How Baseball Uses Analytics, Technology to Improve
2/20/2018 9:25:00 AM | Baseball, Features
By Brad Rudner
NOTE: Originally appeared in the fall issue of M Magazine.
No sport has embraced data more than baseball.
Bill James, a widely known baseball historian and writer, revolutionized the sport in the early 1980s with the introduction of sabermetrics, or as James calls it, "the search for objective knowledge about baseball." Borne out of this came new statistical formulas like OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage), WAR (wins above replacement) and wRC (weighted runs created).
Two decades later, Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, became known for his Moneyball way of thinking. When the A's couldn't compete financially with big-market teams like the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, Beane went a different route, using James' sabermetric principles to sign players to cheaper contracts without sacrificing the product on the field.
Today, more and more front office executives come from data-heavy backgrounds. Theo Epstein became the youngest GM in baseball history at age 28 and all he's done is end the World Series droughts for the Red Sox and Chicago Cubs. David Stearns, the current GM for the Milwaukee Brewers, isn't even 35 years old yet. Rick Hahn, the GM for the Chicago White Sox, got his undergraduate degree from right here at the University of Michigan.
Now, while Michigan's baseball team doesn't have the resources that its counterparts in Major League Baseball do, it is doing as much as possible -- and doing it well.
"Every player we recruit has aspirations of playing professional baseball, and to that end, we're so fortunate to have access to the same type of technology that Major League Baseball teams are using," said head coach Erik Bakich. "It's another opportunity to level the playing field. When scouts run comparisons between our guys and those around the country or in their own organizations, they see our players are doing well. That can change careers, change lives."
The baseball staff uses four items: TrackMan, a radar-based technology that spits out advanced metrics on the field in real-time; HitTrax, which measures metrics like launch angle and exit velocity for hitters; Rapsodo, which measures spin rate and velocity for pitchers; and Sydex, a video analysis software.
For those four items, Bakich believes there are four benefits: to enhance player development, help prevent injury, improve confidence, and ultimately gain an edge on the competition.
"It's definitely a difference-maker for us," he said. "We pride ourselves on being on the cutting edge of technology. It's our 10th man. We'd be foolish not to use them."
The baseball team has its own connection to campus in the form of Josh Zimmerman, a senior from the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. Though he's technically majoring in political science, Zimmerman's future is surely in a baseball front office.
Zimmerman is as quantitative as they come. As a kid, he memorized the batting averages of every player that was eligible to claim the batting title. He'd open up the morning newspaper and immediately find the boxscores from the previous night's games.
What started out as a stint as a bullpen catcher has morphed into becoming Bakich's right-hand man for anything and everything related to statistics. For practices and games (home or away; he travels with the team), Zimmerman will produce reports for the coaching staff that show a player's percentages (i.e., line drive, fly ball, ground ball), tendencies and probabilities. The breakdown is comprehensive.
"Having more analytics increases the information flow and helps you figure out what you really have," Zimmerman said. "It moves the needle on development. You see strengths and weaknesses. You can look at the numbers and say, 'If you work on this, this is what could happen.'"
Finding a student of Zimmerman's ilk is rare, and Bakich knows it.
"Josh is one of the most passionate kids I've ever met," Bakich added. "He has an extremely advanced feel for the game and bridges the gap between subjectivity and analytical thinking. I could easily envision him being a special assistant to a general manager at some point very soon."
Bakich also leans heavily on Jeremy Kelch, the video coordinator, who came to Michigan prior to the 2014-15 season after spending 12 years with the Detroit Tigers. One of his tasks is to break down the video from practices and games, looking at both Michigan and whomever the opponent is for that given day.
"For us, we have all this data, but what do we do with it?" Kelch said. "You get someone like Drew Lugbauer who, when you watch him, you see he has the potential to be really good. He used these tools, used video and learned how to make adjustments. Same thing for Jacob Cronenworth. And now look where they are."
Cronenworth was drafted in the seventh round by Tampa Bay in 2015 and finished last season at Double-A Montgomery. Lugbauer was drafted in the 11th round of the 2017 Draft by Atlanta and finished the season at Single-A Rome.
Kelch marries the video with Zimmerman's reports and offers up in-game suggestions to Bakich and the coaching staff depending on the situation.
Who performs best when the pressure is high, medium or low? Those are things Kelch looks at.
"Take a pitcher's spin rate," he explained. "If a guy has a high spin rate, you have to pitch up. But if he's throwing 84 mph and pitches up, it's probably getting hit. A guy with a good breaking ball, is he good for one inning or two? Does his spin rate drop? Does the velocity drop?
"End of the day, we want to put our guys in the best possible position to succeed."
In the last three years, Michigan is 117-63 (.650) with two NCAA Tournament appearances, a Big Ten Tournament championship and 18 MLB Draft picks.
The process is working.
• Part One: New Age: How Analytics, Technology are Helping Michigan Win (02/19/2018)
