Episode Details

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a player/league/umpire spat over on-screen strike-zone plots, whether “K-Zone” and its ilk have had a harmful effect on the game, where they stand on a hitter vs. pitcher dispute about the mid-game use of advanced pitching machines, the promotion of Nationals top prospect James Wood (and the future of Orioles top prospect Jackson Holliday), and Byron Buxton’s recent success. Then (59:08) they identify and discuss the teams, hitters, and pitchers that have most surpassed or fallen short of their preseason projections halfway through the regular season.

Audio intro: Dave Armstrong and Mike Murray, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Nate Emerson, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Drellich on zone plots
Link to Reddit thread on plots
Link to BP piece on plots
Link to ESPN on pitching machines
Link to Ben on pitching machines
Link to Ben on moving the mound
Link to Ben on roster limits
Link to MLBTR on Wood
Link to Nationals depth chart
Link to FG’s The Board
Link to MLB Pipeline top 100
Link to AAA wRC+ leaders
Link to Holliday’s game logs