Unpopular Opinion- Tech Rules

July 02, 2023

"The analytic people are ruining the game."

"They get people fired who have been in the game and given so much."

"They have no idea what you’re talking about."

I tend to disagree. And here's why-

Those analysts may have less feel of playing the game, but they do have a ton of feel for the facts. And if the facts say that your projection as a player is in a certain threshold. There’s not much you can say to defend that. You may have feel for the game. You may have worked my whole life to do this. But they’re just telling you the facts.

If you can not throw or hit a ball at a certain speed, that's factual evidence that your potential as a player is limited.

I appreciate the analysts in baseball because they give the cold hard truth. And that hurts sometimes.

You don’t swing fast enough. You don’t make contact enough. You swing it bad pitches. You don’t run fast enough. You don’t throw hard enough. Your stuff isn’t good enough.

Here’s a different perspective: the nerds give you efficiency. They give you the opportunity to make an adjustment. Adapt and overcome or die. It’s just that simple. 

Hot take, we are aware. Some analytics don’t matter. And there are some things that there can be more feel with. But at the end of the day, there’s no denying the facts. Adapt or die.

Afterword-

If you had the opportunity to invest in a player. One has the potential to throw 100 mph while the other has a low chance of getting over 95 mph. Which would you choose?

Of course, so many other things matter. Command, numbers, mental make up, and so much more. But the point is, at surface value. The potential of output is simply better for some guys over others. 

And out of those two guys, which would you want to give more opportunities to? The guy that is close to his peak and does a good job already? Or the guy that is still figuring things out and has the opportunity to be one of the hardest throwers in the league. 

At the highest levels, they track everything to know exactly what your trends are. And they know exactly the way that you are trending. What are your thoughts? Let me know!