Others have laid out the reasons this episode was great better than I ever could, so I'll just chime in on baseball boy. As Diprivan said, he's emblematic of the male-centric rituals discussed this week, but he also plays into a lot of the larger themes the show delves into.

He loves baseball but chose to quit because he found no love in what baseball had become for him. So he made the bold, even brave, decision to quit, knowing full well it would earn the ridicule and derision of his former teammates. He's standing out by being true to himself and going against what society expects of someone in his situation. And we see him grappling with the results of his decisions. Ultimately, he's yet another character meant to mirror some of Asa's struggles, something this show loves doing with its background characters.