Eric Gagne was one of the ideal reducers in the MLB. In his 10-year job, he made the All-Star group in 3 straight periods from 2002-2004, do with the fourth-highest conserve overall in a period with 55 as well as won a Cy Young Award for his 2003 period– he’s one of simply 9 reducers to win the honor in MLB background.
Gagne was as leading as they come, as well as played in Los Angeles for the initially 8 years of his job. His MLB job finished in 2008– although he did try a resurgence with the Dodgers in 2010– ideal prior to what seemed like the radical change to analytics-based baseball. That’s why, when he signed up with the Blue Heaven Podcast below at Dodgers Nation, we asked him about analytics, as well as just how various it is today than it was when he played. He shared a really intriguing viewpoint that might transform your ideas on analytics overall:
“It’s still the same. I think we’re just gonna use different words, we use numbers. I think if you really sit down and understand the numbers, which I love now. I mean, I love numbers but they’re just numbers. I think that the beauty of baseball is those variables — the human factor. It’s not black and white we all know that. If we watch the game, it’s not black and white, it’s gray. There’s a lot of gray — it’s the variables of the decision-making process and what’s going to happen with certain guys. You know, this is what’s beauty in the game.”
So in spite of what we might really feel to be a “drastic shift” in a logical strategy, Gagne in fact claimed it’s practically the very same than when he played. There might be various data as well as even more information, yet at the very same time, it’s still a comparable strategy via numbers. Here’s what he claimed about when analytics ends up being an issue, as well as just how to prevent that problem:
“I think the problem is not just in data and the analytics, it’s more of how we look at it. If you look at it as a pure game, yeah, there’s a lot of variables. You can add like a spin rate and everything else. That doesn’t matter much because spin rate was there before. There’s no difference. Now, we just put numbers on it and that’s all it is. It’s just a tool to use. You just utilize that tool for coaches, for players to see, ‘okay, where am I at when I performed the best.’ It has changed but it’s okay. It needs to change its called evolving and it’s okay, it’s okay to change. As long as you don’t lose the beauty of this game — the human nature, the human factor, the little decision-making we have to make in certain situation. Because there’s no way I can predict the game because it wouldn’t be a same game. … I think in the whole grand scheme of thing data analytics is very good for the game. If you use it the right way.”
That tail end is certainly the secret: “If you use it in the right way.” Sometimes it does seem like groups are leaning as well greatly on analytics, as well as much less on the humanity, individual feeling of the game. Many have actually doubted the Dodgers’ decision-making in the postseason, particularly in respect to taking bottles out prematurely. That seems like the greatest location where the analytics are coming to be an issue.
However, the Dodgers are plainly doing something right, as they lead the organization in winning portion because Dave Roberts’ initial period in 2016. The Dodgers have a winning portion of.632 in that time, while the Astros are 2nd at.606. The Dodgers simply need to locate a means to equate that right into even more postseason success– as well as ideally, 2023 is the year.
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