Effectively Wild Episode 1702: Just a Bit Outside

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 var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source