The MVP machine How baseball's new nonconformists are using data to build better players

Ben Lindbergh

Book - 2019

"[T]he Moneyball era is over. Fifteen years after Michael Lewis brought the Oakland Athletics' groundbreaking team-building strategies to light, every front office takes a data-driven approach to evaluating players, and the league's smarter teams no longer have a huge advantage in valuing past performance. Lindbergh and Sawchik's behind-the-scenes reporting reveals: How the 2017 Astros and 2018 Red Sox used cutting-edge technology to win the World Series ; How undersized afterthoughts José Altuve and Mookie Betts became big sluggers and MVPs ; How polarizing pitcher Trevor Bauer made himself a Cy Young contender ; How new analytical tools have overturned traditional pitching and hitting techniques ; How a wave of young ...talent is making MLB both better than ever and arguably worse to watch. Instead of out-drafting, out-signing, and out-trading their rivals, baseball's best minds have turned to out-developing opponents, gaining greater edges than ever by perfecting prospects and eking extra runs out of older athletes who were once written off. Lindbergh and Sawchik take us inside the transformation of former fringe hitters into home-run kings, show how washed-up pitchers have emerged as aces, and document how coaching and scouting are being turned upside down. The MVP Machine charts the future of a sport and offers a lesson that goes beyond baseball: Success stems not from focusing on finished products, but from making the most of untapped potential." --

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Subjects
Published
New York : Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC 2019.
Language
English
Main Author
Ben Lindbergh (author)
Other Authors
Travis Sawchik (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
viii, 374 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 355-360) and index.
ISBN
9781541698949
  • Prologue: Powering Up
  • 1. Saviormetrics
  • 2. A Natural Maniac, an Unnatural Athlete
  • 3. Making Mules into Racehorses
  • 4. First Principles
  • 5. A Bottom-Up Revolution
  • 6. The 10,000-Pitch Rule
  • 7. The Conduit
  • 8. Perfect Pitch
  • 9. We're All Astronauts
  • 10. SpinGate
  • 11. Amateur Ball
  • 12. The All-Star Player-Coach
  • 13. Performance-Enhancing Data
  • 14. Just Be Better
  • 15. Soft Factors
  • 16. If You Build Them, They Will Come
  • 17. No Ceiling
  • Epilogue: The Residue of Design
  • Acknowledgments
  • Glossary
  • Notes
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

Every savvy baseball fan has internalized the message of Michael Lewis' Moneyball: advanced statistical analysis sabermetrics can give teams a huge advantage in identifying emerging superstars. Lindbergh and Sawchik here illuminate an underappreciated corollary: the same statistical sophistication can actually help teams develop seemingly lackluster players. So, while Lewis focused on Oakland's success in using sabermetrics to pick up young stars such as Nick Swisher and Joe Blanton before other teams recognized their abilities, Lindbergh and Sawchik highlight Houston's success in using similar statistical resources aptly renamed saviormetrics to lift so-so major leaguers, such as Ryan Pressly and Charlie Morton, to unexpectedly higher levels of performance. Readers with a longer-term time perspective will appreciate the close look at how Houston has also applied saviormetrics to the team's farm clubs, transforming them into an impressively productive source of new players. As other clubs emulate Houston's developmental model, the sabermetric transformation of the game will only accelerate. Who knew that the game of pine tar and chewing tobacco would one day belong to wizards with laptops?--Bryce Christensen Copyright 2019 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review

Sportswriters Lindbergh (The Only Rule Is It Has To Work) and Sawchik (Big Data Baseball) provide a behind-the-scenes look at the data-driven strategies baseball players and teams employ to compete and succeed in the league. Gone are the days when a team could simply out-draft, out-sign, or out-trade the competition. Instead, teams and players must utilize the mountains of data that can be collected using cutting-edge technology to develop and improve the talent they already have. The strength of this book lies in the firsthand accounts. Interviews with front-office personnel, scouts, agents, and players describe the methodologies employed by several teams and individual athletes. The authors also tell the story of veteran players who have resurrected their careers, younger players who changed the way they throw or swing in profoundly impactful ways, and teams who have put into place strong talent development systems based on modern data-collection techniques. VERDICT This data-driven account is intended for hard-core baseball fans; anyone interested in player development will find this extremely captivating.--Matt Schirano, Univ. of Bridgeport Lib., CT

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