Effectively Wild Episode 2342: The Extension Extension

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the return of Richard Lovelady , the MLB season debut of knuckleballer Matt Waldron , the superlative Zack Wheeler , how other knuckleballers in baseball are faring, Rich Hill’ s wait for a call-up, Shohei Ohtani vs. Vinnie Pasquantino , Jacob Misiorowski and the leaguewide rise in pitcher extension, James Wood’ s four intentional walks in one game (and the Angels’ outlier IBB total), MLB’s strikeout plateau (or reversal), Luis Arraez ’s pursuit of contact history, historic events involving Wilyer Abreu , Trevor Rogers , and Jack Leiter , a serial fan interferer, the biggest team attendance climbs and declines, and how MLB’s minor league parks have played. Audio intro : Philip Tapley and Michael Stokes, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Audio outro : Justin Peters, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Link to MLBTR on Lovelady Link to uniforms changes Link to best pitchers in June Link to Posnanski on Wheeler Link to AARP patch Link to Pasquantino tweet Link to extension leaderboard Link to leaguewide extension Link to leaguewide four-seam extension Link to leaguewide four-seam velo Link to velo leaders Link to perceived velo leaders Link to extension mailbag Link to Ben on pitching distance Link to Whitley on Wood Link to Andrews on Wood Link to four-IBB club Link to 2025 team IBB Link to IBB difference spreadsheet Link to Bonds/Rays IBB post Link to Rays IBB Link to 2025 K%+ keaders Link to all-time K%+ spreadsheet Link to Dan S. on Arraez Link to Rob on strikeouts Link to MLB K rate by year Link to non-pitcher K rate by year Link to Abreu fun fact Link to Rogers/Leiter fun fact Link to Arizona fan story Link to Arizona fan story 2 Link to Arizona fan tweet Link to Hang Up episode Link to attendance changes Link to park factors Link to Severino story 1 Link to Severino story 2 Link to Manfred quotes Link to leaguewide TTO% Link to player TTO% Link to Marte update Sponsor Us on Patreon Give a Gift Subscription Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com EW Subreddit Effectively Wild Wiki iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!) Spotify Feed Facebook Group Bluesky Account Twitter Account Get Our Merch! var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source