Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mason Miller’s hand fracture, the extremely slow pitches of Ildemaro Vargas, a Dylan Cease no-hitter, the punchless Mariners, the impending return of Rich Hill, what the teams with the toughest decisions at the trade deadline should do, updates on Clayton Kershaw (good!) and Mike Trout (not good!), Christian Yelich’s back, the ageless Carlos Santana, Juan Yepez as the new Joey Meneses, follow-ups on Aaron Judge’s zone rate and Oneil Cruz, a CBA change to mitigate the effects of the cable bubble bursting, and more. Then (1:21:55) they talk to Richie Flores, second VP of the National Beep Baseball Association and player for the Bayou City Heat, about the development of the sport and the league, and the Beep Baseball World Series.

Audio outro: Luke Lillard, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Kotsay quote

Link to reporter clarification

Link to ESPN on Miller

Link to Ben’s song

Link to MLBTR on Arozarena

Link to Vargas pitches

Link to Vargas clip

Link to Holt’s slowest pitch

Link to list of slowest pitches

Link to Petriello tweet

Link to Fast on slowest pitch

Link to Simmons tweet

Link to Tyson tweet

Link to Quora on slowest pitch

Link to Cease stats

Link to highest pitch counts

Link to MLBTR on Hill

Link to Hill on EW

Link to Hill Stat Blast

Link to Trout story

Link to Yelich story

Link to Santana/Martinez story

Link to previous Judge banter

Link to Judge before

Link to Judge after

Link to previous Cruz banter

Link to Drellich on TV revenue

Link to previous beep episode

Link to NBBA.org

Link to World Series info

Link to NBBA teams

Link to NBBA board

Link to NBBA on Twitter

Link to NBBA on YouTube

Link to NBBA on Facebook

Link to Richie’s podcast

Link to Beep book

Link to Beep book Q&A

Link to article on Richie

Link to Texas Monthly on beep ball

Link to news clip 1

Link to news clip 2

Link to MLBTR on Puk

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the likenesses, word counts, and stat citations on Hall of Fame plaques, what would happen if all past stats disappeared, the impending returns of Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw (and the recent return of J.T. Realmuto), the end of James Paxton’s time with the Dodgers, Jo Adell’s breakout fakeout and Jarren Duran’s belated breakout, Francisco Vicioso and Shaq Thompson, the morphing meme of Nick Castellanos, and the Brewers, the Mariners, and the challenge and payoff of rostering pretty good players.

Audio outro: Philip Bergman, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Mauer plaque

Link to Mauer hair commercial

Link to Beltré plaque

Link to Helton plaque

Link to McGriff plaque

Link to Leyland plaque

Link to Ruth plaque

Link to DiMaggio plaque

Link to Mantle plaque

Link to Fingers plaque

Link to FB post on plaques

Link to botched fresco

Link to article on Cobb’s hits

Link to WAR through age 27

Link to stats on hitter plaques

Link to stats on pitcher plaques

Link to BP on rewriting plaques

Link to Robinson statue article

Link to rebuilt Robinson statue

Link to The Onion stats article

Link to CME wiki

Link to MLB reboot episode

Link to MLBTR on Realmuto

Link to MLB.com on Realmuto’s return

Link to MLBTR on Trout

Link to MLB.com update on Trout

Link to Jaffe on Adell

Link to EW on Adell in May

Link to Sam on Duran

Link to Gomes on Dodgers pitching

Link to Reddit post on Vicioso

Link to Vicioso footage

Link to Shaq Thompson wiki

Link to Ben on Shaq in 2012

Link to Shusterman on Shaq

Link to Ben on Castellanos

Link to Apstein on playoff Castellanos

Link to Petriello on playoff Castellanos

Link to Levine on Castellanos

Link to McCarthy on Castellanos

Link to Levi on Castellanos

Link to Castellanos incidents tweet

Link to Castellanos incidents thread

Link to Jeff on avoiding the awful 1

Link to Jeff on avoiding the awful 2

Link to leading Brewers by PA

Link to Sheehan on the Brewers

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the BBWAA’s new sports gambling regulations, then (11:22) discuss the stories they’re most interested in following for the rest of the MLB season (plus, the implications of a bearded Aaron Judge).

Audio outro: Alex Ferrin, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to tweets about BBWAA code

Link to EW about journalist betting

Link to Paine’s questions post

Link to Kram’s power rankings

Link to rookie pitcher leaderboard

Link to rookie hitter leaderboard

Link to Sheehan on Skenes

Link to Ben’s preseason prediction

Link to Yankees hair link 1

Link to Yankees hair link 2

Link to Yankees hair link 3

Link to Yankees hair link 4

Link to Yankees hair link 5

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the highlights of the All-Star Game, a hypothetical Evan Longoria unretirement scenario, the newly announced 2025 regular-season schedule (featuring Tokyo contests and a “Rivalry Weekend”), a baseball movie-mention conspiracy theory, players possessed by Gameday 3D, the timing of Martín Maldonado’s DFA, and the potential effect of moving the foul lines. Then (36:54) they bring on FanGraphs lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen to break down the standout trends, teams, and players of the amateur draft, the demographics of amateur baseball, trading draft picks, and more.

Audio interstitial: Benny and a Million Shetland Ponies, “Effectively Wild Theme (Pedantic)”

Audio outro: Grant Brisbee, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Skenes ASG highlights

Link to Ohtani ASG highlights

Link to 2025 schedule

Link to featured rivalries

Link to Cubs promo video

Link to Longoria quote

Link to Superman news

Link to Caught Stealing

Link to Ben on movie sequels

Link to Gittell on EW

Link to Gittell’s book

Link to A Quiet Place scene

Link to Gameday 3D explainer

Link to possessed player clip 1

Link to possessed player clip 2

Link to Maldonado leaderboard

Link to MLBTR on Maldonado

Link to Ben on the foul lines

Link to Eric’s Day 1 recap

Link to Eric’s Day 2 recap

Link to Condor HR record

Link to college offense article 1

Link to college offense article 2

Link to Nightengale tweet

Link to ESPN top 100 athletes

Link to Manfred on draft picks

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Home Run Derby, the Futures Game and skills competition, Globe Life Field, All-Star uniforms, and more reflections from All-Star Week, then (34:18) discuss a challenge-system-driven change to broadcast K-zone displays, Chris Sale’s aversion to pitch-calling, quantifying game-calling, David Fletcher’s latest knuckleballing, using a position-player pitcher against a hitter who’s going for homer history, the shorthanded Dodgers rotation, a prediction about Aaron Judge, and a strikeout-rate plateau.

Audio outro: Justin Peters, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Manfred on the unis

Link to K-zone story

Link to K-zone tweet

Link to Manfred ABS comments

Link to Sale interview

Link to EW on game-calling

Link to Fletcher game log

Link to Fletcher investigation

Link to BP on Stubbs

Link to Dodgers depth chart

Link to MLBTR on May

Link to Ryan call-up

Link to Wells prediction

Link to Wells tweet

Link to Wells tweet 2

Link to non-pitcher K rates

Link to Picard clip

Link to preseason predictions update

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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Ben Lindbergh talks to Sam Miller of Pebble Hunting about the increase in IL stints at the All-Star break and Sam’s obsession with the evolving strategy of first-and-third situations. Then (41:29) Ben talks to Iowa state representative and Sioux City Explorers pitcher J.D. Scholten about his incredible baseball comeback at age 44, his baseball background, balancing baseball and politics, and his efforts to end MLB blackouts. Finally (1:20:14), Ben and The Athletic’s Evan Drellich talk to former NBC Sports and The Baseball Network president Ken Schanzer about the 30th anniversary of TBN, the first U.S. TV network owned by a pro sports league.

Audio outro: Tom Rhoads, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Calcaterra on Glasnow

Link to Devers shoulder story

Link to ASB IL placement data

Link to Sam on first-and-third 1

Link to Sam on first-and-third 2

Link to Clemens clip

Link to Clemens gamer

Link to Manny’s cutoff

Link to Russell on post-2013 changes

Link to Pebble Hunting

Link to Scholten call

Link to Scholten clip

Link to Scholten pitching

Link to Scholten local news clip

Link to Scholten’s B-Ref page

Link to Scholten’s wiki

Link to Gazette story on Scholten

Link to WaPo on Scholten

Link to SI on Scholten

Link to Honkbal wiki

Link to Congressional Baseball Game EW

Link to The Gazette on the blackouts bill

Link to Offerman on Field of Dreams

Link to EW on Field of Dreams

Link to canceled Field of Dreams series

Link to Scholten’s Substack

Link to Scholten’s campaign site

Link to Evan on EW 2168

Link to Evan on a national TV deal

Link to 1994 TBN theme song

Link to 1994 ASG at B-Ref

Link to The Baseball Network wiki

Link to ’93 WaPo story on Ken

Link to 1993 most powerful people

Link to 1991 most powerful people

Link to The Baseball Network sources

Link to Schanzer retirement story

Link to rookie All-Star SP

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about homerless White Sox second basemen, the recent history of teams with homerless positions, and the upsides and downsides of the trend toward focusing on present-season performance in All-Star selections, then (37:11) answer emails about an award for utility players, a player’s debut age matching his debut number, whether an infielder could rob a home run, whether fatigue would make a four-player batting order of stars worse than a regular, nine-player lineup, whether championships reside with a city or a franchise, whether umpires could wear shorts, the definition of a “clean inning,” what it means for a throw/tag to be “not in time,” and the requirements for breaking out of a slump, plus closing banter (1:33:23) about Paul Skenes as an All-Star starter.

Audio outro: The Shirey Brothers, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to 2B HR leaderboard

Link to White Sox 2B

Link to 2B projections

Link to White Sox 2B tweet

Link to Neil Paine’s Substack

Link to Neil on All-Stars

Link to Neil graphic

Link to ASG roster rules story

Link to WAR and ASG story

Link to 1989 Canseco/Schmidt story

Link to Reddit post

Link to Pujols/Miggy ASG

Link to Castro selection story

Link to Castro record tweet

Link to debut age/number sheet

Link to Kenny Jackelen’s Twitter

Link to HR hang time comment

Link to sprint speed leaderboard

Link to Elly speed quote

Link to 1917 Stanley Cup info

Link to World Series doc thread 1

Link to World Series doc thread 2

Link to 2019 umpire manual

Link to umpire shorts forum post

Link to EW on pants-splitting

Link to Dickson on “clean inning”

Link to Pudge/Eno underwear ad

Link to Julio power slump story

Link to Friends hair scene

Link to NL pitcher WAR

Link to Skenes gamer

Link to Jones max-effort story

Link to listener emails database

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s daughter coining a baseball term, how the on-screen strike-zone plot (slightly) delays the rest of the broadcast, Jose Miranda and the surprising 12-consecutive-hits club, David Robertson’s elite relief career, whether Shohei Ohtani should stop pitching, an attempt to quantify players’ smiles, how this season stacks up in terms of total team days at .500, and the latest player to break a bone punching a wall, followed (1:31:24) by Ben and Jessie Barbour performing the song, “Will the Bird Bones Be Unbroken?”

Audio outro: The Gagnés, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to DeMarsico episode

Link to DeMarsico episode wiki

Link to pickoff attempt 1

Link to pickoff attempt 2

Link to Miranda hit

Link to MLB.com on Miranda

Link to Episode 1964 wiki

Link to Dropo SABR bio

Link to Higgins SABR bio

Link to SABR on Higgins streak

Link to streaks wiki

Link to Twins Miranda tweet

Link to FG Plus stats

Link to Robertson ERA+

Link to reliever FIP-

Link to Lindsey on Ohtani

Link to Betteridge’s Law

Link to smiles study

Link to SMILE+ leaderboard

Link to facial-recognition bias

Link to .500 percentage graph

Link to story about Brewer

Link to Brewer photo

Link to list of fractures

Link to Ben and Jessie’s song

Link to song lyrics

Link to original song wiki

Link to Carter Family variant

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a genuine, no-foolin’ instance of “Strategy” (aka a mid-PA pitching change), Christian Walker’s affinity for Dodger Stadium, a Triple-A Waxahachie Swap, the Nationals optioning EW legend Joey Meneses, the Marlins DFA’ing Tim Anderson, and the latest Royce Lewis injury, plus follow-ups about bullpen-cart-driver tipping and fan catches. Then (36:10) they bring on Patreon supporter Wayne Teeger to discuss responses to recent discussions about K-Zone, ABS, and the challenge system and answer emails about ABS at lower levels, broadcasts missing pickoff attempts, green-screen issues (and other ad problems) on broadcasts, whether the path a champion takes through the playoffs matters to fans, pinch-hitting to negate a mound visit, and tracking 10K games for pitchers. Next, they Stat Blast (1:41:13) about the most major leaguers ever to play for a non-major-league team, followed by (1:48:53) a Future Blast from 2187.

Audio outro: Justin Peters, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to “Strategy” game

Link to Banda pitch

Link to Lovullo clip

Link to Ben on “Strategy”

Link to Girardi on “Strategy”

Link to Walker article

Link to Twins Triple-A Swap

Link to Ben on the Swap

Link to MLBTR on Meneses

Link to Ben on Meneses

Link to Wood’s number tweet

Link to MLBTR on Anderson

Link to lowest wRC+ since 2023

Link to Ottavino video

Link to bullpen-cart driver EW

Link to O’s fan catch

Link to O’s fan pitch

Link to Lewis clip

Link to Lewis quote

Link to MLBTR on Lewis/Lee

Link to Twins prospect list

Link to Wayne’s LinkedIn

Link to KBO ABS article

Link to baserunning leaderboard

Link to Giamatti Rhino scene

Link to pitcher wins article

Link to Stat Blast cover

Link to 2024 Mexican League

Link to 2024 Diablos Rojos

Link to 2022 River Cats

Link to 2013-14 Tigres del Licey

Link to 2009 Bears

Link to Kenny Jackelen’s Twitter

Link to listener emails database

Link to Future Blast wiki

Link to Future Blast text

Link to Rick Wilber’s site

Link to Alan Smale’s site

Link to Episode 2074 Future Blast

Link to Episode 2093 Future Blast

Link to Updike article

Link to Williams HR video 1

Link to Williams HR video 2

Link to Gowdy call

Link to Mays catch video

Link to Future Blast sound samples

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Phillies reliever José Ruiz threatening Ryan Webb’s career record for games finished without a save, Aaron Judge’s Hall of Fame case, the Mariners having a .540 winning percentage, just as Jerry Dipoto foretold (sort of), Dallas Keuchel being back in the big leagues, the White Sox, weirdly, dictating the trade deadline, and the collective performance of the Boras Four (or Five), then (54:27) answer a listener email about catchers fooling pitchers into issuing bad challenges under the challenge system, and (1:01:13) meet major leaguers Spencer Bivens, Jake Bloss, and Jacob Bosiokovic.

Audio outro: Alex Glossman and Ali Breneman, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to GF with no saves leaders

Link to Webb/Albers wiki

Link to Ben on Webb/Albers

Link to Webb/Albers on EW

Link to Triple Crown redundancy EW

Link to EW on Dipoto and .540

Link to Dipoto clip

Link to Dipoto follow-up

Link to .540 spreadsheet

Link to MLBTR on Montgomery

Link to MLBTR on Luzardo

Link to MLBTR on Flaherty

Link to 2023 ABS article 1

Link to 2023 ABS article 2

Link to 2024 ABS article

Link to MaML wiki

Link to B-Ref’s new debuts

Link to Buchanan on Bivens

Link to Bivens on Twitter

Link to Bivens on Insta

Link to Bloss call-up article

Link to Eric’s Astros prospects

Link to Georgetown major leaguers

Link to “The” OSU explainer

Link to “Hoya Saxa” explainer

Link to Cronin on EW

Link to MLBTR on Bosiokovic

Link to MLB.com on Bosiokovic

Link to Dispatch on Bosiokovic

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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 Email Us: [email protected]