Craig Lefferts has a place in San Diego Padres history, and a good story that goes along with it. The 65-year-old veteran of 12 big-league seasons shared it with me prior to a recent Arizona Fall League game.
“My rookie year was 1983, with the Chicago Cubs,” said Lefferts, who is now a pitching coordinator in the Oakland Athletics organization. “We had two left-handers in the bullpen, myself and Willie Hernandez, and the two of us would play catch every day, trying to work on a changeup. We had a right-hander in our pen by the name of Bill Campbell who threw a screwball. He taught, or at least attempted to teach, us how to throw a screwball. Mine was terrible and Willie’s wasn’t very good either. [Pitching coach] Billy Connors told me, ‘I don’t want you to ever use that in a game. I want you to pitch with the stuff that got you here. You’re a rookie, so don’t go out there and try and throw a new pitch.’ So I didn’t, but I kept working on it. After the season, I went to winter ball and perfected it.
“The next year, Willie got traded to the Tigers and I got traded to the Padres,” continued Lefferts. “Both of us threw a screwball as our best pitch. He won the Cy Young Award and I had arguably the best year of my career. I had 10 saves, but was mostly setting up Rich Gossage. Then Willie and I met in the World Series.” Read the rest of this entry »
Framber Valdez isn’t the marquee pitcher in this World Series. He’s a solid fourth by reputation, with the top trio some of the brightest pitching lights of the last five years: Justin Verlander, Aaron Nola, and Zack Wheeler. Two games into the series, that top trio have been uniformly bad. Each has given up five runs, hardly the dominant performances they’re known for. Valdez? He stands untouched and mostly unchallenged, allowing a solitary run over 6 1/3 innings to pace the Astros to a 5-2 victory in Game 2.
When Valdez is on his game – and he’s always on his game, setting the major league record for most consecutive quality starts this year – he mixes a snapdragon curveball with a sinker that warps gravity, drawing the ball inexorably downward. He was in fine form Saturday night against a tough Philadelphia lineup. He got awkward swings seemingly at will, weak grounders whenever he needed them, and had a beautiful curveball in his back pocket whenever the opportunity for a strikeout presented itself.
The Phillies have been swinging early and often this postseason. That’s a horrid plan against Valdez; his biggest weakness is an occasional lapse in command. Even tonight, in one of the best performances of his career, he walked three Phillies. If you can lay off his curveball – easier said than done – he’ll sometimes spray a few sinkers and put you on base. Read the rest of this entry »
Through the first three rounds of the playoffs, two competing storylines took shape: The Astros, indomitable, sheared through the American League undefeated. The Phillies, resilient, ebullient, and unpredictable, shocked the National League by dominating the senior circuit’s best.
When these two narratives finally intersected in Houston Friday night, spraying hits and disorder all over the field like debris from a train crash, the result was an instant classic. The Astros dominated early, staking out an early five-run lead that by all rights ought to have demoralized their opposition. But the Phillies, a $255 million monument to not knowing when you’re beaten, struck right back for a historic comeback win:
How historic? The Phillies’ 6-5 win was the biggest comeback by an NL team in the World Series since 1956. When Houston’s win probability peaked with one out in the top of the fourth, they were roughly 16-to-1 favorites to win the game. Instead, the Phillies erased that lead in two innings, hung around long enough for J.T. Realmuto to win the game in the top of the 10th, and survived a Houston rally that came within 180 feet of turning a series-changing Phillies win into a crushing loss. Read the rest of this entry »
In this year’s regular season, games took a pretty pronounced step away from three true outcomes hitting. Home runs dropped from 3.3% of plate appearances in 2021 to 2.9%, walks from 8.7% to 8.2%, and strikeouts — this one in part thanks to replacing nearly 5,000 pitcher plate appearances with designated hitters — fell from 23.2% to 22.4%. All told, the percentage of plate appearances winding up in one of these results dropped 1.7 percentage points, from 35.1% to 33.4% — the most profound drop since 1988.
There are a lot of theories as to why this could be happening, from the universal designated hitter to more changes in the balls to humidors, but the fact is, after this figure dropped nearly one percentage point from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to ’21, this year marks the second of a league-wide trend away from the trio. Which makes it all the more fun that when the Phillies and Astros take the field in Houston tonight for Game 1 of the World Series, it will be National League home run and strikeout champion Kyle Schwarber digging in to lead off the Fall Classic.
In his first season in Philadelphia this year, Schwarber was as much of a three true outcomes hitter as there was. No other player this season finished in the 90th percentile or above in home run rate and walk rate and in the bottom 10th in strikeout rate. That isn’t to say there aren’t other players in that mold; indeed, there are many. Giancarlo Stanton and Eugenio Suárez hit 31 home runs apiece and both finished in the bottom 10% in strikeout rate but landed in the second decile in walk rate. Max Muncy, who led off a World Series in 2018, leans pretty heavily in that direction. Matt Chapman, Daniel Vogelbach, and Joey Gallo all fit the bill to some degree, the latter most prototypically in previous seasons. But in 2022, nobody took it to the extreme that Schwarber did; he hit more home runs than anyone other than Aaron Judge, led the majors with 200 strikeouts, and finished sixth with 86 walks. While about a third of PA league-wide ended in one of the true outcomes, just about half — 49.6% — of Schwarber’s did. Read the rest of this entry »
On Friday night, Justin Verlander will take the next step in his remarkable season by starting Game 1 of the World Series against the Phillies. For all that he’s accomplished in a career that will likely gain him first-ballot entry into the Hall of Fame, success in the Fall Classic has eluded him, but not for lack of opportunity. He does have a World Series ring from the Astros’ 2017 championship (tainted though it is by subsequent revelations of the team’s illegal electronic sign-stealing), but on a personal level, his Series history has combined some bad luck with a few real clunkers.
A nine-time All-Star with three no-hitters and two Cy Young awards under his belt (with a third probably on the way), Verlander is the active leader in wins (244), strikeouts (3,198, 12th all-time), and S-JAWS (64.0, 20th all-time). That’s the resumé of a surefire Hall of Famer, and we’re talking about one who’s still near the peak of his powers. At 39 years old, he’s coming off an historic season (the best for any Tommy John surgery recipient in the back half of his 30s), and that after missing nearly two full seasons. Despite losing 18 days late in the season to a right calf injury, he led the AL in ERA (1.75), xERA (2.66), and WAR (6.4), ranking third in FIP (2.49) and fifth in K-BB% (23.4%). After getting tagged for six runs and 10 hits by the Mariners in the Division Series opener, he dominated the Yankees by strking out 11 and allowing just one run in six innings in the ALCS opener. He’s still lighting up the radar gun at 98 mph when he needs it.
But while he’s pitched some postseason gems in his career — including a complete-game, four-hit shutout against the A’s in the deciding game of the 2012 Division Series; a 13-strikeout, one-run complete game against the Yankees in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS (the last postseason complete game); and five other starts with at least 10 strikeouts and at most one run allowed — he’s never come close to a dominant World Series start. In fact, he’s 0–6 with a 5.68 ERA in seven starts totaling 38 innings, with a whopping nine homers (2.1 per nine) allowed. Those numbers stand out for all of the wrong reasons.
For one thing, those six losses are more than any other World Series pitcher besides Whitey Ford, who lost eight times, albeit in a record 22 starts, and the Chairman of the Board offset that with 10 wins, also a record. You know how we feel about pitcher wins and losses around here; they’re imperfect barometers of performance that greatly depend upon the support one receives from their offense, defense, and bullpen. But they are a subject of discussion in this context.
As you can probably surmise, Verlander has the most World Series starts of any pitcher without a win:
Starting Pitchers with Most Losses and Zero Wins in World Series History
That list has some pretty good pitchers, but no Hall of Famers; Brown is probably the closest besides Verlander, but for all of the work he did in helping the Marlins and Padres get to the World Series (four postseason wins in six starts including a two-hit shutout in NLCS Game 2 in 1998), three of his four stats there were ugly. Newcombe had a great debut in 1949 (eight innings, 11 strikeouts, one run) but wound up on the wrong end of a 1–0 score and thereafter made it past the fourth inning just one time in four tries. Root gave up Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot.” Williams was one of the eight players permanently banned from baseball for helping to fix the 1919 World Series.
Meanwhile, Verlander has the eighth-highest ERA of any pitcher with at least 20 innings in World Series starts:
My, but that’s a lot of Dodgers; six of the 15 highest starter ERAs are linked to the franchise, including four from their 1947–56 run of six pennants. They lost five of those World Series (1947, ’49, ’52, ’53, and ’56) but won in 1955, with Newcombe, Erskine, Craig, and Loes all making one start; only Craig’s netted a win or was any good. It was left up to Johnny Podres, whose two starts included a Game 7 shutout, to play the hero.
Note that several of these pitchers also made relief appearances that aren’t included within the data above, including Kershaw, whose four shutout innings under desperate circumstances in Game 7 of 2017 (after Yu Darvish was chased) lowers his overall World Series ERA to 4.46. It took two very good starts in the 2020 World Series, where he was instrumental in securing that elusive World Series ring, to get him down from 5.40 — a reminder that so much of this is just a matter of repeated opportunities, not an inability to perform at his peak at this level.
For as bad as the overall numbers are, not all of Verlander’s World Series starts have been dreadful. Here’s the game log, followed by a quick summary of each start.
Justin Verlander’s World Series Starts
Date
Series Gm
Tm
Opp
Rslt
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
HR
Pit
10/21/06
1
DET
STL
L,2-7
5
6
7
6
2
8
2
96
10/27/06
5
DET
@
STL
L,2-4
6
6
3
1
3
4
0
101
10/24/12
1
DET
@
SFG
L,3-8
4
6
5
5
1
4
2
98
10/25/17
2
HOU
@
LAD
W,7-6
6
2
3
3
2
5
2
79
10/31/17
6
HOU
@
LAD
L,1-3
6
3
2
2
0
9
0
93
10/23/19
2
HOU
WSN
L,3-12
6
7
4
4
3
6
1
107
10/29/19
6
HOU
WSN
L,2-7
5
5
3
3
3
3
2
93
SOURCE: Baseball-Reference
2006 Game 1, Tigers vs. Cardinals
After debuting the previous September, the 23-year-old Verlander won AL Rookie of the Year honors (17–9. 3.63 ERA), but he was erratic in the postseason — able to hit triple digits but lacking in command. He scuffled in his Division Series start against the Yankees and ALCS start against the A’s, lasting 5.1 innings in both and allowing a total of seven runs. Facing the Cardinals, who had gone just 83–78 but who had a star-studded lineup, he needed 18 pitches to get through the first inning, striking out Albert Pujols to end it. He surrendered a solo homer to Scott Rolen in the second, and Pujols exacted revenge with two-run homer in the third, that after Chris Duncan had doubled home a run. Verlander didn’t retire any of the three batters he faced in the fifth, allowing one run before departing (via a Jim Edmonds single) and getting charged with two, one unearned, after leaving. Not pretty.
2006 Game 5, Tigers vs. Cardinals
Verlander got the ball again with the Tigers trailing three games to one, and he certainly pitched better than in the opener, but he couldn’t hold out against the team of destiny and was outpitched by former Tiger Jeff Weaver. The Cardinals singled the rookie into submission, with David Eckstein driving in a run in the second and another in the fourth, the latter of which gave St. Louis a 3–2 lead. Before that run, a Verlander throwing error on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Weaver — his second error of the series and the fifth by a Tigers hurler — kindled a Tim McCarver lecture about the importance of pitcher fielding practice that some say is still going.
2012 Game 1, Tigers vs. Giants
After allowing just two runs in 24.1 innings across three starts in the first two playoff rounds against the A’s and Yankees (with pitch counts of 121, 122, and 132), Verlander had a full seven days of rest before his World Series start after the Tigers swept the Yankees. Maybe the rust was to blame for this one. He served up a solo homer to Pablo Sandoval in the first, then a two-run shot to Sandoval in the third after Marco Scutaro drove in a run. In the fourth, opposite number Barry Zito even drove in a run. Sandoval would homer again to complete the trifecta, but it came against Al Alburquerque in the fifth, with Verlander having already hit the showers. He never got a second chance in this series, as the Tigers were swept.
2017 Game 2, Astros vs. Dodgers
Traded to the Astros on August 31 after a 12-year run with the Tigers, Verlander was stellar down the stretch, pitching to a 1.06 ERA in five starts and striking out 43 in 34 innings. He carried that momentum in to the playoffs, even winning ALCS MVP honors against the Yankees by allowing just one run in 16 innings, striking out 21.
For the first time, Verlander pitched pretty well in a World Series game, retiring the first nine Dodgers and not surrendering a hit until Joc Pederson’s solo homer in the fifth. He found trouble with two outs in the sixth, walking Chris Taylor and then yielding a two-run homer to Corey Seager before departing on the short end of a 3–1 score. The Astros got him off the hook, scoring runs off Kenley Jansen in the eighth and ninth, and wound up winning a wild one — featuring a total of five homers in the 10th and 11th — in 11 innings.
2017 Game 6, Astros vs. Dodgers
After the Astros won Game 5, 13–12, Verlander took the mound with a chance to clinch a championship. He hung zeroes through the first five frames, with a second-inning single by Yasiel Puig the only blemish. Meanwhile, George Springer’s homer off Rich Hill put the Astros up 1–0. But after Austin Barnes led off the sixth with a single, the Dodgers’ lineup went to town in its third look at Verlander. After Chase Utley was hit with a pitch, Taylor hit a game-tying RBI double, and Seager followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers the lead. Verlander departed after stranding Taylor at third, but the Dodgers held on to win, 3–1, and extend the series to Game 7.
2019 Game 2, Astros vs. Nationals
This time around, Verlander reached the World Series after two very good and two not-so-good starts in the Division Series against the Rays and ALCS against the Yankees. He got off on the wrong foot here, as the first three Nationals reached safely, with Anthony Rendon smacking a two-run double on an 0–2 pitch to put Verlander in the hole immediately. Alex Bregman‘s two-run homer off Stephen Strasburg tied the game in the bottom of the first, and while Verlander didn’t throw a 1-2-3 inning until the sixth, he did his part to keep the game tied until serving up a solo homer to Kurt Suzuki to lead off the seventh. He departed after walking Victor Robles, which kindled a five-run rally on Ryan Pressly’s watch. The game ended as a 12–3 rout, but for those first six innings, it was a tight one.
2019 Game 6, Astros vs. Nationals
After the Nationals won Games 1 and 2 on the road, the Astros went to Washington and took the next three, so Verlander once again took the mound with a chance to clinch. As in Game 2, Rendon plated a first-inning run, this time with an RBI single. The Astros answered with two runs off Strasburg in the bottom of the first, but Verlander gave up the lead with solo homers by Adam Eaton and Juan Soto in the fifth and left trailing 3–2. Again, the Nationals broke the game open in the late innings, winning 7–2 and forcing a Game 7. Astros manager A.J. Hinch ruled out using Verlander, who had thrown 93 pitches, in relief but did not rule out using Game 5 starter Gerrit Cole. He didn’t get the call either as the Astros fell.
In all, that’s not a great track record. Verlander sometimes struggled early, and sometimes was dealing until he wasn’t. He’s made three quality starts out of seven and lost a fourth one by lingering past the sixth. He hasn’t gotten an out in the seventh or later in any of those starts and has only topped 100 pitches twice. To be fair, he also hasn’t had much margin for error, as his teams have scored just 20 runs in his seven starts; the one time they scored more than three (Game 2 in 2017), four of the runs came in extra innings. That he’s never left a World Series game with a lead isn’t entirely his fault.
The good news for Verlander is that he gets another shot; having another chance to pitch in a World Series is no doubt one of the reasons he re-signed with the Astros in the first place. If Reggie Jackson’s line, “When you have the bat in your hand, you can always change the story,” is true for a hitter in a big spot, then same thing is true for a pitcher taking the mound in a World Series opener. Just by doing so, Verlander, at 39 years and 250 days old, will become the fourth-oldest pitcher to start Game 1 of the Fall Classic:
Another rough start won’t break Verlander’s legacy any more than a great one will make it. He’s one of the all-time greats, regardless of what happens against the Phillies, but his career will feel that much more complete if he pitches up to his potential.
Jose Altuve takes off, running as fast as he can down the line. The throw is coming in faster, sailing toward the bag. You can tell it’s going to be a close call, and indeed it is. The umpire extends his arms, signaling safe, and the crowd erupts into either emphatic cheers or cacophonous boos, depending on whether this hypothetical call takes place in Houston or Philadelphia. The whole play lasts only a few short seconds, but it’s one of the most thrilling moments of the entire game.
What I am describing is an infield hit — one of the most overlooked plays in baseball. It’s not surprising that home runs, extra-base hits and the like get a little more attention, especially since infield hits are just as often the result of poor defense or a lucky bounce as they are the result of true offensive skill. Yet as individual plays, infield singles are exactly what make baseball so exciting. There are few batted ball events as highly suspenseful as those in which an infield hit is possible. Those four to five seconds between the contact and the call can get your heart racing nearly as fast as the runner himself. Infield hits represent a true battle between batter, fielder, and even the field itself. On top of that, the ever-present possibility of an infield single is exactly what makes every routine ground ball worth watching.
This year, we have the privilege of watching two of the very best infield hitters in the game face off in the World Series. Altuve and Jean Segura are the active leaders in infield hits, the former with 247 and the latter right behind him with 244. They both passed Elvis Andrus on the active leaderboard this season, who himself reached the top of the leaderboard when Hunter Pence retired in 2020. FanGraphs began tracking infield hits in 2002, and in that time Segura and Altuve each rank among the top ten. Both just 32 years old, they have plenty of time to climb the ranks, too. Within a few years, they should find themselves second and third behind only infield hit god Ichiro Suzuki. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to a moment to appreciate how they both got here. Read the rest of this entry »
Were you not geared up for such a quick graph? Did I blow it right by you? That was kind of the point. The graph shows the run value of fastballs, bucketed in 1-mph increments. Over the past four seasons, for every 100 fastballs thrown, one tick of velocity has been worth roughly an eighth of a run. The lesson? Throw your fastballs fast.
I’ll stick to fastballs in this article, but I should mention that harder soft stuff is also associated with better outcomes, though the correlation is weaker and the effect is less dramatic. My number crunching indicates that over 100 breaking and offspeed pitches, an extra mile per hour is worth roughly 1/16 of a run. Read the rest of this entry »
Location: Citi Field – Queens, New York Status: Full time
Summary:
The New York Mets are seeking a Director, Performance Technology to lead the team responsible for driving the Baseball Operations Department’s use of technology to improve decision making and outcomes across player performance and health, player evaluation, and player development. The Performance Technology Director will oversee the sports science and biomechanics functions within Baseball Operations and will work closely with personnel in Baseball Analytics, Baseball Systems, Data Engineering, and High Performance on the development of models, tools, interfaces, and programming necessary to generate and present insights to players and staff in a highly actionable format. The Performance Technology Director will also collaborate with leaders across all functions within Baseball Operations to successfully develop and implement value-adding technology solutions within those areas. The ideal candidate has worked in a senior sports science or biomechanics role working with elite athletes and possesses extensive experience in evaluating, developing, and implementing technology solutions in that space.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:
Partner with senior leadership to shape the roadmap for the Performance Technology Department and own its execution
Oversee the construction and operation of performance labs at the Mets’ Florida complex and at Citi Field
Hire and manage a team that will operate lab environments and conduct data capture and research
Oversee the department’s efforts in sports science and biomechanics, optimizing athlete performance and availability through technology and research-driven methods
Work with analysts and engineers on the development of models, tools, and software designed to generate actionable insights and convey them effectively to players and staff
Work closely with leadership across Baseball Operations to improve systems and processes by identifying problems and developing and implementing technology-driven solutions
Ensure the organization has a high awareness of the performance technology landscape and, through a strong process for vetting and testing technology, that it is well-positioned to be an early adopter of high-value technology
Manage the department’s budget and make investment recommendations to senior leadership
Collaborate with Point72’s Technology Innovation team on the identification and evaluation of emerging technologies with potential applications to baseball
Contribute to and help foster a culture of innovation throughout all of Baseball Operations
Qualifications:
PhD in Biomechanics, Biomedical Engineering, Kinesiology or other related disciplines or equivalent experience
Experience leading and managing a team
Experience working with athletes in an elite athletic environment (baseball-specific experience is a plus)
8+ years relevant professional experience
Deep knowledge of the performance technology space, including, but not limited to, marker-based and marker less motion capture, wearables, and sensors
Experience with research design and conducting scientific research
Ability to work cooperatively with others, and to take control of large-scale projects with little or no daily oversight
Strong written and verbal communication skills
Experience with front-end development and product management is a plus
Proficiency in R, Python, or other statistical computing languages is a plus
Experience with algorithm development and AI/ML and computer vision-based solutions is a plus
Experience working for a technology company on technology for athletic performance is a plus
The above information is intended to describe the general nature, type, and level of work to be performed. The information is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required for this position. Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time. The individual selected may perform other related duties as assigned or requested.
The New York Mets recognize the importance of a diverse workforce and value the unique qualities individuals of various backgrounds and experiences can offer to the Organization. Our continued success depends heavily on the quality of our workforce. The Organization is committed to providing employees with the opportunity to develop to their fullest potential.
Job Title: International Scouting Analyst Department: Baseball Operations – International Scouting Reports To: Assistant Director, Player Development & International Scouting FLSA: Salary, Exempt
Job Purpose:
To support the International Scouting Department through statistical research and analysis,
video and data capture, scouting coverage, statistical research and analysis, and administrative duties.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Develop and integrate new tools and technology to improve decision-making processes.
Advanced statistical analysis of players.
Coordinate data intake from multiple countries.
Operate various tracking technologies to evaluate players.
Introductory-level player evaluation, including scouting and writing reports on assignment.
Assist with video and high-frame rate video capture of pitchers and hitters.
Edit, trim, and combine video clips.
General administrative, logistical, and organizational support for International Scouting processes.
Complete necessary documents and administrative duties in a professional and thorough manner.
Coordinate efficient travel arrangements.
Complete expense reports in a timely and professional manner.
Full and complete knowledge of Major League Baseball rules and regulations.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
Strong work ethic and willingness to work long, flexible hours including weekends and holidays.
Advanced baseball knowledge from both a scouting and statistical perspective.
Ability to understand and interpret TrackMan and Rapsodo data.
Strong organizational and time-management skills.
Knowledge of statistical analysis and/or predictive modeling.
Demonstrated experience with database querying (SQL) and statistical software (e.g. R, Python).
Understanding of typical baseball data structures and knowledge of current baseball research, statistics and strategy.
Ability to communicate effectively with all aspects of Baseball Operations, Scouting, and Player Development.
Independent judgment and ability to multitask is required to plan, prioritize, and organize diversified workload.
Ability to work as part of a team.
Experience, Education and Licensure
Bachelor’s degree preferred.
Experience playing and/or working in college and/or professional baseball/softball preferred.
Basic understanding of video management, storage and backup preferred.
Requirements:
Spoken and written fluency in English.
Spanish fluency preferred.
Ability and willingness to travel within and out of the United States for extended periods of time and occasionally on short notice.
Willing to relocate within the United States if necessary to meet the needs of the organization.
Expectations:
Adhere to Cincinnati Reds Organization Policies and Procedures.
Act as a role model within and outside the Cincinnati Reds Organization.
Perform duties as workload necessitates.
Demonstrate flexible and efficient time management and ability to prioritize workload.
Meet department productivity standards.
Willingness to learn. Open to new methodologies.
Equal Opportunity Statement:
The Cincinnati Reds are an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is the policy of the Cincinnati Reds to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion or creed, sex, age, military or veteran status, disability, citizenship status, marital status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by law.
Disclaimer:
The statements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the employee in this position. The above description is only a summary of the typical functions of the job, not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all possible job responsibilities, tasks, and duties. Additional duties, as assigned, may become part of the job function. The duties listed above is, therefore, a partial representation not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of a person in this position.
Summary:
It’s fun to work in a company where people truly BELIEVE in what they’re doing!
We’re committed to bringing passion and customer focus to the business.
The Texas Rangers Baseball Club is seeking interns for next season including a number of roles beginning in January or May.
Responsibilities would include but not limited to:
Assist in maintaining database and querying reports, including but not limited to data entry, data quality assurance, database queries, and other administrative tasks as necessary.
Assist Major League Operations Department in Arbitration preparation and maintaining payroll outlooks.
Aid in the development of tools, outputs, and presentations that both inform and help shape execution strategy for key transactional processes, including but not limited to Free Agent Signings, Trade Acquisitions, Waiver Claims, and the Rule 4 Amateur Draft and the Rule 5 Draft.
Conduct general baseball research and look-back analyses pertaining to industry trends, league economics, and various innovative topics within the baseball operations landscape.
Area of interest project to be worked on throughout year.
Participate in educational program that exposes individual to multiple departments within Baseball Operations along with tasks associated with said departments.
Assist with daily administrative tasks within multiple departments of Baseball Operations.
Prepare information and logistics for meetings and assist with administrative and research projects.
Operate various technology during home games.
Assist in logistical needs related to Amateur Draft, Trade Deadline, and rehab/transactional moves as needed.
Exposure to all areas of Baseball Operations.
All other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
Ability to multitask in stressful situations.
Ability to relocate to Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Availability to work nights, weekends, and holidays.
Completed or currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree.
Demonstrated passion for baseball.
Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to develop and maintain relationships.
Familiarity with advanced baseball statistics.
Growth oriented, desire to learn.
Must possess highly proficient skills in the use of Microsoft Office suite (Excel, Power Point).
Strong administrative, organizational and communication skills.
Strong attention to detail. Meticulously completes work assignments thoroughly and in an accurate, and prompt way.
Experience in SQL, R, Python, Tableau is a plus.
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of the job.
If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you’ll enjoy your career with us!
