FanGraphs Audio: Tyler Kepner Talks World Series, Justyn-Henry Malloy Calls From AFL

Episode 998 Just in time for the World Series, we welcome back an author who recently wrote a book on the subject before talking to a prospect in the Arizona Fall League. To start the show, Jay Jaffe welcomes Tyler Kepner, baseball writer at The New York Times and author of The Grandest Stage: A History of the World Series, back to the show. The pair discuss what inspired the book, the hundreds of interviews that went into it, and how Tyler has been preparing to write it his whole life. We hear about picking MVPs for the Fall Classic before they started officially doing so in 1955, and Jay’s fond memories of the 1988 championship. The duo also talk about how un-fun it is to cover Yankees eliminations, how players handle pressure on the game’s biggest stage, and what they are looking forward to in the Astros/Phillies World Series. [3:26] After that, David Laurila welcomes Justyn-Henry Malloy, a prospect in the Braves system whose excellent 2022 campaign has culminated in playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the AFL. We hear what a day in the life of a Fall League player is like, and how much fun it has been to play with players like Cade Bunnell, Cal Conley, Heston Kjerstad, and Vaughn Grissom. Malloy also tells us about how he strives for consistency as a hitter while aiming to command the zone, as well as his adventures in battling the Arizona sun while playing the outfield. [33:21] To purchase a FanGraphs membership for yourself or as a gift, click here. To donate to FanGraphs and help us keep things running, click here. Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @dhhiggins on Twitter. You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things. Audio after the jump. (Approximate 55 minute play time.) var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source