Eric and I have been working hard the last few months to rank everything that we can, including produce at the grocery store and our friends and family. As far as the rankings that appear on FanGraphs, we’ve had Prospect Week, headlined by the annual top-100 prospects list and complemented by nine other associated pieces, including preseason draft rankings that were updated yesterday to account for what’s happened in the last 10 weeks.

In that spirit of ranking and constantly updating, along with the desire to show our work and give readers tools to make decisions, today we are introducing THE BOARD.

This represents just the first pass at a feature that is likely to be modified and improved upon. Feel free to submit any suggestions in the comments. (I, personally, have a list of about a dozen additions for the coming months.) While we could have continued to develop this before releasing it, we felt this was something from which readers could benefit ASAP. It also serves as a bit of an apology for the team prospect lists taking so long. We’ll still be releasing an article for each team as planned over the next couple weeks. In the meantime, though, every organization is included in THE BOARD, updated with full tool grades. Readers, for example, can check out some of those to-be-published audits, like the record-breaking Padres’ list featuring 43 prospects.

A big hat tip is in order to dark overlord David Appelman for making our crazy ideas a reality.

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Position: Baseball Systems Developer

Location: Phoenix, AZ

Description
The purpose of this position is to play a significant role in designing and developing new functionality and maintaining existing applications within the Baseball Information Systems umbrella.

Primary (Essential) Duties

• Responsible for assisting with the design, development, and maintenance of new and existing functionality for the Baseball Information Systems.
• Work closely with Baseball Operations staff to create user-friendly tools to solve baseball needs and streamline processes
• Create testing plans and documentation for all new development
• Provide support and guidance to end users
• Other duties as assigned

Knowledge, Skills and/or Abilities

Some collection of the following:

• Spring Framework, jQuery, JavaScript, XML, CSS, HTML
• Eclipse, Maven, MyBatis
• JSON, REST and SOAP services
• API integration
• Strong knowledge of MS SQL databases (optimization and management skills are a plus)
• Experience with reporting and visualization tools (SSRS, SSAS, Tableau)
• .NET background a plus
• Familiarity with ETL concepts and design (Pentaho Kettle preferred)
• Analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to multi-task

Experience/Education Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field
• Five or more years of professional experience developing enterprise web applications in Java using Spring MVC

The Diamondbacks are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

To Apply
To apply, please visit this site.

Please note this posting contains one internship position, as well as an operator position hiring at multiple locations.

Position: Cape Cod Data and Operations Intern

Description:
TrackMan leverages industry leading 3D doppler radar technology to capture the most comprehensive and accurate ball tracking data in the game. TrackMan data is used for player evaluation and development by all Major League teams in the US and the majority of teams in Japan and Korea, as well as top NCAA D1 programs. TrackMan is also used by MLB Advanced Media, as a ball tracking component of the revolutionary Statcast system.

TrackMan is seeking highly motivated and detail oriented candidates to operate the TrackMan radars at various Cape Cod locations. These individuals will be responsible for running the TrackMan system for all Cape Cod games. The duties require that this role arrive at least one half-hour before first pitch and continue to the final out. This position runs from June 12th – August 12th.

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for setting up rosters and tagging information in TrackMan.
• Log information for the entire game – monitoring the system and making any changes throughout the game (i.e. roster changes, defensive substitutions, etc.).
• Assist in troubleshooting system issues with Trackman support, fixing any errors, and uploading the game to the TrackMan.
• Maintain TrackMan equipment required for tagging
• Support the TrackMan data operations teams in ad-hoc data requests and evaluations.

Qualifications:

• Current college student or recent graduate with education focused on Sports Management, Statistics / Mathematics, Operations Management, or similar.
• Strong computer skills to operate the system and/or troubleshoot systemic issues
• A firm understanding of baseball is required.
• Candidate must be able to make all home games and able to work nights during the week and weekends associated with home games. (June 12 – August 12)
• Accommodations in Cape Cod for the duration of the season
• Experience in Project Management a plus.
• Basic database and/or analytics experience a plus.
• Ability to lift upwards of 50 lbs.

Compensation:
This position is compensated.

To Apply:
To apply, please send a resume to James Woods at jaw@trackman.com

Position: NW Arkansas Naturals TrackMan Operator

Locations: NW Arkansas, Burlington Royals, and Idaho Falls

Description:
TrackMan is seeking a highly motivated and detail oriented candidate to operate the TrackMan radar at three locations. This individual will be responsible for running the TrackMan system for home games. The number of games worked varies by week based on availability and the season schedule. The duties require that this role arrive one half-hour before first pitch and continue to the final out. The operator will start as soon as possible.

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for setting up rosters and tagging information in TrackMan.
• Log information for the entire game – monitoring the system and making any changes throughout the game (i.e. roster changes, defensive substitutions, etc.).
• Assist in troubleshooting system issues with Trackman support, fixing any errors, and uploading the game to the TrackMan.
• Ad hoc requests.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Candidate must be motivated, well organized, and detail oriented.
• A firm understanding of baseball is required.
• Candidate must be able to make all home games and able to work nights during the week and weekends associated with home games.
• Previous experience using TrackMan software is preferred but not required.

To Apply:
Please email James Woods at jaw@trackman.com and indicate your preferred location in the subject line.

Ultimate Zone Ratings (UZR), provided by Mitchel Lichtman, are now available for the 2018 season! These will update weekly as usual.

In addition to the the new 2018 data, the 2012 through 2017 data has been updated. You might recall that in 2017, there were some changes to the UZR methodology that were to be backported to 2012 – 2016. This has now happened. Here is a brief refresher on what those changes were.

– UZR now uses hit timer data (hang time) rather than hit type designations, which is an improvement on the methodology and thus the results.

– The methodology has changed a little that allows UZR to account for some of the noise associated with imperfect data. The net result of this change is that extreme UZR’s, which were likely caused by, to some extent at least, noise in the data, rather than extreme performance, will be slightly ‘dampened.’ We think that these new values, while very close to the old ones in most cases, more accurately reflect the actual performance of the players in question.

Below you will find the changes of 5 or more runs in each season:

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

None.

It was only one start, but when you’re coming off an age-44 season featuring a 6.48 ERA, a 5.21 FIP, and a 5.4% swinging-strike rate (the lowest among pitchers with at least 140 innings), you’re on a start-to-start basis anyway. So it counts as good news that, on Monday night, Bartolo Colon made an impressive debut with the Rangers — his 11th franchise — throwing six innings of one-run ball against the A’s in Oakland.

After three surprisingly strong seasons with the Mets, during which he averaged 196 innings, a 3.90 ERA, 3.79 FIP, and 2.7 WAR, Colon signed a one-year, $12.5 million deal with the Braves for last season, but he struggled mightily, first in Atlanta and then Minnesota after being released in July. With no major-league deal forthcoming, he inked a minor-league deal with the Rangers on February 4, with a base salary of $1.75 million plus another $1.3 million in incentives. With Martin Perez still on the disabled list as he rehabs from a bull-induced elbow fracture that required surgery, Colon had his opening to make the team, but only after being released and then re-signed last week in order to work around his opt-out clause.

Colon retired the first six A’s he faced, bookended by caught-looking strikeouts to Marcus Semien and Stephen Piscotty on sinkers, something he’s done 245 times since returning to the majors in 2011, more often than any pitcher this side of David Price. He would later victimize both hitters again, the former swinging at a slider, the latter swinging at an 0-2 sinker.

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Position: Baseball Research and Development Web Developer

Location: Washington, D.C.

Description:

The Washington Nationals are seeking a web developer to join the organization’s Baseball Research and Development team. The role will focus on building new web application features for decision-support systems and tools used throughout the organization. The developer will design UI components to visualize and facilitate in-house baseball datasets from R&D analysts as well as external data accessed via APIs.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Work with each layer of the web application stack to create new features.
• Design intuitive interfaces to effectively convey information and receive data from users.
• Facilitate the creation of new database components and automated tasks related to new features.
• Follow existing design patterns and coding practices in the code base.
• Balance long-term projects with day-to-day high priority changes.
• Other duties as assigned

Requirements:

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements

• Advanced degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science or a related field.
• Demonstrated expertise with HTML, CSS, JS, as well as JQuery or similar JS Frameworks.
• Demonstrated experience with modern database technologies such as PostgreSQL and MySQL.
• Demonstrated experience with web application frameworks such as Ruby on Rails, Django and J2EE.
• Demonstrated experience using modern programming languages such as Ruby, Python and Java.
• Demonstrated expertise in UI design and a passion for user experience.
• Familiarity with working in a GNU/Linux environment and experience using Git version control.
• Willing to relocate to Washington, DC
• Authorized to work in the United States.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities necessary to perform essential functions

• Highly motivated with excellent attention to detail
• Creative and analytical thinker
• Strong, confident communication skills including the ability to write clearly and effectively
• Demonstrated passion for baseball and baseball operations
• Experience with baseball data and understanding of sabermetric concepts is preferred.
• Uphold Core Values: “Excellence, Performance, and Accountability. These core values set the tone in everything we do, help us succeed on and off the field, make a difference in the community and provide the best guest experience in sports. It is important that the person in the position commits themselves to these core values so that we can constantly move forward in the same direction – Together.”

Physical/Environmental Requirements

Working conditions are normal for an office environment. Work may require occasional weekend and/or evening work.

To Apply:
Please visit this site to apply.

The Padres pulled a bit of a fast one on the rest of baseball by scheduling left-handed pitching prospect Joey Lucchesi to start the Friars’ second game of the year versus the Brewers on Friday. The 24-year-old lefty spent last season split between High- and Double-A, netting 148 strikeouts in 139 innings while walking just 33. He spent most of this spring on the minor-league side of camp and only tossed 11 innings with the big club.

Lucchesi appeared within the honorable-mention section of our top-100 list as a 50 FV prospect. We considered him a No. 4 starter who was pretty likely to realize that outcome relatively soon. His stuff is generic. He sits 89-92, will touch 94, both of his breaking balls are average, and his changeup is slightly above.

What makes Lucchesi unique are his cartoonish on-mound mannerisms, many of which aid his effectiveness. He has a drop-and-drive delivery and extreme overhand arm slot, two opposing forces which create an odd initial look for hitters and cause Lucchesi’s fastball plane to be very flat, which is especially effective when he works up in the zone. Typically, pitchers with this sort of arm slot have a difficult time working east and west within the strike zone, but Lucchesi is athletic enough to maintain his delivery while making subtle variations. It allows him to do things like attack right-handed hitters in on the hands with his fastball. He also has a deep, downward-plunging stab as he loads his arm.

The flat-planed fastball works well in concert with the changeup, and both of Lucchesi’s breaking balls play up against lefties because of his delivery’s deception. In a vacuum, he’s a 45 fastball, 50 curve, 50 slider, 50 changeup guy with potential plus command. With the mechanical funk thrown in, though, everything plays up a half-grade or so. Fold into that Lucchesi’s ability to control the run game with a great pick-off move and timing variations from the stretch, and you’ve got a big-league ready, 24-year-old arm despite relatively little upper-level experience. I think he can compete at the big-league level right now.

Lucchesi will also serve as a data point to better understand Padres LHP prospect MacKenzie Gore, as Gore and Lucchesi possess shockingly similar deliveries. Gore, too, gets extremely low to the ground, using a vertical arm slot and stride direction that makes hitters visibly uncomfortable. Unlike Lucchesi, Gore sits 93-96 with a bunch of 55 and 60 secondaries. It’s not feasible to teach such a delivery across a wide population of pitching prospects because so few of them are athletic enough to maintain it. But we might be able to extrapolate exactly how much Gore’s stuff will play up against opposing hitters compared to his raw stuff by watching Lucchesi.

Position: TrackMan Stringer/Operator

Locations: Durham, NC; Montgomery, AL; Port Charlotte, FL; Bowling Green, WV; Wappingers Falls, NY; Princeton, WV

Description:
The Tampa Bay Rays are seeking highly motivated and detail oriented candidates for their affiliate TrackMan Stringers/Operators. These individuals will be responsible for running the TrackMan system for Rays’ affiliate home games. The number of games each stringer works varies by week based on availability and the season schedule. The duties require that this role arrive one half-hour before first pitch and continue to the final out. Stringer(s) will start as soon as possible coinciding with the affiliate season.

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for setting up rosters and tagging information in TrackMan.
• Log information for the entire game – monitoring the system and making any changes throughout the game (i.e. roster changes, defensive substitutions, etc.).
• Assist in troubleshooting system issues with Trackman, fixing any errors, and uploading the game to the TrackMan site.
• Other reasonable and related duties may be assigned.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Candidate must be motivated, well organized, and detail oriented.
• A firm understanding of baseball is required.
• Candidate must be able to make games in affiliate city fairly regularly and able to work nights during the week and weekends associated with home games.
• Previous experience using TrackMan software is preferred but not required.

All offers contingent on a satisfactory background check.

To Apply:
Please email bbopsresumes@raysbaseball.com with the subject line “Trackman Stringer”

On the heels of a pair of injury-shortened seasons, it was a rough spring for Felix Hernandez, who was drilled by a line drive in his first Cactus League start. Fortunately, he bounced back in time to build up his pitch count, and when he takes the mound tonight for the Mariners at Safeco Field, he’ll claim a little slice of history.

Hernandez will be making the 11th Opening Day start of his career, putting him into a tie with CC Sabathia for the lead among active pitchers, and the 10th-highest total since 1908, as far as the Baseball-Reference Play Index now reaches. He’ll also be making his 10th consecutive Opening Day start, moving him into a tie for fourth place with Hall of Famers Walter Johnson and Steve Carlton as well as Roy Halladay.

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Good news everyone! You can now make your picks in FanGraphs: The Game for the 2018 season!

For those of you who played in previous years, you will be able to change the team of any of your players up until you first spend money. So, if you want your players to be on different teams, I advise doing it before you make any picks. You can do this on the settings page.

In addition, your player will keep all of his stats from all previous seasons and continue on to the next year of their career.

Lastly, if you had autopick set last year, it has now been unset. If you want to keep playing with autopick on, you will need to make your autopick selections again.

And for those of you who are rookies to FanGraphs: The Game…

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