Bat Flips And Nerds

John is joined for an in-depth chat by Dan Vaughan, the voice of ABL's Perth Heat and the Kansas City T-Bones of the American Association. Dan shares tales of his path to the commentary booth and how a native Texan comes to call Western Australia, and the ABL, his home from home.

Gabriel Fidler of Extra Innings UK joins John and Darius to talk about the new European baseball tournament and his interviews with British minor leaguers P.J. Conlon and Blake Taylor, Italian star Marten Gasperini, and Colombian prospect Erick Julio. They then discuss Derek Jeter's early days as a Marlins executive, the likely landing spot for Giancarlo Stanton, the latest developments in the len...

For the second in our previews for this year's Australian Baseball League, John is joined by the Brisbane Bandits' Travis Blackley. Travis talks about his fast track to the Majors in Seattle, his Playoff year on both sides of the Bay Area and his life as a globetrotting gun for hire.   Thanks again to Cam McHarg for helping sort the interview

In the first of two podcasts to preview this year's Australian Baseball League, John talks to new Sydney Blue Sox manager and long-time Baseball Australia stalwart Tony Harris. They cover Tony's early days in baseball, his time as a coach in the Dodgers system and his current role as a Pirates scout before diving in on Sydney's chances in this year's ABL.  

Following the tragic death of former Blue Jays and Phillies ace Roy Halladay, John is joined by Colin Murray to reminisce about Halladay's wonderful career and Colin's memories of meeting the man himself. Tom, Ben, and Darius then discuss the two major offseason storylines so far: a potential Giancarlo Stanton trade; and the prospect of Japanese phenomenon Shohei Ohtani coming to MLB. The trio the...

Darius and Ben get together for a World Series wrap podcast after the Astros' victory. They discuss the highlights of the series, where it ranks among recent World Series in terms of entertainment, the tumultuous series of Yu Darvish, and the juiced ball. They then consider what they might be doing with their time now that baseball is over for several months. They also ponder whether the Angels co...

Darius is joined by Tampa Bay Rays fan and friend of the show Rob Noverraz to marvel at an incredible seesaw battle in Game 2 of the World Series, including Chris Taylor's bizarre fielding play, Yasiel Puig's tantrum, and some varying approaches to home run celebration. They then round up the plethora of managerial moves, headlined by the Yankees' decision not to bring back Joe Girardi. Rob then b...

Tom returns to join John and Darius in a discussion of Joe Maddon's latest round of antics as the Cubs teeter on the brink of elimination. They also marvel at the Yankees' resurgence and the Astros' sudden inability to hit, before getting stuck into the rumours that MLB is considering expansion, which draws a broadly positive reaction from John and quite the opposite from Tom, and leads into the l...

With all the excitement of the playoffs, the team has managed to do very little awards research, so they are put on the back burner once again in favour of Divisional Series chat. John asks Ben and Darius about all four series, touching on such matters as the formidable Dodgers, the outstanding Jose Altuve, the Stephen Strasburg will-he-won't-he start furore, the implausibility of Jon Lester's suc...

As the only member of the regular team who isn't a fan of a playoff team, Darius ends up quizzing John, Ben, and Tom about the postseason misfortune of the Rockies and Red Sox - the latter very much in real time. When John isn't lamenting Boston's performance, they talk about John Coppolella's shenanigans, the firing of Terry Collins, the ludicrous reaction to Chris Sale's Game 1 start, and terrib...

John and Darius join Tom to muse how many pitches they'd take to get a hit off Chris Sale. They also dig into the Bruce Maxwell story, whether there are too many home runs in baseball and make ill-advised playoff predictions. Tom introduces a new spot - 'Hot Cakes'. Here's the Ron Darling article John mentioned:http://www.newsday.com/sports/media/ron-darling-explains-the-lack-of-anthem-protests-in...

With Darius back in the UK after touring Chicago's MLB parks, Tom and Ben quiz him about all the important stuff - mainly food, from Chicago-style hot dogs to nacho helmets and even Tom's very strict rules about when it's appropriate to eat chocolate. They also touch on the playoff races, the crap catcher competition, how teams with winning streaks fare in the postseason, and answer listener quest...

John, Ben and Tom talk Dodgers and Indians and Ben's trip to MLB HQ before getting creative with listener questions. There are some terrible puns, include perhaps the best/worst Yu Darvish pun of all time, and a bit of a sing song... The Dodgers article the guys mention is here:  https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-dodgers-look-beyond-terrible-right-now/

Bryan Joiner (Baseball Prospectus Boston and Over The Monster) joins Tom to talk all about how he got into writing, wiriting for BP Boston and Over The Monster, the recent SB Nation critism, why he hates writing lineups and how awful (fantastic) it is to record podcasts with Jake Deveraux. They eventually get onto the main topic of the Red Sox and the guys give a realistic prediction for the end o...

  MLB UK Ambassador, 2007 Comeback Player of the Year, 2009 All Star and home run leader - all these things describe this week's guest Carlos Pena. In a taster for a more in-depth chat soon, baseball's answer to Peter Ustinov takes a break from his MLB Network to talk to John about his family's time in Europe this summer and his hopes and plans to grow the game of baseball on this side of the pond...

John is joined by Great Britain baseball coach Liam Carroll, making his fourth (including cameos) appearance here on the pod. Liam talks about the experience and impact of MLB Battlegrounds on the GB programme and gives the rundown on the recent Under 23 European Baseball Championships in Austria and the Czech Republic. He discusses the bright future for GB in the shape of this team, and the under...

Tom and John join forces for the first live Bat Flips And Nerds show (There was another one, but we will never speak of it again). The boys talk Manchester Meetup, the dangers of democracy, Erie SeaWolves, U23 Baseball Championships, GB Baseball, GB players in the minors and finally some listener question...questions after a plea on Twitter. Stay tuned, we plan to do more!

Ben and Darius break down the very exciting news of MLB regular season games coming to the UK in 2019 and 2020, before brainstorming ideas for the UK Night being held on August 16th by Official Minor League Affiliate of the UK, the Erie Seawolves. They then move onto the trade deadline, including the dramatic Yu Darvish trade, whether the Dodgers are invincible, if the Royals were right to buy rat...

Tom and John join for a very quick podcast to talk about why they didn't record on Thursday and planned to record on Sunday. It's a tale of hope, elation, desperation and finally despair. They then tackle the very difficult subject of the Boston media, David Price and the Red Sox dressing room. Finally, Tom found a terrible book in his garage and gives it away to a pun-writer. The winner was a cra...

John and Ben are joined this week by two special guests. Evan October, frontman of the Isotopes Punk Rock Baseball Club talks about their upcoming UK tour supporting CJ Ramone and how a baseball themed band will get to British crowds.  Journalist Nick Miller then joins to discuss his recent Guardian piece on MLB's efforts in the UK and parallels to the growth of soccer in the States. He sticks aro...

BP Boston writer and The Red Seat podcast host, Jake Devereaux joins Tom to talk all about the Boston Red Sox. They start by talking about how Jake got into baseball writing, including his running of a daily fantasy baseball podcast. All before joining BP Boston as a writer and starting the excellent Red Seat podcast. The guys wrap up by almost dismissing their pre-season predictions, getting exci...

With John, Tom, and Ben all away, Blake Finney (@FinneyBlake) joins Darius to discuss the latest blockbuster MLB transaction, Pablo Sandoval being designated for assignment. They then move on to much more minor moves such as Jose Quintana heading to the Cubs, before thinking up landing spots for the likes of Justin Verlander and Sonny Gray. Blake's All-Surprise and All-Disappointment fantasy teams...

Jared Carrabis of Barstool Sports and CSN's Baseball programe join Tom and John to talk Red Sox in this very first edition of Brit Sox and Nerds! The Red Sox spin-off from Bat Flips and Nerds. Jared tells us all about his start in baseball writing, radio and television. Before touching on his relationships with the players and how it differs to everyday beat writers. The guys then quiz Jared on hi...

A special episode this week with John and Darius live on site from MLB Battlegrounds. We hear from MLB legends Cliff Floyd and Shawn Green, Italian sensation Federico Celli, GB coach Liam Carroll, MLB UK's Charlie Hill and most importantly - you guys, the fans! It was a great event. Touch wood, the first of its kind here in the UK!  

Award winning journalist Darius Austin and "Peter and the Wolf" lead Tom Pringle join together on a miserable Thursday evening to talk baseball. MLB UK have announced the lineup and itinerary for MLB Battlegrounds! Tom reads the list out (Jeff Stelling style) and the boys discuss how everyone who loves baseball has to support this event. Then it was the turn of trades and rumours, the biggest news...