Effectively Wild Episode 2184: The Biggest First-Half Surprises

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 […]

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

Link to O’s prospect list

Link to Orioles depth chart

Link to Buxton’s sprint speeds

Link to sprint speed leaderboard

Link to team projections sheets

Link to hitter projections sheets

Link to pitcher projections sheets

Link to preseason team projections

Link to preseason hitter projections

Link to preseason pitcher projections

Link to MLBTR on Phils injuries

Link to Sam on Duran

Link to Laurila on Hauck

Link to Sox pitching piece 1

Link to Sox pitching piece 2

Link to Sox pitching piece 3

Link to Sox pitching piece 4

Link to team DRS leaderboard

Link to Paine on the Cubs

Link to McKenzie feature

Link to Peña interview clip

Link to Ben on in-game interviews

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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