Effectively Wild Episode 1796: Major League Biasball

January 11, 2022

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Rachel Balkovec becoming the first female manager in affiliated ball, Genevieve Beacom making her pro debut in Australia, and other women breaking baseball boundaries, then (13:20) conclude their “Measuring the Unmeasurable” series about studying difficult-to-quantify aspects of the sport by bringing on Rob Arthur of Baseball Prospectus and Rockies catcher AJ Lewis to discuss Rob’s research into racial bias in scouting and player promotions, the lack of Black catchers in MLB, AJ’s catching career and experience with inner-city baseball programs, ways to promote African-American participation in baseball, the demands of playing catcher compared to playing other positions, and more. Then (48:27) they talk to Shakeia Taylor about a recent study about the demographics of MLB managers, the unique nature of Dusty Baker, her reporting about the “Selig Rule,” ways to improve front-office diversity (and the different types of diversity), the impact of sabermetrics on hiring decisions, what MLB could learn from other leagues, the catcher-to-manager pipeline, and her SABR interview series.