Marlins Analytics

Via BBTF, the Sun Sentinel profiles Jason Pare, the man who started the Miami analytics department just one year ago.

I’m actually a bit surprised the Marlins did not have an analytics department before this. Even when they were tearing down and rebuilding, one could find a plan in the moves they made, value in the players they received. It could be the people running the front office were intuitive analysts, like Pat Gillick. Dave Dombrowski appears to be that kind of GM, and he build the 1997 champion, and drafted the players that would lead to the 2003 title. He struck me as someone who used analytics, but in hearing him speak since he joined the Red Sox, that doesn’t appear to be true.

It turns out Don Mattingly was a big reason the front office made the change:

Mattingly, for his part, has spoken highly of Paré often. Teams over the past decade-plus have tended to shift toward analytics after wholesale front-office changes, a transition the Marlins haven’t really endured. The manager’s hiring last offseason coincided with the club’s emphasis on analytics that resulted in Paré joining the organization.

“We are just getting up to speed, I think, with the analytics within our organization,” Mattingly said last month. “It’s grown with Jason Paré. He gives us another dimension of … trying to put the right people in the right spots and make sure metrically we are paying attention. We do want to be able to evaluate our guys, and that’s part of it.”

I’m always impressed to see this from a somewhat old-school player. Clint Hurdle also comes to mind as someone who embraces this source of information.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2jclafa