Bat Flips And Nerds

The guys mark a very unusual Jackie Robinson day in Major League Baseball before reflecting on the disaster zones that are the AL Central and NL Central and the bin fire Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox.Come for the baseball, stay for the incredibly strong food opinions.

Ben, Darius and Rob come together to discuss some early season storylines, including Devers' struggles, the Dodgers winning start and the Braves spring slump. They then get on to torpedo bat chat (which now has a new name...) and of course finish with 2 Good, 2 Bad!0:00-17:45: Early season storylines17:45-24:15: Torpedo bat chat24:15-39:12: Extensions, extensions, extentions39:12-1:02:15: 2 Good, 2 Bad

Russell and Ben get together for a rare in-person podcast at the first watch party of 2025, joining fellow fans at Moonshot Social in London1 George from MLB UK Clubhouse joins them too, discussing event plans for the season, ways fans can get involved and of course, his beloved Houston Astros.00:00-04:00: Intro04:00-18:30: Chat with George of MLB UK Clubhouse18:30-25:05: Yankees bats chat25:06-31:43: Additional Opening Weekend chat31:44-34:33: Outro

John, Tom, Darius and Ben perform their annual ritual in the form of discussing 30 MLB teams and filling out a spreadsheet. Will they be right? No. Will they let that stop them? Also no.

Rob, Gav and Russ are back to destroy the "A-team" once again with their outstanding knowledge of baseball and predict the win totals for all 30 teams.This is a lively discussion about their predictions for the 2025 baseball season and a fun tiebreaker game for when they don't agree.

In this episode of Bat-Flips and Nerds, host Russell Eason interviews Liam Carroll, the manager of the High A Greenville Drive and a prominent figure in British baseball. They discuss Liam's journey from British baseball to coaching in the minor leagues, the impact of data and analytics on coaching, and the cultural differences between coaching at the national team level and in minor leagues. Liam shares insights on player development, the importance of individualized training, and the exciting changes in the Red Sox system. The conversation also touches on the new rules in baseball, the significance of the pitch clock, and Liam's aspirations for the future as he transitions to a new role with the Greenville Drive.

Ben, Russell and Darius combine forces to discuss Spring Training news (RIP Gerrit Cole's elbow), potential 2025 breakout candidates (and what even is a breakout?) plus some classic Spring Traning statline overreactions (panic!!!!)Time Codes:00:00-02:00: Intro02:00-18:30: Spring Training stories: Gerrit Cole, Dave Roberts, New Era caps18:30-46:00: Breakout candidates46:00-1:02:00: Spring Training statline overreactions1:02:00-1:05:00: Outro

In this episode, Jay Jackson shares his journey through baseball, discussing his experiences in the MLB and NPB, the challenges he faced with injuries, and the importance of maintaining a positive mindset. He reflects on his book, 'Nine Innings to Living Your Best Life,' and how his personal experiences shaped his outlook on life and baseball. Jay emphasizes the need for support systems within the sport, particularly for young black players, and shares valuable lessons learned from his son, JR. The conversation also touches on the cultural differences in baseball between Japan and the U.S., and Jay's aspirations for the future.

In this episode of Batflips and Nerds, the hosts discuss the arrival of spring training, exploring the optimism it brings, the downsides such as injuries and media clichés, and the impact of new rules on player performance. They delve into the significance of small sample sizes in evaluating player performance during spring training and share their thoughts on the media's coverage of the event. The conversation wraps up with final thoughts on the season ahead and the importance of player health.

Ben and Russell are joined by a baseball legend: former player and manager Clint Hurdle.Clint talks the pair through his playing career, his coaching career and his two stints as a manager of a Major League ballclub, in a fascinating discussion of the highs and lows of professional sport!Timestamps:00:00-04:30: Intro and 'Hurdle-isms', Clint's new book04:30-07:05: His role as special advisor07:05- 19:48: Draft, SI cover and playing career19:48-28:44: Coaching and becoming manager28:44-39:50: Rocktober and the Rockies era39:50-52:09: The Pirates era52:09-59:03: Final questions

Pitchers and catchers have reported! Russ and Ben get together for a brief offseason recap in the form of an awards show, taking a look at the good, the bad and the wonderful of winter.

John and Russell are joined by current Seattle Mariner, Will Klein.   They chat through his debut year in which he was traded twice and moved house 8 times, they talk about pitching development and how it is changed over Will's career. There's also a smattering of Chelsea talk as the boys find out Will is an ardent Chelsea fan.

John and Russ are joined by Zack Scott, the former Acting GM for the New York Mets and Assistant GM for the Boston Red Sox. We get a bit of John fan girling over Koji Uehara to the man who brought him to Boston before they get on to the main topic of how a front office works in the offseason.

Russell is joined by Darius and Rob to look back on 2024 and decide some things which should be binned and things that should be kept. Then they look into 2025 and determine what they think will continue on and what new things will happen.

John and Russell are joined by the Kyle Bodd. Kyle is the Founder of Driveline and is currently the Special Assistant to Boston Red Sox PBO Craig Breslow. They talk about how driveline came to be, how teams and players have taken on board these new development methods. They also talk about how to coach and how to positively impact players.

The team is back to discuss the Sasakit deal, the Dodgers and some FA chat about the players not signed yet. Then they chat about some sneaky picks for the season and then Ben goes full Traitors on us.

John and Russell sit down to chat with with Tyler Gillum, the head coach of the Savannah Bananas. The Bananas are the talk of the baseball world with their barnstorming show growing bigger every year.Tyler talks through how this all came about, how they bring in players and how they plan out these amzing ideas.Come for some amazing anecdotes on the Bananas, stay for a pretty awesome discussion on life, passions and doing things for the fans.

The team discuss briefly about how the Yankees and Dodgers made it to World Series, who stands a better chance of making the playoffs again out of the Mets and the Guardians.Before Russell makes Ben and Rob draft the players in the WS teams to discuss who has a better line up. 

The team are back to talk about postseason baseball. They discuss the wonder and the farce that was the Mets v Braves Monday double header and then talk through who is gonna all the ropunds of the play offs.Who do they they think are going to make it to the World Series, listen in to find out.

Russell is back with Ben this time to talk a bit about the world of British baseball, the Mets and the Ohtani 50/50 chase. But they are mainly there to play a blind resume game, giving each other stat line on over and under performing players and seeing if they can guess who they are.

After whatever last weeks episode was Russell is joined by Darius tonerd out and discuss how do we farely evaluate players with diffferent skill sets. Using the Ohtani v Londor MVP Race and the Skubal v Clase CY Young discussion.They then also discuss some of the bat tracking metrics which have released by MLB this year on Baseball Savant.

The team is back. John is johned by Rob, Ben and Russ to discuss the WBC, Votto's retirement, Jansen's playing for both sides and the wonder that is Judge.Followed byprobably the most legendary 2 Good 2 Bad ever.

Rob, Darius and Ben convene to discuss the biggest moves from the recent trade deadline. From the sellers (hello Rays, Marlins, Blue Jays) to the buyers (yo Mariners, Orioles, Yankees) and a few extra in between.

Russell chats with with Comdien, Writer and Mets podcaster / live streamer John Saponaro. The talk about John's baseball life and what it is to be a Mets fan, what the final years under the Wilpons was like and how things feel different with Cohen. They then get onto discussing Lindor and Nimmo and their respective All-Star Snubbs.

Professors Eassom, Carter and Noverraz have come together to grade the performances of the teams against expectations. With grades from A+ to U and even a random symbol in there, it's a pod not to miss.

The crew is back and discussing the past on the future of baseball. They start with discussions on the passing of Willie Mays and the amazing game at Rickwood Field before getting onto what more MLB can do in this area. They then discuss GB's Michael Petersen's debut and how much that means to fans and player in the UK before moving onto the tight wild card picture and how there might not be many trades out ther just yet.

John, Ben, Darius and Rob offer very final thoughts on the 2024 London Series and celebrate another banner week for British baseball with Michael Petersen's call up by the Dodgers.They also take time to celebrate the phenomenon that is the Gay Grimace Mets and some underrated bum called Aaron Judge.

We'll have a new pod later this week wrapping up another brilliant moment in British baseball history.In the meantime, we've brought together all the conversations we had this weekend into a single pod. These were peppered across the weekend, but we wanted as many of you as possible to hear them all - plus a couple of others we didn't include - as they offer brilliant reflections on the meaning of these series from across the baseball world. As a European fan, it's a heartening listen - and we proved them all right!You'll hear from Sean Manaea, Whit Merrifield, Dave Dombrowski, Tony Clark, Felix White, Doug Glanville and Shane Victorino.And from us all again very soon.

Tom, John and Darius wrap up an epic London Series 2024 - the best one yet!What a weekend, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Something different today - an all-star interviewee line-up as Doug Glanville, Felix White, Tony Clark, Dave Dombrowski and Shane Victorino share their reflections of the London Series and its future.

Tom, John and Darius reflect on the first game of London Series 24 as the Phillies crush the Mets in the London Stadium.

Tom, John and Darius preview day one and chat about the atmosphere in the stadium and at the workout day. They are joined for a chat by Mets Saturday starter Sean Manaea.

It's London Series week!To kick off our coverage we have a brilliant preview with the awesome Dave Shaw of UK Phillies and Jo Lenton of Mets in the UK.We get into their fierce on-field rivalry and off-field camaraderie, their big plans for the week and a look at baseball's most in-form team and, errr... the Mets!Enjoy!And see you at the London Stadium.

Ben, Rob and Gav chat through a few of the biggest talking points in the world of baseball: the Mets / Jorge Lopez meltdown, the retirement of umpiring dynamo Angel Hernandez and an unfortunate season-ending injury to Ronald Acuna Jr.They then turn their attention to the upcoming London Series, chatting through the activations and events taking place around the baseball over the weekend and doling out some advice based on past experience.

Legendary baseball laureate Joe Posnanski joins us to celebrate the UK launch of his mighty tome 'Why We Love Baseball', chewing on everything from the relationship between baseball and history, the great Buck O'Neill and even Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch!'Why We Love Baseball' is out in the UK now, with a new section and intro specially produced for British readers.

After another week of MLB, Russell, Darius and Rob spend nearly an hour not talking about any of it.They discuss the epidemic of elbow injuries that seems to be upon is and what if anything can be done to fix it. They then switch the focus to the A's situtation and the nonsense of them moving to Sacramento.Finally they do discuss so of the top teams and some of the weeks baseball. And finish it off with anoth round of 2 good, 2 bad.

Darius leads Ben and Russell through a discussion on the first week of the MLB season.  The sweepers and sweepies get discussed as well as the glorious on pace records we have and the McNeil/Hoskins beef.  Topped off with the usual 2 Good 2 Bad.

Just as the groundhog saw his shadow, so too will our four brave prognosticators declare early the results of the upcoming 2024 MLB season.John, Tom, Darius and Ben join forces for their annual predictions podcast, debating the win totals for all 30 MLB teams before arriving at a very, very scientific result.Hate our predictions? Join the queue. And let us know why on Twitter, Instagram or via a nice 5-star review...

In 2019, a crack bunch of baseball pundits were relgated from a pod for the crime of not being the originals. These men promptly escaped from the basement to the podcasting underground. Today, still wanted by the John McGee, they survive as podcasters of fortune. If you have a prediction problem, If no one else can help and if you can find them. Maybe you can ask, The B-Team.

The team is back to talk about the monster Wheeler extension, the possibly sub par deals for Bellinger and Chapman and if that means Boras has lost his touch. They chat about the latest sproings of Spring Training as well as highlight some intersting moments for them and how the GB eligble guys have been fairing.

Darius, Rob and Ben chat through the early Spring Training storylines, from 'Best Shape Of His Life'-watch (hello Giancarlo) to the variety of subtle and not-so-subtle comments coming out of media availabilities.They also chat remaining free agents, Rob Manfred's very early handing of his notice and rule changes coming into 2024!

Ben, Darius and Gav join forces to discuss the recent news in Major League Baseball, including the O's trade for Corbin Burnes (and new ownership), the Bobby Witt Jr extension and two players signing on to complete their careers with their respective teams.

The boys are back and more specifically Tom is back so they do a review of 2023 in the most quirky way possible. We've taken a spin on the BBC favourite "Would I Lie To You?" andBen, Darius and Russell each have prepared some truths and lies about the 2023 season to see how much Tom can remember.Can you the listener at home best Tom's knowledge of 2023??

The team are back to draft the teams which they think will be most active in the free agency market.Russell, Darius and Rob are drafting which teams sign the most of the top 50 FA created by MLB Trade Rumours. Any guesses on who was picked last?This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3550378/advertisement

The pod that predicts as well as Acuna hits in the postseason is back to.They start with a brief discusion on Mintzgate/Atta-Boy! before moving onto to discuss the Divsion Series results, with discussions of what has been good and bad for the four teams making the CS.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3550378/advertisement

After the truly phenominal predictive performance in the Wild Card Series going 0-4 the crew is back to discuss the games themselves and prognosticate over the Divisional Series.Russell replaces Ben with Rob this week and they use the most independant third person vote if they diasgree.At they end they find time to talk about the most important part of the postseason so far. MLB TV showing American adverts instead of the usual interstials clips of play and the hall of fame.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3550378/advertisement

The postseason is upon us and so, Ben and Russell continue the yearly tradition of chosing which teams will advance in the postseason. This time they manged to choose teams which aren't ranked higher in the seeding and have some bold choices.Listen to see when and why they are interupted by Siri and who wins the voice assistant race to flip a coin. Also, Russell tries create a nickname for a new MLB player.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3550378/advertisement

Darius is joined by Russell as they go through some of the reason to be positive for the teams which have been eliminated. They go through listener provided highlights as well a provide a few of their own in the episode of mostly positive vibes.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3550378/advertisement

Russell is joined by Rob and Darius to discuss the playoff races and make predictions on who they think will make it. They then do a quick roundup of the end of season awards nominating their players, whilst doing this they opine on if Adam Wainright will win his 200th game.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3550378/advertisement

Darius and Rob catch up on the latest in MLB, from Wander Franco's suspension to Tommy Pham's altercation. They question, once again, what exactly it is the Angels are doing, discuss the chances of the streaking Mariners, consider the state of the playoff races, and make people mad about the cycle.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3550378/advertisement

John and Russell are joined by Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman aka Cespedes Family BBQ to take on the biggest topics currently on baseball minds.Namely - which GMs entered this week's trade deadline on what drugs, and could you fake it if you body swapped with Ohtani?They also muse on how the addition of watermelons could make baseball a five-day event.You can find Jake & Jordan's 'day job' pod, the brilliant Bar-B-Cast over at Sirius XM and on all good podcatchers.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3550378/advertisement