FanGraphs Audio: Travis Sawchik Innovates on Demand

by
February 13, 2017

Episode 715
The prolific Travis Sawchik is a former beat reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and author of the book Big Data Baseball. He’s recently become a full-time employee of FanGraphs.com. He’s also the guest on this edition of the program, during which he discusses methods for adding intellectual diversity (as well as all the other kinds of diversity) to baseball front offices

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Audio after the jump. (Approximately 1 hr 12 min play time.)

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Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

8 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Chaco ChickenMember since 2017
9 years ago

On Friday I have to go to the tax office and the DMV. I’d like to borrow Carson for the day to narrate events as they transpire. Please.

2
Travis SawchikMember
9 years ago
Reply to  Chaco Chicken

That would be wonderfully entertaining

2
MustBunique
9 years ago

Different perspectives on a problem can yield superior solutions.

Duplex = townhouse?

Travis, go ahead and laugh at Carson sometimes. Ohioans are polite but my god he deserved some manner of laughing for the elderberry comment.

0
Jorge FabregasMember since 2016
9 years ago
Reply to  MustBunique

In my mind:
Duplex = a 2 unit building where each unit shares a wall or one unit is above the other.

Townhouse=row houses where several units are connected to each other as one building (as opposed to only 2 units in a duplex situation).

0
MustBunique
9 years ago
Reply to  Jorge Fabregas

Oh ok. That makes sense.

0
Matthew TobinMember since 2016
9 years ago

I might suggest that Front Offices invest in talent that has experienced failure.

Having Ivy League interns is wonderful, but one has to imagine these sort of people have not faced much adversity in their path. It is odd that teams have seemingly value “grit” so much in players, but limit the scope of it. You aren’t going to find the type creative problem solving that failure develops by demanding a Ph.D in Computer Science,professional playing experience, and years of industry experience in potential interns.

This issue is not limited to baseball in the least as we see tech companies and wall street perpetuate the issue by using a cookie cutter hiring process. For example, Wall Street will rarely give you a second look as an investment banker unless you went to Harvard Business or Wharton. There is a certain degree of cognitive dissonance from industries that crave “out of the box” ideas, but only look in similar places while writing exceptions off as Black Swans.

0
Gareth
9 years ago

Edward de Bono developed most of the techniques a generation ago,just need a facilitator.

0
soaktherichMember since 2016
9 years ago

Re: Rich Hill taking a chance when he was 35 rather than at 25, it’s all about having nothing to lose at 35, as Carson points out. What neither he nor Travis points out is that when Hill was 25, he was #soclose to being a regular, if not a star, in a big league rotation (indeed, he was the best starter on a bad Cubs team one year) just by doing by what he was already doing. There’s no way you just tear it all down and try to start over again at that point. Not for 25-year-old Rich Hill or 25-year-old anyone who gets that close to the top just doing what comes naturally.

0