Effectively Wild Episode 2056: Just-Noticeable Defense

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss listener responses to their banter about surprising Statcast throwing speeds, then (12:42) discuss Nick Ahmed ’s unsung great glovework, the A’s turning out to be (slightly) less historically terrible than they initially seemed, the AL West race, and how the Rangers missing the playoffs would reinforce conflicting narratives about baseball. After that (57:24), they answer listener emails about Mookie Betts overtaking Mike Trout in career WAR, how to tell when a team gets good at player development, and where it would be easiest to hide a smaller base among bigger bases, plus a Future Blast (1:32:26) from 2056. Audio intro : Josh Busman, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Audio outro : Ian H., “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Link to just-noticeable difference Link to Ahmed DFA story Link to FG WAR change post Link to Lawlar call-up story Link to study on Gold Gloves Link to DRS leaderboard Link to OAA leaderboard Link to Fielding RV leaderboard Link to Nichols’ Law Link to Dan S. on the A’s in May Link to Tango on the A’s in May Link to EW on the A’s in May Link to The Athletic on the Tigers Link to CBS Sports on the Tigers Link to worst run differentials Link to BaseRuns records Link to Fisher interview Link to Fisher’s notepad Link to FG playoff odds Link to Kram on the AL West Link to Astros HR fact 1 Link to Astros HR fact 2 Link to FG payroll ranking Link to Ben on spending and wins Link to highest WARs through 30 Link to those players post-30 Link to Driveline dev study 1 Link to Driveline dev study 2 Link to story on Benoit’s slider Link to pitching lab story 1 Link to pitching lab story 2 Link to pitching lab story 3 Link to pitching lab story 4 Link to listener emails database Link to Rick Wilber’s website Link to Future Blast wiki Link to visual acuity research Link to Sam on Hamilton Sponsor Us on Patreon Facebook Group Twitter Account EW Subreddit Effectively Wild Wiki iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!) Get Our Merch! Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source