Saying Farewell
Today, the Braves made an announcement, and I happen to be part of it.
Wednesday will be my last day as Lead Prospect Analyst here at FanGraphs, as I’ve accepted the position of Assistant Director of Baseball Operations with the Atlanta Braves. The staff has been great to work for, particularly the guys who decided to take a chance on me: David Appelman and Dave Cameron. They gave me all the resources I asked for and all the support I could imagine for my sometimes odd-sounding ideas.
I think we accomplished something special in setting at least a new template for covering scouting and player development, if not a new standard. My 2016, 2017 and 2018 draft rankings will come out tomorrow, and I have one more project that will be rolling out soon. I was only able to finish about half of what I had set out to accomplish here, so I’m disappointed that I left some of my ambition on the table, but the opportunity I was given for a new challenge was too great to pass up.
In my new job, I’ll be working with arguably the best group of scouts in baseball and coming aboard under new GM John Coppolella. I’ve known Coppy for a while, dating back to when he was my boss with the Yankees for my first baseball operations job, in 2005, while I was still in college. I’m all in on his vision for running a front office and also building an organization, with his fingerprints already all over the organization. John Schuerholz and John Hart are legends and they have arguably the most impressive resumes in the game; I’m thrilled to work for them. It also seemed like the office could use a guy not named John.
I’ll be brief explaining my role, as I’ll be there to learn and contribute behind men with more experience than me. In short, I’ll be doing many of the same things I did for FanGraphs: contributing to the draft and international signings, scouting the minor leagues and doing what I can to improve the big league product, all of these from both a scouting and analytics perspective. I am grateful for everything the FanGraphs family has done for me and to you guys for reading and participating in the process. I look forward to this new challenge and will do everything I can to ensure that it includes multiple World Series titles.
Thanks to everyone for reading, and for all the feedback — positive and negative — that you’ve offered me over my time here. Keep reading FanGraphs, and start watching the Braves; I’m looking forward to what both organizations do going forward.
Kiley McDaniel has worked as an executive and scout, most recently for the Atlanta Braves, also for the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates. He's written for ESPN, Fox Sports and Baseball Prospectus. Follow him on twitter.
Congratulations Kiley! Give…give em hell…(breaks down into sobs)
Congratulations Kiley!
You will be missed greatly here, but best of luck in your new position!
nice work, brother. congrats
Congratulations!!1
So sad. Good luck Kiley!
You’re the best, man. Thanks for your contributions… it was great having you in the public sphere. best of luck.
🙁
congrats and good luck but you’ll be sorely missed
Also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izvQvvbkXec
I’m going to really miss you being a dick to Cistulli. 🙁
Best of luck Kiley.
I can imagine a sign in Kiley’s office now: “Work Safe! xx days Cistulli-free!”
Congratulations and good luck.
Grats man, I hope the new job is well paid 😉 and a lot of fun
I really liked your podcast appearances, if you’re ever bored, please consider a guest appearance 🙂
Congratulations and good luck once again!
Congratulations Kiley! You took the prospect Data here at FG to Superhero Status. Thanks for everything and much success in your new role with the Braves. I love you. Ok it’s getting weird. Bye.
Is your name not John? That’s going to cause a bit of confusion, mind if we called you John just to keep everything straight?
Good luck. I am sad that we will no longer have the tremendous value of your analysis, but I am heartened that you will be working for my favorite team.
Love the Python. Keep it coming.
Go Braves!
Go Barves!
Kiley nooooooo, you were one of my must reads with just about everything you published here. Best of luck to you fangraphs will miss your work.
In a good way, this was not a surprise, because you showed such a depth and range of talent in covering the game. We enjoyed it, and all the best w/ your next role
Congratulations , I wish you all the best in Atlanta.
I enjoyed all your great work here, thanks!
Great news for Braves fans, welcome Kiley!
Is there a German word for “simultaneously being happy for and proud of someone while in the back of your mind selfishly thinking that this sucks for me personally”?
Congrats Kiley, your contributions will be missed on these pages.
The word is: simultaneouslybeinghappyforandproudofsomeonewhileinthebackofyourmindselfishlythinkingthatthissucksformepersonally
“Bitterschweet”
Schadenfreude
Gutted. No sure how anyone else will come close with the prospect work.
Yay for going to the Braves! We need you!
BOOO, for losing your contributions here, we need you!
best of luck and I will enjoy watching your career and harshly critiquing your choices in our drafts to come! :-p
Always wanted to let you know, you were the only one that was correct when you sai in an article writ
I have always wanted to let you know you were correct in an article you wrote about the draft on April 14 th. You said where my grandson would be drafted. Best of luck to your new position. After following you on Twitter I feel that you will be a success.
Y
I’m gonna hate seeing you go, but I’m so glad to see you with the Braves! Can’t wait to see you make your mark on my favorite team!
Congratulations Kiley.
Congratulations Kiley! Great for you, and even better news for us Braves fans!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
NEIIIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations!
Ah Leah!
My reaction as a loyal FanGraphs reader:
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
My reaction as a Nationals fan:
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Congrats, but we will miss you. A lot.
I’m a Mets fan… so what he said.
Let’s go mets!
Kiley, make sure the manager benches the best guys when you’re playing NYN….otherwise, best of luck!
Don’t screw the pooch. Any influence on getting Frediot fired would be appreciated, and I’ll happily buy the first round on that glorious day.
Thank you Kiley for your time here at Fangraphs and the in-depth coverage you provided. I can say in all honesty that I didn’t enjoy reading prospect coverage at this site until you came along. Best of luck and enjoy living the dream!
As a Braves fan I am ecstatic about this!!! For every reason other than you have the best prospect info out there. But that is the reason I’m ecstatic. Vicious cycle, really, but what this signals for the Braves philosophy going forward is as big as them hiring a guy who embodies what I love about fangraphs analysis.
Congratulations Kiley! We’ll miss you here. Best of luck with the Braves.
This makes me feel really good about the Braves direction, but bummed at the prospect (ha) of someone trying to fill your shoes here at fb. Could you fire fredi g first thing? Just kidding. But maybe… Congrats!
congratulations! Your #content will be missed but your new role is well-deserved.
Hey Kiley, I’m so happy for you! Love what you did here at FanGraphs and I know you’ll do great with the Braves. Just don’t do too well, where you give my Mets a run for their money! Good Luck!
Goddammit Kiley. Doing what we all knew you were capable of doing while we were just sitting here and enjoying the unmatched effort you put into something we don’t even pay to consume but which on its own would probably be worth something akin to an ESPN subscription.
You were the prospect writer we needed, not the one we deserved.
Seriously.
Is it too late to start up a #KeepKiley kickstarter campaign?
Or even just a #GetKileyANiceGoingAwayPresent campaign?
Maybe a “don’t let the door hit Kiley on the way out, it hurts and it makes his last fangraphs experience an unpleasant one, as opposed to walking out the door cleanly” campaign. It would be a real shame, that, if the door hit him on the way out.
What a huge loss for fangraphs. Really, though, it always felt like a matter of time before someone in MLB hired Kiley.
Thanks for all the fantastic content.
As a huge Braves fan I have to say… Can you start tomorrow instead?
As a Fangraphs reader, I will be sad to see you go.
As a Reds fan, I will be hoping that Cincinnati doesn’t swing any prospect deals with Atlanta any time soon. Your analysis was always great, and I imagine Atlanta would come out ahead on any such such deal 🙂
Congrats, and welcome to Braves land!
They’re under titling you. LEAD Assistant Director, Baseball Operations sounds a lot better.
Here’s hoping your new co-workers are more John Goodman than Matthew Lillard.
Seriously. That guy was a douche.
Congrats Kiley! I meant to ask you in chat if you could go down to Braves instructs and let us know who is top dog among Allard, Riley, Acuna, Albies, Pache, Cruz and Wilson among others. I got Riley as the #1 prospect in the Braves org right now and was hoping you would confirm. So sad not to get your update this coming year. Thrilled to have your thoughtfulness and insights with the Braves.
Congrats, Kiley!
Losing your weekly insights terrible, terrible news for everyone who loves baseball, which I think is the best possible compliment I can give.
*reggaeton horns blare somberly*
Good luck, Kylie! I hope you enjoyed your personal life.
Do one final Fangraphs Audio before you leave, if you aren’t planning to already. Otherwise I will find some way of plaguing you at the Braves with all of my crappy chat questions that didn’t get answered.
As someone with no MLB team affiliation (don’t ask), I’m incredibly happy for you. Your work here has been tremendous, has enlightened many, and has been enjoyed by all. I trust your time in Atlanta will be fruitful, as you are obviously very good at what you do. As a reader, it will certainly take some getting used to you not being here, as you provide the best analysis and other info on prospects. Your new bosses will certainly be very happy with their hire. Thank you for everything you’ve done here over the past year-plus. Here’s to you, Kiley!
A final note:
none of the comments above have been adjusted for florida. after factoring in your unfortunate upbringing and the doubtless plethora of scars it has left on your personality, the readership of fangraphs clearly considers you nothing short of the messiah of prospect analysis.
Your work at FG has been a real pleasure to read. It is no surprise to see you getting scooped up by an MLB org again. Best of luck and thank you for the fantastic content.
Je suis si triste en ce moment, je ne peux même pas faire tout le chemin du retour à l’anglais.
Bonne chance Kiley.
A+ work, friend. Godspeed.
You can’t leave! All the plants will die!!
Good luck(dragon). Hope you bring a title to that new stadium soon.
B
Congrats Kiley! The content you provided was absolutely outstanding and there will be no way that FG can replace you.
This is complete and total bullshit. How dare you take an opportunity when presented and leave us here to our own devices? How are we supposed to sound educated about prospects if we have to pay other people to do a job not as well. This is going to seriously hurt my cred at the water cooler. You need to think about how your decisions affect people you’ve never met.
Oh and congrats and good luck!
Congrats Kiley, and congrats Braves. This makes me more optimistic about their timeline for returning to contention.
Congrats. I don’t have much to add to all the people who will miss you as a Fangraphs writer but are happy as Braves fans (or sad as fans of other teams).
Here’s hoping the next Chipper Jones falls to #3.
Kiley,
This is a well-deserved opportunity and I hope we get to see that announcement some day read “____ has hired Kiley McDaniel as GM”.
Your talents were always too big for the public sector. We were always on borrowed time with the amount of access we had to someone as talented as you.
Kudos to the FG leadership for allowing you to do your thing and creating something amazing.
Best wishes & much success.
Congrats! Hate to see you leave, but happy for you.
Sad day. I too loved reading your work. Congrats!
It’d be nice for the Davids to address the future of prospect writing at FanGraphs, sooner rather than later.
Good luck Kiley.
Stay tuned.
Here’s a hint, it’s a guy who’s stopped commenting here recently to get more familiar with the few prospects worth writing about that aren’t property of the 2015 Base Runs Champion Chicago Cubs.
I had no idea it was possible for one commenter to make a site like this insufferable but…congrats, I guess?
I am a Mets fan, and also a Kiley fan. So this is awesome news. And terrible news. And I hope Kiley is as awesome for the Braves as he was for Fangraphs, but I also hope he’s not. I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO FEEL THIS CONFLICTED ABOUT BASEBALL IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!!
But in all seriousness, Kiley, you’ve done a great job here and I loved reading your work. Good luck!
So happy for you man!!!!!
Congrats!! Been a fan since the saberscouting.com days! Since Kevin Maitan is already signed maybe you can get the credit on 7/2.
Just want to add for anyone at FG who reads this, Kiley brought a completely new dimension to this site. The prospect coverage here was a 40 FV at best, and Kiley brought it up to a 60-65. Please make sure you bring in someone who can provide a comparable level of insight on minor league and amateur players, and don’t revert to the pre-Kiley days.
Wait so you’re telling me Kiley actually knew what he was talking about this whole time?
While we will miss your insight and extensive prospect lists, I think all of us who read content on FG on a daily basis are ecstatic that you get to live out all of our dreams of working in a Major League front office. Based on your work here at FG, one can only assume that you will have an auspicious effect on the Atlanta Organization. Best of luck and go easy on the Phillies!
Best of luck sir! I was an avid reader and listener to your work and you will sorely missed. I greatly enjoyed your take on prospect analysis and it has taught me a lot. I shall miss your weekly battle with Carson on the programme and it’s somewhat fitting the producer was still “on vacation” and couldn’t get your fancy segment intros done in time.
Best of luck and I expect to see you at any future Atlanta Fangraphs meetups.
Thanks!
As a Nats fan let me just say…uh oh.
Good luck Kiley! (But not too much)
1)The great thing about FanGraphs is it’s a great platform for smart people to make a name for themselves and then get hired by MLB teams.
2)The sad thing about FanGraphs is it’s a great platform for smart people to make a name for themselves and then get hired by MLB teams.
You win in scenario 1 Kiley, but we all lose in scenario 2.
Congrats, Kiley!
I’m so lucky to be a Braves fan, this is incredible news!
lol what an opportunist. fangraphs made u what u are, it’s a shame how quickly some ppl forget things like that
Well, congrats! That’s great for you. Awful for us. I really, really, really like your work. You will be missed.
Kiley, your work pushed Fangraphs above all other sites, prospect-wise, paid or free. Thank you and good luck.
It especially sucks for us fans of other NL East teams. Best of luck, Kiley.
Everything you did here was among the smartest content on the sports web. I knew you’d have to go back to working for teams eventually, but you’ll be sorely missed.
Congratulations and thanks for all your help. I’m certain that the Atlanta Braves just got a lot more dangerous….
Congratulations, Kiley! My respect for the Braves organization just increased.