The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh and Michael Baumann banter about All-Star selection philosophies (1:10) and then tee up Ben’s conversation with Braves catcher Tyler Flowers, an elite pitch framer who’s transformed himself offensively and has, by one measure, been one of the most valuable players in baseball this season (10:25). Then they discuss whether Flowers’s framing skill is good or bad for baseball (36:55), the obstacles that still stand in the way of a computerized strike zone (42:35), and whether they’re pro-robot umps (45:00).
Ben is a writer, podcaster, and editor who covers culture and sports. He hosts ‘Effectively Wild’ at FanGraphs and previously wrote for FiveThirtyEight and Grantland, served as editor-in-chief of Baseball Prospectus, and authored ‘The MVP Machine’ and ‘The Only Rule Is It Has to Work.’
