Effectively Wild Episode 1741: Call Up the Cavalry

September 2, 2021

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Wander Franco coming into his own, Kevin Newman’s steep offensive falloff post-spring training, a strikeout milestone for Robbie Ray, the Kendall Graveman–Abraham Toro trade and promotions/extensions for the Mariners’ Jerry Dipoto and Scott Servais, the new-and-improved Blake Snell, Austin Adams’ historic hit-by-pitch pace, Cardinals radio broadcaster Mike Shannon discovering and attempting to explain NFTs on the air, and the difference between bad and good Mets missteps. Then (41:21) they bring on FanGraphs lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen to discuss September roster expansion, touching on the developmental implications of going from 40-man to 28-man rosters, the most promising prospects who could debut this month and impact pennant races or the playoffs (including Joe Ryan, Nate Pearson, Shane Baz, and Hunter Greene), the remaking of Padres pitcher MacKenzie Gore, post-deadline desperation, the Nationals’ Josiah Gray, Keibert Ruiz, and Riley Adams, the Royals’ Nicky Lopez and Bobby Witt Jr., and other notable names.

Audio intro: Frank Sinatra, "September in the Rain"
Audio interstitial: Frank Sinatra, "September Song"
Audio outro: Frazey Ford, "September Fields"

Link to Franco streak article
Link to Dan Szymborski on Franco
Link to article on Newman’s spring
Link to spring training stats study
Link to B-Ref career K/9 leaderboard
Link to article about Snell’s reinvention
Link to article about Adams
Link to article on Shannon and NFTs
Link to Zack Scott news
Link to roster expansion explainer
Link to list of September 1 callups
Link to Gore mechanics video
Link to Eric on AL impact pitchers
Link to Carmen Ciardiello on Lopez
Link to Adam’s EW Wiki post
Link to EW Wiki
Link to EW Wiki sign-up sheet
Link to EW emails database