacy of MLB’s approach to preventing cheating. Audio intro: John Lennon, "Cold Turkey" Audio interstitial: Grateful Dead, "Victim or the Crime" Audio outro: Paul McCartney & Wings, "Spin it On" Link to video of 2012 Morse homer Link to video of Altuve homer Link to details of MLB’s plan Link to Ben on sticky stuff Link to Jeff Passan on sticky stuff Link to Boras statement Link to info on deterrence Link to paper on deterrence theory Link to five findings about deterrence Link to paper on cheating in baseball  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s experience seeing Shohei Ohtani pitch, hit, and play right field in person, why balks can be so incomprehensible, the differing recent fortunes of the Angels and the Diamondbacks (and Albert Pujols), Jacob deGrom’s dominance and durability, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the big bats (and playoff fortunes) of the Blue Jays, and Baseball-Reference relaunching with the Negro Leagues reclassified as major leagues. After a break, they return (41:43) to talk more about the Baseball-Reference redesign, hearing first from researcher Larry Lester and Josh Gibson’s great-grandson Sean Gibson on the historic and personal significance of the new presentation of Negro Leagues stats and information, before bringing on Sports Reference president Sean Forman to explain how and why his company updated its display of Negro Leagues data, the ethical and practical considerations involved, and what will happen next. Audio intro: The Minders, "Same Time, Same Place" Audio interstitial: The Baseball Project, "They Played Baseball" Audio outro: The Baseball Project, "Jackie’s Lament" Link to highlights of Ohtani game Link to Ohtani balks breakdown Link to Ohtani balk face Link to Jay Jaffe on Ohtani’s MVP case Link to Sam on balks Link to Jon Bois balk rules Link to Blue Jays hard-hit-balls stat Link to MLB.com on deGrom Link to Dan Szymborski on the ERA record Link to Episode 1560 (with Larry Lester) Link to Episode 1626 (with Sean Gibson) Link to Episode 1630 (with Ron Teasley) Link to Larry Lester’s website Link to the Josh Gibson Foundation Link to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Link to the Seamheads Negro Leagues Database Link to Ben on Negro Leagues reclassification last August Link to Ben on Negro Leagues reclassification last December Link to Shakeia Taylor on merging records Link to James Wagner on the Baseball-Reference redesign Link to the new Baseball-Reference Negro Leagues hub  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and The Athletic’s Grant Brisbee discuss Grant’s experience co-hosting a podcast with Hunter Pence and Grant’s hatred of the zombie-runner rule, before attempting to explain how and why the San Francisco Giants have baseball’s best record and what they should do at the trade deadline. Audio intro: The Baseball Project, "The Giants Win the Pennant" Audio outro: The New Pornographers, "Need Some Giants" Link to Baseball Barista Link to Baggs & Brisbee Link to Grant’s Pence scouting report Link to Grant on the zombie-runner rule Link to The Athletic on the Giants’ offensive improvement Link to Grant on Oracle Park Link to Grant on the Giants’ bullpen Link to Tim Keown on the Giants  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about another prescient player prediction (this time involving the Phillies’ Luke Williams), Nick Madrigal’s hamstring injury, another aspect of the baseball scene in A Quiet Place Part II, and a few observations about the foreign-substance scandal, including teams’ culpability, how the perception of sticky stuff use may mirror the perception of the PED era, Pete Alonso’s conspiracy theory about MLB manipulating the baseball, and how the evolution of sticky stuff mirrors the evolution of the spitball. Then they answer listener emails about the underperforming Yankees offense, outs on the bases, and WAR for base coaches, whether MLB needs new names for positions, the “father-son” rule in Australian Rules Football, how vaccination status might affect player trade value, seven-inning-game gamesmanship, and John Gant and regression. Audio intro: Pavement, "Spit on a Stranger" Audio outro: The Rentals, "Conspiracy" Link to FanGraphs newsletter Link to story about the Williams walk-off Link to James Fegan on Madrigal Link to video about baseball movies Link to Brittany Ghiroli on team/MLB culpability Link to Devan Fink on spin and performance Link to Ben on offense in the steroid era Link to Alonso comments Link to history of spitballs Link to Pages from Baseball’s Past Link to Cluster Luck leaderboard Link to wOBA-xwOBA leaderboard Link to 2021 team RISP splits Link to B-Ref outs on the bases leaderboard Link to Russell Carleton on third-base coaches Link to Ben on positions and the shift Link to cricket positions graphic  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter (sans spoilers) about baseball movie A Quiet Place Part II, Eric Sogard sliding over first base, a Travis Jankowski TOOTBLAN, Miguel Sanó repeatedly predicting success, and Jesse Winker raking, then consider whether it’s actually “unfortunate” that the first true two-way player in ages is as good as Shohei Ohtani, answer listener emails about the two-way-player Mendoza Line and whether pitcher Ohtani or hitter Ohtani would win a head-to-head matchup, and conclude with an in-depth discussion about what might happen and what we’ll learn if MLB does crack down on foreign-substance usage. Audio intro: Dawes, "Crack the Case" Audio outro: Bachelor, "Aurora" Link to Sogard slide Link to Jankowski TOOTBLAN Link to Twins triple play Link to 2017 Sanó triple play prediction Link to 2021 Sanó triple play prediction Link to Sanó 3-homer-game prediction Link to Sanó 2014 season prediction Link to list of players with multiple 3-homer games Link to Devan Fink on Winker Link to Jeremy Frank tweet about Ohtani Link to R.J. Anderson on Ohtani vs. Ohtani Link to video of Ohtani facing himself in VR Link to Buster Olney on MLB’s crackdown Link to Ken Rosenthal on Joe West and MLB Link to Bauer’s Players’ Tribune piece Link to Bauer on morals Link to Dylan Hernández on Bauer and the Dodgers Link to Fabian Ardaya on Bauer and spin Link to The Athletic on Spider Tack Link to Ben on foreign substances Link to SI on foreign substances Link to Travis Sawchik on foreign substances  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Sports Illustrated’s Emma Baccellieri banter about Ryan Yarbrough throwing a rare Rays complete game, then share their thoughts on the recent debate about media access in sports sparked by tennis star Naomi Osaka, touching on how access to athletes compares across sports, the dubious value of press conferences, athletes’ obligations and mental health, how media coverage can help players, reporters, and the public, the ongoing efforts to restore MLB clubhouse access, and whether it makes sense for baseball teams (and Joe Girardi) to dissemble and withhold information about tactics and player availability. Then they examine recent research that suggests that defensive positioning (but not the infield shift!) may be responsible for much of MLB’s offensive outage, and discuss Emma’s recent deep dives into newspaper archives to see what contemporary writers, players, and baseball officials said about the 1968 Year of the Pitcher and the 1917 spree of no-hitters, reflecting on the value of historical research, how baseball history (and coverage) repeats itself, how the 1968 discourse mirrored and differed from today’s, whether we’ve gotten better at diagnosing baseball’s problems, putting pitchers in holes, and much more. Audio intro: The Rolling Stones, "Yesterday’s Papers" Audio outro: Split Enz, "History Never Repeats" Link to Joe Posnanski on Osaka Link to Bryan Curtis on Osaka Link to Curtis on NBA press conferences Link to Ken Davidoff on Girardi Link to Devan Fink on Harper Link to Rob Arthur on defensive positioning Link to Rob on fielders playing deeper Link to Rob on outfield shifts Link to Russell Carleton on four-man outfields Link to study on optimizing outfield positioning Link to story on Fowler in 2016 Link to story on Jones in 2017 Link to Emma on baseball dying Link to story on the 1963 strike zone expansion Link to Emma on 1968 Link to Rob Mains on 1968 Link to Emma on 1917  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about why “Zombie Runner,” not “Manfred Man,” remains their preferred term for the automatic runner, zombies in general, position player pitchers vs. pitcher hitters, the benefits of forfeits, the increasing rate of pitcher hitters not attempting to put the ball in play, MLB’s bad timing with NFTs, the minor league sticky substance crackdown, and the death of Mike Marshall and the chances of ever seeing another pitcher like him. Then (42:04) they talk to Ethan Singer, the creator of the @UmpScorecards Twitter account and UmpScorecards.com, about how and why he started tracking umpire accuracy, how his audience grew, why assessing umpire performance is complicated, how his methodology has evolved, accuracy vs. consistency, team-level umpiring metrics, fan anger at umps, what the robo zone could look like, his new-feature plans, and more. Audio intro: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, "Runner" Audio interstitial: The Jazz Butcher, "Zombie Love" Audio outro: Marbles, "Out of Zone" Link to Bradley PA Link to Walker PA Link to data on pitchers not swinging Link to story about the NFT bubble Link to story about Gehrig NFT Link to story about NFTs’ environmental impact Link to story about minor league suspensions Link to Joel Sherman on foreign substances Link to Passan on Marshall Link to Russell Carleton on pitching roles Link to Umpire Scorecards on Twitter Link to Umpire Scorecards website Link to Ethan’s website  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Luis Urías, the zombie runner, and walk-off wins, a few other aspects of the Will Craig/Javier Báez play, a new stat called the “Boner,” MLB and NFTs, Theo Epstein’s recent comments about making changes to the game, Shohei Ohtani’s player-page traffic and the future of two-way players, the Rays and Rich Hill, how the aftermath of the spitball ban relates to the future of foreign substance use, the definition of a “generational talent,” whether to credit teams or players for positioning, and whether MLB should ban in-game analytics use (and coaching visits), plus a Stat Blast about Trey Mancini and players who’ve accrued the highest-ever percentages of their teams’ runs and RBI. Audio intro: The Replacements, "Gary’s Got a Boner" Audio outro: David Newberry, "The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth" Link to Brewers walk-off game story Link to Craig’s comment about his boner Link to Dan in Milwaukee’s field diagram Link to story about Gehrig NFT Link to story about Topps NFTs Link to story about NFTs’ environmental impact Link to Theo Epstein story Link to Ben on Ohtani Link to story about the spitball ban Link to Pages from Baseball’s Past Link to Servais “generational player” quote Link to Tango on sports generations Link to story about Joe West confiscating card Link to “lasers in the outfield” story Link to Stat Blast “Contribution Rate” data Link to Ben Clemens on Lindor Link to All-Star Game lawsuit story Link to second All-Star Game lawsuit story Link to listener David Newberry’s album  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source