February 7, 2013

BP Unfiltered

BP on TV

by Ben Lindbergh

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Often you read what we write, and sometimes you listen to what we say, but only relatively rarely do you get to (or have to) see what we look like. But some days we smile for the camera and show up on a screen of some sort, and then you can watch us form words in unforgiving high definition. I did that a couple times on TV last week, and both appearances are online for the benefit of anyone who wants to watch them.

Last Friday, I was on MLB Network's Clubhouse Confidential, talking about one of my favorite topics: catcher framing, and how good at it Jose Molina is. Wisely, the producers paired my appearance with one by former big-league backstop Dave Valle, who demonstrated how he used to get extra strike calls himself. I'm biased, but I think the combination of numbers nerd and experienced athlete made for a more effective segment than either one would have alone. It's an interdisciplinary approach that I'd love to see more often on baseball shows, regardless of who the numbers nerd is.

For some reason, the video won't play when embedded (I'm embedding it anyway, just in case it starts to), so you'll have to click to watch it at MLB.com. It's worth the trip, I think, if only for the Valle part of the program, which comes immediately after mine. *Update: the embedded version works now.*

I also talked White Sox and Cubs on Comcast SportsNet Chicago's Chicago Baseball Hot Stove show earlier in the week, possibly because they needed a national baseball writer and all the others had the flu. Sadly, we didn't have time to talk about the White Sox farm system, which would have led to a lot more laugh lines.

Ben Lindbergh is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @benlindbergh
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