Jed Bradley had just walked away from baseball when I featured him here at FanGraphs in May 2017. Six years removed from being a first-round draft pick, and seven-plus months after making the last of his half dozen big-league pitching appearances, the southpaw had decided that he “wasn’t happy doing it anymore, and life is too short to do something that doesn’t make you happy.” At age 26, Bradley set out to write the next chapter in his life.

Term papers followed, but so too did one last attempt to resurrect what had once been a promising career. Despite a still-balky shoulder that had factored into his farewell, the erstwhile 15th-overall pick couldn’t help but give the game he loves another shot.

“I had every intention of moving on with my life and never looking back,” recalled Bradley, who has since earned a law degree and is now a corporate attorney. “I re-entered college at Georgia Tech — the first time in over two decades I was outside of baseball entirely — and the hiatus lasted approximately three months before I found myself watching old World Series games on Youtube and following the latest trade rumors. Soon I was researching the efficacy of stem cells on shoulder injuries. I ended up flying to south Florida for stem cell injections, and from there I was driving to rehab sessions after classes trying to get my arm back in shape.”

Bradley graduated from business school, but the corporate world would have to wait. Armed with last-hope inspiration, he spent that summer on the mound for the New Britain Bees of the independent Atlantic League. Read the rest of this entry »

The Rangers love a free-agent starting pitcher: Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, Martín Pérez. And now Tyler Mahle. The 29-year-old righthander, previously of the Reds and Twins, has signed a two-year, $22 million contract with the Rangers. He will make $5.5 million in 2024 and $16.5 million in ’25, plus up to an additional $5 million in incentives depending on how many innings he throws in the latter season.

This news, which was exciting enough to draw approximately zero eyeballs away from the Shohei Ohtani introductory presser that started half an hour later, is a shrewd signing by the reigning world champions. I encourage you to click More and read anyway, but I’ll give away the ending, I don’t care: I really like this deal for the Rangers, as well as Mahle’s fit with the team. Read the rest of this entry »

The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2024 Hall of Fame ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

As befits a player who spent 21 seasons in the majors and ranks 15th all-time in games played, Adrián Beltré really had two careers. In the first one, he was the prodigy who didn’t quite live up to expectations. Signed (illegally) by the Dodgers out of the Dominican Republic at age 15, he reached the majors at 19, became a free agent at 25 after one of the greatest walk years of all time, and disappointed at his next stop in Seattle. Through his age-30 season, he hadn’t made a single All-Star team, and he’d played in just one postseason series.

In his second career, which began with a brief stop in Boston before a longer stay in Texas, Beltré was a well-decorated and even beloved superstar. His elite defense carried over, and he emerged as a prolific slugger with exceptional contact skills, a team leader, and a fan favorite who won five Gold Gloves and made four All-Star teams while helping the Rangers to four playoff appearances and a pennant. He became the first Dominican-born player to reach the 3,000-hit milestone, as well as the career leader in hits among players born outside the United States, a surefire Hall of Famer in waiting. Read the rest of this entry »

For the 20th consecutive season, the ZiPS projection system is unleashing a full set of prognostications. For more information on the ZiPS projections, please consult this year’s introduction and MLB’s glossary entry. The team order is selected by lot, and the next team up is the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Batters

The Pirates’ offense wasn’t particularly good in 2023, but they’re at least interesting in some ways. For one, their best offensive players are either signed for a long time (Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes) or are very far from hitting free agency (Oneil Cruz, Jack Suwinski). Endy Rodriguez, one of the top catching prospects in ZiPS, is going to miss the season with UCL surgery, so it looks like the Pirates are making lemonades out of lemons and giving Henry Davis every chance to stick behind the plate before giving up and stuffing him in a corner somewhere. For a team that won’t spend significant amounts of money no matter what baseball’s economic system is, having that core already banked gives Pittsburgh lots of opportunities to play meaningful September baseball in a weak division. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve become increasingly fascinated by major league teams’ depth recently. The reasons for my fascination are all over the map. I’m always interested in looking for blind spots in our playoff odds, and a conversation with the big boss (hi David!) at the Winter Meetings got me thinking about how teams allocate playing time between starters and backups. I was already independently digging into how team strength changes throughout the year as their roster changes. The plight of various injured pitching staffs – and the triumph of the always-adding Rangers – was yet another angle on the problem.

To that end, I started looking at how much of each team’s playing time and WAR comes from their Opening Day rosters every year. I was looking for interesting trends, though I wasn’t exactly sure where to find them, so my plan was to keep an open mind and see what jumped out at me. But, uh, I didn’t expect this.

See, my first check was what percentage of each team’s total WAR in a given season came from their initial roster. In a given year, you might have a very healthy roster like the Blue Jays’ (88.6% of their total plate appearances plus total batters faced came from players who were in uniform for the first game), and thus end up with 91.5% of your WAR coming from that group. You might make a series of call-ups throughout the seasons like the Reds (58.9% of playing time on the Opening Day roster) and end up with only 63.9% of your WAR coming from that group. I thought that by taking averages of these, I might be able to learn something. Read the rest of this entry »

The Kansas City Royals had a disappointing season in J.J. Picollo’s first year as the team’s Executive Vice President/General Manager. Hampered by injuries and the underperformance of numerous promising young players, the AL Central club finished in last place with a dreadful 56-106 record. As Dayton Moore’s replacement — Picollo was promoted to the position on September 21, 2022 — told me during last month’s GM meetings, much more was expected.

My conversation with the Royals’ top executive came almost exactly a year after I first spoke to him about the vision he had for the team. I was curious about two things. First, how has the revamped pitching program we discussed in November 2022 progressed? Second, how does he view his first year on the job?

———

David Laurila: We talked about your vision for the team, including the pitching development process, at last year’s GM Meetings. Have things gone pretty much as expected?

J.J. Picollo: “There is more to it than you realize. As much as you think you might be prepared for the lead role, you’re learning along the way all the time. Being able to make decisions quickly, and being able to communicate effectively across all departments in the organization, was a challenge. Looking back on it, last year we were heavily involved with our managerial search [and] a new pitching coach. The entire fall, right up to Christmas, we were hiring. We shared the vision of the organization in different ways.

“If I had to do it over again, we would have had organizational meetings in January. We’d have had that large group gathering so that the communication was clear on what we’re about and what we’re trying to accomplish. This year we did that. We actually did that the week after the season ended, so I feel a lot better about this offseason. I feel like it’s going to slow things down a little bit more this year. But again, there are a lot of things involved in this job. It’s a very different position than being an assistant.” Read the rest of this entry »

Baseball Analytics Intern

Position Summary:
The intern will assist Baseball Operations decision-making through the analysis and facilitation of baseball information. The specific day-to-day responsibilities of this position will vary depending on the baseball calendar, but will revolve around analyzing and troubleshooting baseball data. A competitive candidate will be an excellent communicator and possess an established foundation of analytical skills. The position will report to the Director of Analytics.

Essential Functions:

• Facilitate information and effectively communicate analytical products across departments. 
• Expand upon Marlins analytical strategy by creating new applications and reports. 
• Improve and refine existing processes for the Baseball Operations Department.  
• Perform ad-hoc research projects as requested. 
• Present analysis and research results in a complete, concise, and engaging manner. 

Qualifications & Requirements:

• Strong work ethic, attention to detail, and ability to self-direct. 
• Demonstrated baseball research, experience visualizing data, and/or strong technical acumen. 
• Ability to communicate baseball analytics concepts to individuals with diverse baseball backgrounds, including coaches, scouts, and executives. 
• Understanding of and passion for the game of baseball. 
• High level of familiarity with the current state of baseball research. 
• Ability to work extended hours including evenings, weekends, and holidays throughout February – October 2024 

Suggested Education & Experience:

• Undergraduate or graduate degree in a field that emphasizes technical and analytical problem solving skills, such as mathematics, computer science, engineering. 
• Understanding of advanced forecasting techniques is strongly preferred. 
• Meaningful work experience with Tableau, SQL Server, R, and/or Python is strongly preferred. 
• Ability and desire to learn other programming languages as needed. 
• Baseball/softball playing experience is a plus. 

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the Miami Marlins.

Direct Links (Please see full job postings below):

Sport Science Assistant – Seasonal
Sport Science Assistant – Dominican Republic
Associate Pro Scout

Sport Science Assistant – Seasonal

Location: Fort Myers, FL, United States

DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW:
The Sport Science Team at the Boston Red Sox endeavors to advance understanding and enhance performance through the implementation of evidence-based practice and innovation. This is achieved through an interdisciplinary approach, with a particular emphasis on key pillars of collaboration, research, education, and application.

POSITION OVERVIEW:
The Seasonal Sport Science Assistant serves as a member of the Performance Department within Red Sox Player Development. This position is designed to advance the understanding and identification of key performance factors and the development of systems that enhance athlete health and performance. Based in Fort Myers, this position supports the day-to-day operations of the Sport Science/Performance Team. The Seasonal Sport Science Assistant will work to support all the disciplines that make up the Performance Team (Data Scientists, S&C, PT, AT, Mental Performance, and Nutrition) to provide reliable support and drive an evidence-based approach to optimize performance.

As the Red Sox continue to build a team capable of being the standard in player and staff development, we are looking for candidates who are organized with uncompromising attention to detail, inquisitive, intellectually curious, data-driven, and open minded. Due to the nature of the role, the candidate must also possess strong interpersonal, communication, and teamwork/leadership skills.

This position runs from January 2024 through the end of September 2024 and is based in Fort Myers, FL.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Athletes Testing & Tracking
• Assist in the execution of physical testing protocols while seeking more efficient, valid, and reliable methodologies.
• When necessary, travel to amateur scouting workouts to assist in physical testing of prospective draftees.
• Data Management & Analytics
• Assist in organization-wide data aggregation, manipulation, and report generation.
• Biomechanics Testing & Reporting
• Assist the Biomechanics Department with data capture and data aggregation in our FTM-based biomechanics lab.
• Delivery & Application of Performance Insights
• Assist in FTM-based daily workload tracking (GPS, Isometric Testing, etc.) and related data management.
• Research & Technology Implementation
• Assist in research projects and with the implementation of new Sport Science technologies.
• Sport Science Systems Administration
• Assist in managing administration of all Sport Science systems including Smartabase, Bridge, Vald Forcedecks, etc.
• Other tasks as assigned by the Assistant Coordinator, Sport Science.

CHARACTERISTICS/QUALIFICATIONS

• Undergraduate degree in Sport Science, Exercise Science, Biomechanics, or related field is required; Master’s Degree preferred.
• Ability to work evening, weekend, and holiday hours is required.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office.
• Experience with Smartabase is preferred.
• Other programming and database skills are a plus.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) is preferred.
• Requires infrequent travel to amateur scouting workouts hosted across the US.

At the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management, we go beyond embracing diversity. We’re committed to living by our values, strengthening our community, and creating a workplace where people genuinely feel like they belong.

Too often, job seekers don’t apply to positions because they don’t meet every qualification. If you love this role and are great at what you do, we encourage you to apply. Your unique skills and experiences might just be what we’ve been looking for.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Sport Science Assistant – Dominican Republic

DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW:
The Sport Science Team at the Boston Red Sox endeavors to advance understanding and enhance performance through the implementation of evidence-based practice and innovation. This is achieved through an interdisciplinary approach, with a particular emphasis on key pillars of collaboration, research, education, and application.

POSITION OVERVIEW:
The Dominican Republic Sport Science Assistant serves as a member of the Sport Performance Team within Red Sox Player Development. This position is designed to advance the understanding and identification of key performance factors and the development of systems that enhance athlete health and performance. Based in our Academy near Santo Domingo, DR, this position serves as ‘on the ground’ support to the Academy athletes and coaches, as well as the Dominican-based International Scouting Department. Responsibilities and time will be split evenly between International PD and Scouting.

As the Red Sox continue to build a team capable of being the standard in player and staff development, we are looking for candidates who are organized with uncompromising attention to detail, inquisitive, intellectually curious, data-driven, and open minded. Due to the nature of the role, the candidate must also possess strong interpersonal, communication, and teamwork/leadership skills.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Athlete Management System Administration
• Assume a leading role in the administration of the Boston Red Sox Athlete Management System (AMS) and the integration of performance technology, including data collection and data entry, data cleaning and processing, and generating reports for various groups (e.g., players, sport performance team members, front office staff, scouting).
• Athlete Testing & Tracking
• Coordinate and lead physical testing protocols while seeking more efficient, valid, and reliable methodologies.
• Collaborate with International Scouting to lead physical testing and data collection initiatives at amateur workouts.
• Data Management & Analytics
• Assist in organization-wide data aggregation, manipulation, and report generation.
• Delivery & Application of Performance Insights
• Build relationships with and support other departments within Sport Performance, International Scouting, Field Staff, and players to understand needs and deliver insights.
• Education, Research, & Technology Implementation
• Develop documentation and educational materials to communicate Sport Science findings and best practices.
• Work with Sports Science Assistant Coordinator to seek out research opportunities that could positively affect the Red Sox and athlete performance. 
• Stay abreast of the latest research and innovations in the areas of sport science and sport performance.
• Other tasks as assigned by the Coordinator, Sport Science.

CHARACTERISTICS/QUALIFICATIONS

• Undergraduate degree in sports science, exercise science, data science/analytics or a related field required; Master’s Degree preferred.  
• Experience working with a multi-disciplinary performance team in an elite/ professional sport environment is preferred.
• Experience working with Athlete Management Systems.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word).
• Spanish speaking is a requirement.
• Requires travel to amateur scouting workouts hosted across the Dominican Republic as well as limited travel to Fort Myers, FL.

At the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management, we go beyond embracing diversity. We’re committed to living by our values, strengthening our community, and creating a workplace where people genuinely feel like they belong.

Too often, job seekers don’t apply to positions because they don’t meet every qualification. If you love this role and are great at what you do, we encourage you to apply. Your unique skills and experiences might just be what we’ve been looking for.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Associate Pro Scout

DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW:
The Pro Scouting Department is responsible for evaluation, information and intelligence gathering, and decision-making input for players across all professional leagues, including: Major & Minor Leagues, Independent Leagues, and Professional Winter Leagues. The cornerstone of the department is the scouting and evaluation of players through both in-person and remote coverage. We collaborate consistently with the Baseball Analytics, Player Development, International Pro, and Personnel/Strategy groups to leverage organizational knowledge and help drive decisions on player acquisitions.

POSITION OVERVIEW:
The Associate Pro Scout position centers around at least one season of development and education in all aspects of professional scouting with the Boston Red Sox. The position will focus on three primary areas: player evaluation, integration & analysis of data/proprietary information through research projects/tasks, and video & data collection. The Associate Pro Scout will receive extensive training in Boston Red Sox scouting standards by attending regular education/feedback sessions, working closely with experienced staff, and getting exposure to all levels of professional baseball. They will collaborate with the Front Office to complete targeted research and maintain ongoing projects with a focus on player evaluation and acquisition. Additionally, they will assist in the capture of video and other data on a regular basis. Travel is required for this position with possible relocation to Arizona or Florida.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop player evaluation and report writing skills, following club procedures and guidelines.
• Attend and participate in regular feedback sessions with scouting leadership.
• Complete research and ongoing projects as assigned.
• Collect targeted video and other data as required.
• Travel to venues both domestic & international.

CHARACTERISTICS/QUALIFICATIONS

• Proficiency with modern database or statistical tools, such as SQL, R, or Python is preferred.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office.
• Experience with various video applications like TruMedia, BATS, Synergy, etc. is preferred.
• Experience in a baseball operation or experience conducting past baseball research is preferred.
• Ability to work evening, weekend, and possibly holiday hours (within confines of hours/week guidelines).
• Ability to travel.
• Strong communication & time management skills.
• Preferred: willingness to relocate to Arizona or Florida.

At the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management, we go beyond embracing diversity. We’re committed to living by our values, strengthening our community, and creating a workplace where people genuinely feel like they belong.

Too often, job seekers don’t apply to positions because they don’t meet every qualification. If you love this role and are great at what you do, we encourage you to apply. Your unique skills and experiences might just be what we’ve been looking for.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the Boston Red Sox.

Over the weekend, the Dodgers hit the motherlode, signing Shohei Ohtani to a landmark 10-year contract. Turns out, though, MLB didn’t award them the 2024 World Series just for doing that. There’s still baseball to be played, and while the Dodgers certainly aren’t short on tremendous hitters, they do need some serious help on the pitching side. Enter the Rays:

BREAKING: The Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays are in agreement on a trade to send RHP Tyler Glasnow and OF Manuel Margot to the Dodgers for RHP Ryan Pepiot and OF Jonny Deluca — contingent on Glasnow signing an extension with L.A., which is expected, sources tell ESPN.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 15, 2023

I’m not sure that I’m making a strong enough statement. The Dodgers need help on the pitching side, and they need it badly. Before this trade, their depth chart looked like this:

That’s dire. It’s a mixture of injury risk, light workloads, unproven arms, and pitchers who check multiple of those boxes at once. Ohtani obviously won’t pitch next year. Walker Buehler hasn’t pitched since June 2022, looked bad in that 2022 season, and is their nominal ace. Bobby Miller is the only other guy the team seems to trust, and they’ll need plenty of volume from him, but he made 26 starts last year to get to his 138.2 innings, so it’s not like there’s a ton more in the tank. If the Dodgers’ lineup is Boardwalk and Park Place, their rotation looks more like Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues. Read the rest of this entry »

The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2024 Hall of Fame ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

In my previous multi-candidate roundup, I paired two lefties who haven’t gotten much traction on Hall of Fame ballots thus far in Andy Pettitte and Mark Buehrle. As a means of completing my coverage of the major candidates before the December 31 voting deadline, it made sense to group them into a single overview and invite readers wishing to (re)familiarize themselves with the specifics of their cases to check out last year’s profiles. Today, I’m doing the same for a pair of elite hitters who would already be enshrined if not for their links to performance-enhancing drugs: Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez.

Like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, both sluggers have transgressions that predate the introduction of drug testing and penalties in 2004. Via The New York Times (Ramirez) and Sports Illustrated (Rodriguez), both reportedly failed the supposedly anonymous 2003 survey test that determined whether such testing would be introduced. Had they not pressed their luck further, both might already be in Cooperstown alongside 2022 honoree David Ortiz, who reportedly failed the survey test, too. Alas, Ramirez was actually suspended twice, in 2009 and ’11; the latter ended his major league career, though he traveled the globe making comeback attempts. Rodriguez was suspended only once, but it was for the entire 2014 season due to his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal and his scorched-earth attempt to evade punishment.

Ramirez debuted with 23.8% on the 2017 ballot and only last year topped 30%. Rodriguez debuted with 34.3% in 2022 but barely inched up in ’23. Given that Bonds and Clemens topped out in the 65–66% range in 2022 and then were passed over by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee the following year, nobody should be holding their breaths for these two to get elected anytime soon. Read the rest of this entry »