Numbers Explosion Leads To More Analysts

Bill James is credited with the statistical revolution in baseball, beginning with his “Baseball Abstracts” in 1977, but there are others. John Thorn and Pete Palmer popularized OPS in their 1984 book the “Hidden Game of Baseball,” while Dick Cramer’s seminal article on clutch hitting, published in the “Baseball Research Journal,” continues to open eyes.

As the application of analytics has exploded at all levels in the game, Sports Management Worldwide has expanded its offering of online classes in sports analytics as part of its career training platform.

“More and more teams, collegiate and professional, are developing and expanding their in-house analytic staff,” SMWW president Lynn Lashbrook said. “Our research shows that most all teams will employ at least one analyst in the very near future  . . . People don’t always understand the breadth of baseball analytics. When our analytics course mentor Ari Kaplan was charged with leading the Cubs analytics department, his work wasn’t just in player evaluation.”

The main motivating factor for increased analytics often is saving money. The average salary of MLB players rose to $4.4 million per year in 2016. Analytics are one of the main tools teams use to ensure their money is being well spent.

“I think the discovery of new analytics is never ending,” said John Dewan, founder of STATS Inc., Baseball Info Solutions and the authority on defensive statistics in baseball. “I think there will always be things to research, always new discoveries that we make in baseball alone, let alone all the other sports.”

Lashbrook added, “The opportunities in all sports in regards to analytics is growing so rapidly, the opportunities are unlimited. Technology has opened the door for infinite analytic advancement. Analytics is one of the fastest growing jobs types in the market according to our research. Organizations are hiring now. This is a new career path with vast potential.”