“As a game of distinct episodes—pitch by pitch, out
by out, inning by inning—[baseball] generates an ever-richer sediment of data
as new technologies yield ever-more refined measurements: spin rates of
pitches, ‘tilts’ (angles of break) of sliders, launch angles of swings, exit
velocities of balls coming off bats, and so on. These measurements are massaged
by a new generation of mostly young and well-educated front-office ‘quants.’
All 30 teams have analytics departments; the Astros have a ‘director of
decision sciences.’ Many of these savants’ baseball-playing careers peaked in
Little League. They work, not always harmoniously, with their teams’ managers,
who are expected to use the data when putting together lineups and making
in-game decisions.”— George F. Will, “The Game You Knew Is Gone” (review of
Keith Law’s Smart Baseball), The Wall
Street Journal, June 17-18, 2017
The image accompanying this post comes from the 2011
film Moneyball, with Brad Pitt as
Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane and Jonah Hill as assistant GM Peter
Brand—a composite character largely based on Paul DePodesta, who was reluctant
to be named on film. Brand is the
epitome of the “quant” discussed by Will.
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