Bat Flips And Nerds

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. Th...

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 book 04:30-07:05: His role as special advisor 0...

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 o...

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...

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 o...

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.