Please note this posting contains two positions.

Company Background:

Former Sports Info Solutions interns have risen rapidly through major league front offices after getting their start watching two to three games per day at SIS. In the words of one former intern and current Vice President of Baseball Operations, “My summer at [BIS] was the best baseball experience of my life.” Major league teams frequently come to us for recommendations when they need to fill a position within their organization, and SIS’ top interns each year routinely land team internships and/or full-time jobs.

SIS takes pride in making their internships great development opportunities for those looking to get their start in baseball. In addition to gaining invaluable experience watching thousands of players across different levels, they offer introductory classes that cover writing scouting reports and using the database management language, SQL. We also provide insight and advice from previous SIS interns who have branched out into a variety of areas in the sports industry.

Position: 2019 Minor League Video Editing Internship

Location: Coplay, PA

Description:
Sports Info Solutions is looking for highly motivated individuals with a desire to work in the baseball industry. In a new position for the 2019 season, SIS is looking for Minor League Video Editors, who will watch and clip video from Minor League games while validating the accuracy of pitch by pitch information. The end result of each Video Editor’s work will allow professional teams and other SIS clients to conduct advanced player and team analysis, specifically relating to advanced scouting and player development. Video Editors will have the opportunity to watch thousands of players across multiple levels of Minor League baseball, while also learning the ins and outs of the baseball statistics industry.

Responsibilities:

• During overnight shifts, edit video from minor league games, properly marking in and out points for each pitch, ensuring all meaningful action is captured
• Validate the accuracy of minor league pitch-by-pitch data
• Assist with the production of the 2020 Bill James Handbook
• Provide administrative support to the full-time staff

Time Frame:

• The start date for this position is March 11th, 2019. This position will run through the end of the minor league season, with the last day of employment being Monday, September 2nd, 2019 (Labor Day).
• This position will require relocation to Coplay, Pennsylvania; working remotely is not an option at this time.

Compensation:
A starting hourly rate of $8.00 and/or college course credit will be offered.

To Apply:
Click here to apply for the 2019 Minor League Video Editing Internship.

Position: 2019 Baseball Video Scouting Internship

Location: Coplay, PA

Description:
Sports Info Solutions is looking for highly motivated individuals with a desire to work in the baseball industry. Video Scouts will have a chance to make an immediate impression on the company. Each Video Scout will be collecting data that is directly used by SIS clients (including major league teams) for advance scouting and evaluation purposes. Not only will the Video Scouts become more familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of hundreds of amateur and professional players, but they will also learn the ins and outs of the baseball statistics industry.

Responsibilities:

• Score and pitch chart MLB, MiLB and amateur games using specialized computer software
• Check the accuracy and validity of data
• Prepare and analyze statistical data for delivery to customers
• Assist with the production of the 2020 Bill James Handbook
• Provide administrative support to the full-time staff

Time Frame:
SIS offers two unique start dates for this position. The first begins February 4th, 2019. It will last for a period of four to five months into early June, with the possibility of extending further based on company workload and the Video Scout’s performance. The second begins on March 6th, 2019. This will last five to six months into early September, again with a possibility of extending longer.

Compensation:

• A starting hourly rate of $7.75 and/or college course credit will be offered.
• Each Video Scout will also be eligible for regular raises based on performance.
• There will also be opportunities to sign up to work overtime to earn extra income (opportunities will depend on work levels throughout the year).

To Apply:
Click here to apply for the 2019 Baseball Video Scout position.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by Sports Info Solutions.

Position: Research and Development Intern

Location: St. Petersburg, FL

Description:
The Tampa Bay Rays are in search of their next Research and Development Intern. Their R&D group helps shape their Baseball Operations decision-making processes through the analysis and interpretation of data. They are seeking those with a passion for baseball and a desire to contribute through mathematics, data analysis and computation. Their next intern will be an intellectual contributor who can work both individually and collaboratively, come up with interesting research questions to explore, find ways to answer those questions with the data at their disposal, communicate the results of their research, and work to apply their research outcomes to improve how the Rays organization operates. The Rays want to work with people who care about being a good teammate, want to make a positive impact on their organization, have an innovative spirit, and will explore new ways to make the Rays better. Does this describe you?

Responsibilities:

• Develop strong skills in statistical modeling and quantitative analysis of a variety of data sources, for the purpose of player evaluation, player development and strategic decision-making
• Learn methods for communicating complex research findings to a variety of Baseball Operations audiences
• Design research inquiries with the potential to yield immediately actionable findings within the Rays organization
• Work collaboratively with and assist other members of the department with your areas of expertise
• Collect in-game data to support operational needs of the department
• Ad hoc research and analysis in support of general Baseball Operations tasks

Qualifications:

• A solid foundation in mathematics, physics, statistics, computer science, engineering and/or related fields
• Advanced computational skills
• Experience with R, Python, and/or Stan preferred
• Experience solving complex problems
• Creativity to discover new avenues of research

To Apply:
To apply, please visit this site and complete the online application.

This position is paid.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the Tampa Bay Rays.

In a trade that sent Russell Martin back to Los Angeles, the Blue Jays acquired two interesting, but drastically different, prospects in teenage second baseman Ronny Brito and Double-A righty Andrew Sopko.

Sopko is the more likely of the two to wear a major league uniform, as his skills are constantly desired among teams seeking to build starting pitching depth at Double and Triple-A in the event of big league injuries. He’s an efficient strike-thrower with spot starter’s stuff; a fastball that resides in the 88-92 range, an average changeup that flashes above, and a slurvy breaking ball with enough depth that it will be an issue for hitters who struggle to square up break.

Pitchers with this kind of stuff are typically found at the very back of the rotation or waiting to pick up a start due to injury. The frequency with which pitchers get hurt makes teams’ 6th-8th starters very important, as they may have to make meaningful starts at some point during the year. Sopko projects to be a very competent version of this.

Brito is more boom or bust. After dealing with injury and struggling badly throughout his first full pro season, Brito had a monster year in the offense-friendly Pioneer League, slashing .288/.352/.489 with 11 homers in 53 games at age 19.

While the dizzying elevations of the Pioneer League drastically inflate offensive performance, Brito does have legitimate, above-average raw power, and he’s capable of hitting balls out to all fields, even as a teenager, something not typical of middle infield prospects.

What eyeball scouts are skeptical of, though, is Brito’s bat. He’s free-swinging and prone to the strike out. His swing has gone through several iterations — a leg kick was implemented and then uninstalled for a while last fall, for one — and all of this mechanical variability makes it harder to evaluate Brito as a hitter. But a lack of plate discipline makes Brito’s contact profile high risk, even if there’s natural feel for contact here once his swing gets dialed in.

He has a chance to stay at second base, but he hasn’t really improved there since signing, and some scouts think his defense has actively gone backwards as his frame has thickened. His body is also pretty much maxed out, so he’s not likely to grow into much more power as he ages, though he already has enough to profile at any infield spot provided he becomes a competent defender and takes better at-bats. If that stuff comes, Brito will be an everyday player, but scout-to-scout optimism for improvement is highly variable.

Because the Dodgers have two of the best young catching prospects in baseball, we knew they didn’t necessarily need a long-term solution behind the plate. But because the Dodgers lost Yasmani Grandal to free agency — and, ultimately, the Brewers — we knew they needed at least short-term help, to pair with Austin Barnes. One name that was frequently connected to Los Angeles was Francisco Cervelli, who the Pirates have considered moving. The Dodgers have gone in another direction, bringing back a familiar face, albeit a face that’s displaying more wrinkles.

Dodgers get:

• Russell Martin
• like a whole lot of money

Blue Jays get:

• Andrew Sopko
• Ronny Brito

Martin was available. Martin was obviously available. He’s almost 36 years old, and the Blue Jays like Danny Jansen. They also have Luke Maile, Reese McGuire, and, if he still deserves to be included, Max Pentecost. Martin was out of room to play in Toronto, so the team looked to shed some of his $20-million final-year salary. I don’t think that much of the salary is being shed here at all, but then, any savings count. The Jays are out from underneath at least a little bit of money. And the Dodgers have their veteran stopgap.

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Earlier this winter, the New York Mets were looking to upgrade their catching situation. The team was dissatisfied with Travis d’Arnaud, Kevin Plawecki, and Tomas Nido as the frontline options, and after rumors of a J.T. Realmuto trade, the team ended up signing Wilson Ramos to give them four, major league-caliber catchers. Cleveland has moved in the opposite direction. The team traded top prospect Francisco Mejia to San Diego for Brad Hand and Adam Cimber over the summer to aid their bullpen. Then, when winter began, Cleveland moved Yan Gomes to the Nationals to save money. That left Cleveland with the ultra-light hitting Roberto Perez and the all-or-nothing Eric Haase, whose projections lean more toward the “nothing” side than the “all.” That made the two teams pretty good trading partners, and this is the result:

Cleveland receives:

• C Kevin Plawecki

New York receives:

• RHP Walker Lockett
• 2B Sam Haggerty

Read the rest of this entry »

Teams searching for relief help this offseason don’t have quite as much depth to pore over as they did last winter, when 14 relievers signed deals for between $10 million and $30 million. Craig Kimbrel and Adam Ottavino were thought to be at the top of the reliever class and are still available, but after that, just nine other relievers made our Top 50 Free Agents list. Joe Kelly and Jeurys Familia got things moving for those nine last week. Andrew Miller came off the board last night. Jesse Chavez has already signed a deal for just $8 million guaranteed. Kiley McDaniel predicted that Kelvin Herrera and Cody Allen, who are both toward the end of our list, would also fall short of an eight-figure guarantee. Not much of the mid-tier remains, and yesterday, the A’s decided to enter the fray by signing Joakim Soria to a two-year, $15 million contract, per Jon Heyman.

Oakland’s bullpen played a big role in their run to the 2018 playoffs, putting up a 3.37 ERA, 3.91 FIP, and 5.7 WAR that ranked fifth in all of baseball. A great deal of that production is owed to the brilliance of Blake Treinen though Familia pitched well after his trade from the Mets. Lou Trivino, Ryan Buchter, Fernando Rodney, and Yusmeiro Petit also contributed. The latter four return next year, but with Familia heading back to the Mets, the A’s felt the need to bolster the back end of the pen.

Joakim Soria started last season with the White Sox after spending most of his career in Kansas City. He pitched well for Chicago, and then pitched well for the Brewers, earning a late-inning role on a relief-heavy team. He struck out 8 of the 22 batters he faced in the postseason, but some bad batted ball luck might have caused a .455 BABIP and four runs in 4.2 innings. As Eric Longenhagen noted in his free agent capsule, even at 35 years old in May, Soria should have something left in the tank.

The grim reaper still hasn’t come for Soria’s stuff. His 2018 strikeout rate (29%) represented his highest mark since 2009, and his fastball is harder now (92 mph) than it was then (90 mph). A rare four-pitch reliever, Soria’s pitch usage has fluctuated significantly year-to-year. After a changeup-heavy 2017, Soria returned to more frequent fastball use in 2018. All of his secondary pitches are plus, and Soria may still have a late-career junkballing phase ahead of him if the velocity ever starts going away. Despite his age, one could argue Soria’s track record and repertoire merit a multi-year deal.

Soria got that multi-year deal at the going rate for relievers. In the mid-priced tier, only Zach Britton and David Robertson remain. After those two, teams will either need to pay elite-level prices or go shopping in the bargain bin if they want a free agent reliever for next season.

Please note, this posting contains two positions.

Position: Application Developer, Baseball Systems

Department: Information Technology
Supervisor: Senior Director, Application Development
Status: Full-Time, Exempt

Position Summary:
The San Francisco Giants application development team is seeking an experienced software engineer that will impact the Giants major league and affiliate teams. In this role, you will build tooling, product enhancements and work with a team of baseball minds to evolve the Giants’ baseball systems. The Giants are looking for a candidate with a passion for baseball and technology, who will research and develop new solutions to enhance their applications.

Position Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, test, deploy, maintain and improve software applications
• Build and maintain web/mobile applications, core software components, and ETL pipelines
• Analyze and improve efficiency, scalability, and stability of all baseball systems
• Provide excellent customer support for all our baseball systems
• Work on projects from conception to completion including building prototypes
• Shape the future of our baseball platforms

Technical Skills/Experience:

• Cloud Computing: Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, or Microsoft Azure
• General purpose programming languages: Java, C/C++, C#, Python, JavaScript, or Go
• Databases/stores: Microsoft SQL Server, Google BigQuery, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or Redis
• Web application frameworks: Django, Flask, Angular, Polymer, React, or Bootstrap
• Distributed systems and data processing frameworks: Spark, Kafka, Kubernetes, or Docker

Knowledge and Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, a related technical field or equivalent practical experience
• 4+ years of relevant work experience, including development and/or test automation experience
• Knowledge of algorithms and fundamental computer science concepts preferred
• Strong communication skills and great product sense
• Significant experience in system design as well as scaling systems
• Strong quantitative abilities and existing knowledge of baseball analytics

To Apply:
To apply, please submit your cover letter and resume here.

The deadline to apply is Friday, January 11, 2019.

Position: Application Development Assistant

Reports To: Senior Director, Application Development
Department: Information Technology
Status: Part-Time/Non-Exempt

Position Summary:
This individual will focus on projects related to baseball development. Projects may include acquiring new data, working on ETL, or front-end development. Additionally, this individual will assist in the daily support and maintenance of The San Francisco Giants baseball information system.

Position Responsibilities:

• Complete assigned projects related to baseball development and baseball analytics
• Identify new and unique approaches to accomplish baseball objectives
• Document all work so that it can be understood and used by other members of the baseball development team
• Assist in administrative and support tasks related to baseball information systems

Technical Skills:

• General understanding of scripting language and databases.
• Experience in .Net, SQL, CSS and JS a plus
• A technical test will be required as part of the interview process

Knowledge and Skills:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or Information Systems, or equivalent experience
• Strong interest in researching, identifying and applying new techniques and strategic uses of technology
• Must be able to work efficiently and multi-task in a high stress environment and easily adapt to shifting priorities
• Self-motivated, detail-oriented, highly organized and deadline driven
• Resourcefulness, desire and ability to learn quickly and acquire new technical skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Technical documentation experience required.
• Patience and ability to satisfy demanding customers while effectively managing workload and expectations
• Team player who prefers a collaborative environment
• Committed to going “above and beyond” to serve the customer and enhance their technical knowledge
• Knowledge of and passion for baseball

To Apply:
To apply, please submit your cover letter and resume here.

Deadline to apply is Friday, January 18, 2019.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the San Francisco Giants.

Please note, this posting contains two positions.

Position: Full-Stack Integration Engineer, R&D

Location: Kent, WA

Compensation: Commensurate with experience; top-end of MLB entry-level developer salary ranges.

Benefits: Healthcare, profit sharing, opportunity for work-related paid travel (all after probationary period).

Start Date: Mid-January, 2019

Full-time salaried and exempt on-site hours of ~50 hours per week. This is not a remote position. Limited ability (20%) to work from home may be available after the probationary period, but significant facetime with athletes and staff is valued. Minor financial relocation assistance is offered in the form of a one-time cash payment to assist with travel.

Description: Driveline Baseball is looking for a skilled full-stack integration engineer to join their growing Research and Development team in Seattle. Driveline Baseball secures contracts with multiple MLB teams year-round, providing external amateur draft reports, player development assistance, and on-site implementation of the physical products they manufacture and develop in-house. Driveline Baseball also trains hundreds of elite collegiate and professional hitters and pitchers in their three building complex in Kent, Washington, 20 minutes south of downtown Seattle.

The ideal candidate will have interest in both sports science and sabermetrics, with a desire to broaden their horizons into other fields Driveline is pursuing, such as logistics, manufacturing, and rapid prototyping. Candidates will not be judged based on their formal education background, or lack thereof; the best candidates to come through Driveline Baseball have a varied and colorful history with a portfolio of failed, half-completed, and blocked sports projects of all types. Self-starters, initiative-takers, and those with a healthy skepticism of authority fit in well in the R&D department of Driveline Baseball.

Unlike MLB organizations, at Driveline Baseball, the members of the R&D team work directly and regularly with minor and major league players. You will be communicating directly with big leaguers who will depend on your statistical and quantitative reports to improve their training methods and their pitch selection. You will also deal directly with front office executives and will be expected to take a leading role in directing interns and organizing third-party vendors within months of joining the Driveline team.

This isn’t your average software developer position where you’d be siloed in the front office and seen but not heard – you’ll be on the lines of battle, integrating APIs at a standing desk, standing up servers, figuring out why the network is configured incorrectly, and documenting all the processes you’re in charge of. Bonus points for those who can throw batting practice and have fungo skills.

Responsibilities:

• Integration engineering and software development to fold in various APIs across a wide variety of sports data sources to improve player development, performance evaluation, scouting projects, and other initiatives.
• Develop and maintain small-scale RDBMS deployments on VPSes and bare metal alike.
• Assist with Information Technology requests across the 35 person Driveline Baseball team.
• Regular communication with the R&D team, executives, management, college/minor/major league baseball players, MLB/NBA/NFL front offices, and vendors who support the organization.
• Designing tools to lighten the workload of everyone in the organization; working closely with Driveline’s quantitative analysis and project management teams.
• Data mining/reverse engineering private and public data for additional analysis.
• Taking the lead on data architecture and maintenance.
• Taking initiative to expand these fields as you see fit – if it will improve the company, we’ll make the resources available to you.

Qualifications:

• Formal education: None required. High school dropouts to advanced degree holders will be seen as equals, which reflects the company’s structure as well.
• Intermediate to advanced level computer programming and/or software development experience. Experience with R, Python, and PHP strongly preferred.
• Database management and architecture skills. You won’t be required to manage billions of rows and have deep knowledge of sharding, but basic/intermediate devops will be your domain in this role.
• Some understanding of statistical modeling, quantitative analysis, and data science methods.
• Excellent “feel.” That mix of empathy, common sense and likability that makes people trust you.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in modeling sports science tasks, like workload tracking, fatigue measurement, or vision training.
• A GitHub open source portfolio, complete with code and documentation of projects – failed and successful.
• Previous experience working in professional or collegiate sports in any capacity.
• Previous experience as an athlete in any collegiate or professional sport.
• Current self-built management of a Statcast/PITCHfx database, sole or shared with others.
• Data visualization skills.
• Web development skills.
• Management skills – this (especially) includes any retail or food operation management.
• Technical writing skills.
• Highly engaged and accomplished gaming skills. High accomplishments in Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Magic: The Gathering, counting blackjack, chess, online/real life poker, or other games.

To Apply:
To apply, please complete this Google form.

Position: Floor Trainer

Location: Kent, WA

Wage: DOE; Full Time, Hourly

Benefits: Healthcare, 10 days PTO

Description: Driveline’s High Performance team improves strength and power development, baseball skills, and movement quality for Driveline athletes. They are learning machines who can apply strength programming to solve skill problems and engage deeply with athletes.

In-gym and remotely, Driveline gets great results training athletes. Strength, skill, therapy and education are foundational elements of those results.

The Floor Trainer reports directly to the Head of Athlete Performance to ensure all elements of athlete programming work in sync with one another. They achieve this by working collaboratively with other trainers and coaches and working daily with Driveline athletes.

Driveline is seeking talented coaches from a variety of backgrounds: strength, pitching, hitting, or manual therapy.

You are highly engaged every day to help athletes achieve their goals.

You can apply strength-based solutions to solve skill issues and vice-a-versa.

You are eager to learn.

You are able to immediately connect with and assess athletes will drive their results and their ability to apply it when they leave our gym.

Primary Job Requirements:

• Facilitating a great gym environment.
• Monitoring athlete workouts and engaging athletes to assess.
• Writing workout plans for athletes who will be executing them with and without your supervision.
• Working with the Driveline research team to continuously improve their training outcomes.
• Create weekly educational talks for training athletes.
• Experience using or teaching Driveline’s programming.
• Administrative duties: scheduling athletes, tracking hours, planning gym time.
• Computer literate and proficient with Microsoft Office or Google Docs.

Physical Requirements:
Candidates applying for this position should be able to lift up to 100 pounds unassisted repeatedly throughout the workday. Also, the physical requirements of this job require frequent walking around, demonstrating and assisting with exercise, throwing and hitting movements; bending, throwing, stretching, lifting, pushing, pulling and squatting are movements performed daily.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Excellent leadership and verbal communication skills.
• One season of coaching experience for a collegiate or professional baseball team (either baseball or strength and conditioning).
• Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist or equivalent.
• Excellent “feel.” That mix of empathy, common sense and likability that makes people trust you.
• A history of independent learning.
• Creative solutions to unique training limitations.

To Apply:
To apply, please complete this Google form.

Driveline is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, creed, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship status, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other status protected under local, state, or federal laws. For employees and applicants for employment who have disabilities, Driveline provides reasonable accommodation.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by Driveline.

Last week, as part of a three-team trade, the Indians sent Edwin Encarnacion to the Mariners, and the Mariners sent Carlos Santana to the Indians. Now, that part of the trade was at least partially motivated by money, but both Encarnacion and Santana remain players who could and should have roles on competitive ballclubs. Encarnacion is a 1B/DH in his 30s, and he’s coming off a 115 wRC+. Santana is a 1B/DH in his 30s, and he’s coming off a 109 wRC+. They were above-average hitters, if also diminished from their peaks.

On Tuesday, the Cubs signed veteran utility guy Daniel Descalso for two years and $5 million. Descalso is a versatile sort in his 30s, and he’s coming off a 111 wRC+. And as a matter of fact, it should be even higher, since Descalso played for the Diamondbacks, and our park factors haven’t yet accounted for their newly-installed humidor that turned Chase Field into a more neutral hitting environment. You’re probably not used to having to think about Daniel Descalso, but he’s quietly breathed new life into his career.

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At last week’s Winter Meetings, we redesigned our search bar functionality, and we are launching it today. The search bar location and the main function haven’t changed. The search bar is in the same place, and by default has the most-viewed players. It allows you to search players and blog articles. We did a pretty significant under-the-hood update that returns more relevant results, and while we were at it, we made some interface updates.

If you are interested in the details:

• Players results are weighted by a combination of name match and the number of recent views.
• Active players are in bold. The partial match of a search term is also underlined the player’s name.
• Articles can be searched in a separate window. They are weighted by term matching, number of views, and recency.
• For now, we’ve only included main page articles, not articles from all of our the blogs. The other blogs will be added in the future.
• We included Team Pages in the results!
• The search is also available as a full page: fangraphs.com/tools/search