The Mets Search for the Right Choice(s) in Their New-Look Outfield

Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

After slipping from 89 wins and a trip to the National League Championship Series in 2024 to 83 wins and the short straw in a tiebreaker for a Wild Card berth in 2025, the Mets have a new look to their outfield thanks to an active offseason, some position changes, and an astute draft pick. While the right field job has yet to be settled, several players battling for time at the position have put their best foot forward during the first two weeks of exhibition season, with the two who figure most prominently in the team’s plans homering earlier this week. On Wednesday, top prospect Carson Benge hit his first home run of the spring in an exhibition game against Team Israel, and on Thursday, Brett Baty went deep against the Nationals while making his debut in right field, a continuation of his effort to expand his defensive repertoire.

Meanwhile, MLB.com beat reporter Anthony DiComo summarized last week’s highlights:

No spring training result should be taken at face value given the varying levels of competition, and that’s especially true before people have been warned about the Ides of March, but the whole situation is worth a closer look. Read the rest of this entry »


Who To Root for in the World Baseball Classic: Pool B

A conference room in the greater Pheonix area. Team USA, in full uniform, sits reclined in two rows of seats stretching away from the camera on the left. On the right, in front of a glass wall so that everybody has to squint at him, stands Aaron Judge, hands clasped, giving the speech of his life.
MLB

The World Baseball Classic is officially back! We’re been running preview content for the last two weeks, but now that the tournament is actually underway, you’ve got to pick a team to root for. You may even have to pick one team from each of the four pools. To help you choose a your favorite, I’ll be offering a reason to cheer for each of the 20 teams in the field. This is our last installment. Click the links below to read the previous entries:

Pool BPool CPool D

Brazil

Brazil is the clear underdog of Pool B. The team has got a tough road ahead of it, and its roster doesn’t feature a single major leaguer. What it does have, though, is pedigree. If you’ve watched Field of Dreams enough times to believe that baseball is the game of fathers and sons, then this is the team for you. Brazil boasts Joseph Contreras (the son of José Contreras), Lucas Ramirez (the son of Manny Ramirez), and Dante Bichette Jr. (you’ll never guess who his dad is). Also, in its final qualifier, Brazil defeated Germany, hanging a loss on pitcher Jaden Agassi, son of tennis legends Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.

Now 33, Bichette was a first-round pick of the Yankees back in 2011. He last played affiliated ball in 2019, and he’s now training youth ballplayers in Los Angeles. He may have another gear when suiting up for Brazil. He batted .375 in the qualifiers, and back in the 2016 WBC, he went 4-for-10 in three games with a double, a triple, and two walks.

Ramirez is just 19. The Angels drafted him in the 17th round in 2024. Last year, he earned a promotion to High-A after running a 115 wRC+ in the complex league. He may not be the second coming of his father just yet, but he did have a 12% walk rate in the complex, too. Despite his youth, he batted .385 in the qualifiers.

Contreras is the most exciting son on the team. The 17-year-old right-hander is the youngest player in the entire tournament. He’s a high-school senior who’s committed to Vanderbilt, though that commitment may well get tested. He’s already listed at 6-foot-4, just like his dad, and he’s a serious prospect. “He has legitimate first-round upside,” wrote Mark Chiarelli of Baseball America, which ranked Contreras 34th in its preseason draft rankings. He can touch 98 mph with his fastball, which sits 92-96. He also throws a vulcan-grip forkball and a mid-80s slider that Chiarelli said “flashes plus.” Contreras didn’t play in the qualifiers last year, because, uh, he was 16. Next year, he’ll be old enough to vote, but Friday night, he may well be facing off against Aaron Judge.

Great Britain

How times have changed. Three years ago, the story for Great Britain was all about Harry Ford, the 20-year-old catching phenom with the big bat. He’d hit. 455 with three home runs in three games during the qualifiers. Then, in the actual WBC, fresh off batting .413 in the Arizona Fall League, he batted .308 with two homers and a double in four games.

Today, a fair bit of Ford’s prospect shine has faded. He’s still just 23, plenty young for a catcher, but he was blocked by Cal Raleigh in Seattle, so he was traded to the Nationals during the offseason. But let’s not forget that he’s likely to become Washington’s primary catcher, and he’s still the 74th-ranked prospect in the game, with 50 future values across every tool category. He’s athletic, he’s got a great approach at the plate, and he’s improved his receiving enough that he should be an average defender. He’s about to sink or swim in the majors.

Ford could absolutely be the star of this team again, but he’s got more company this year. Joining him are major leaguers like Tristan Beck, Trayce Thompson, and Nate Eaton (who should really be pitching in this tournament, if you ask me), along with a host of minor leaguers. The 38-year-old Vance Worley is back for one last ride, nine years removed from his final major league appearance. But Great Britain also has a genuine star in Jazz Chisholm Jr. The Bahamian Bomber is fresh off a 2025 season in which he set career highs with 31 home runs and 4.4 WAR. This could be his team now.

Italy

Maybe this is because I just wrote a whole article about Jac Caglianone, but the obvious reason to root for Team Italy is because it’s fun to walk around your house pronouncing all the names the way you imagine an actual Italian speaker would pronounce them. Will I be cheering as hard as I can for Gordon Graceffo? You bet I will.

Team Italy has a solid roster with enough major league regulars to fill out a whole lineup. But I’m still in it for the big boys. You know who I mean: Caglianone and his fellow Royal Vinnie Pasquantino, the 6-foot-3 Italian Nightmare himself. The 6-foot-4 Caglianone already has some nicknames – Cags, Jachtani, JacHammer, and the Vacuum, according to Baseball Reference – and for that matter, Jac is a nickname, too. But I think we can agree that we haven’t found a winner yet, and we definitely haven’t found one that makes the most of his Italian heritage.

For now, we’ll just call him the Italian Daymare. Is it derivative? Very much so. Is it terrible? Yes, it’s that, too. But do the math here. The Pasquatch (man, that guy has a lot of good nicknames) haunts you during the evening hours. The Cagsquatch (just go with it) haunts you during the daytime. It’s 24 hours of terror. You’ve got nowhere to hide. When will you get your precious restorative sleep? Every time you close your eyes you see two hulking lefties with plus bat speed sending flaming fragments of a baseball over the right field wall. Together, they’re a listed 495 pounds of panic (or 225 kilos, if you’re in Italy).

Mexico

Look, as long as Randy Arozarena is playing for Team Mexico, Randy Arozarena is the reason to be excited about Team Mexico. The Cuba native has always come up huge under the bright lights, and he takes playing for his adopted country very seriously. He has a career 162 wRC+ in the playoffs, and in the 2023 WBC, he batted .450 with nine RBI in just six games. You might also recall that he crossed his arms kind of a lot.

Arozarena is by no means the only fun player on the team. Andrés Muñoz’s cat is a social media star, and Team Mexico leads the WBC in players named Nacho. More importantly, it also leads in diminutive players who have entertaining running styles.

Alek Thomas is 5-foot-9, and his short legs seem to churn up the outfield grass when he tracks down a ball in the gap. The 6-foot Jarren Duran always plays at 100%, and his bandy-legged gait and full-body tilt when he turns a corner have earned him the nickname, “The Lizard.” It’s a joy to watch the 5-foot-8 Alejandro Kirk motor around the bases. As a bonus, both Duran and Kirk have severe cases of karate chop hands when they run. Still, none of them does this.

United States

Aaron Judge has taken some heat for the lackluster speech he gave to his teammates earlier this week, but not all of this was Judge’s fault. First, it wasn’t his idea. Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes pushed him to make the address in spite of his legendary ability to speak to the media without saying anything at all. Second, even if the speech had been a bit more substantive and delivered with a modicum of intonation, the setting wasn’t exactly conducive to rousing oratory. Everything about it felt artificial. The team was in full uniforms, plus sneakers. Judge was addressing his teammates in some sort of conference room with a wall of officials and reporters behind him and a cameraman snapping away. He wasn’t even standing in front of the team. He was off to the side of the room, and studies have proven that it’s physically impossible to be whipped into a frenzy while developing a crick in your neck.

More important than the context, though, is that people are misinterpreting the content. Here’s Judge’s grand finale:

So sacrifice for your family at home, you’re sacrificing for your country, and you’re sacrificing for the brothers in the trenches with you every single day. And that’s one thing I want us to do, fellas. I want to die on that field with you. We’re down, we’re beat up a little bit, man? Lean into each other, man. We’re going to lay it all on the line. And if we do that, we’re bringing the gold home.

Critics have interpreted Judge’s words as a military analogy, which would have been both crass and colossally tone deaf considering what the United States military is doing at this very moment. They’ve wondered what exactly these superstars are sacrificing, aside from a couple weeks of spring training. They’ve wondered whether the winner of the WBC now gets gold medals, too, or whether Judge just spent too much time watching the Olympics.

The critics have it wrong. Judge wasn’t channeling Henry V. That was just a metaphor and a clever bit of double entendre. He was actually talking strategy. Team USA is going to sacrifice its way through this tournament. Since it seems to have gone over so many heads already, let me lay out the Cliff’s Notes for you:

So sacrifice [bunt] for your family at home, you’re sacrificing [flies] for your country, and you’re sacrificing [more bunts] for the brothers in the trenches [fancy word for dugout] with you every single day. And that’s one thing I want us to do, fellas. I want [our bunts] to die on that field with you. We’re down, we’re beat up a little bit, man? Lean into [inside pitches and get hit], man. We’re going to lay it all [our bodies, and also all the bunts] on the line. And if we do that [hit and run], we’re bringing the gold [still unclear] home.

Get it now? Judge and his comrades-in-bats are going to lay bunts on the line. They’re going to safety squeeze and suicide squeeze. They’re going to give away outs like nobody’s business. Manager Mark DeRosa assembled a monster lineup of power hitting superstars as a colossal fake out. They’re going to small ball their way to… some sort of gold something. And even though Judge announced it in a speech, the world will never see it coming.


Statcast Bat Tracking Metrics Are Now on FanGraphs!

Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

FanGraphs now has a Statcast Bat Tracking section available on both the player pages and the leaderboards.

The following stats are included, with basic definitions from the MLB Statcast glossary. Please refer to the linked Statcast glossary page for more in-depth descriptions of the statistics.

Bat Speed (BatSpd): “How fast the sweet spot of the bat is moving, in mph, at the point of contact with the ball (or where the ball and bat would have met, in case of a swing-and-miss).” (MLB glossary link) Read the rest of this entry »


Eric Longenhagen Prospects Chat: 3/6/26

12:03
Eric A Longenhagen: What’s up everyone? Good morning from the FanGraphs Desert Vista Compound where I’ve got double-barrel action on the TVs already: Cuba/Panama and a mix of the very early college games…

12:04
Eric A Longenhagen: The Mets list ran today, so folks should check that out. Braves and Yankees are next.

12:04
Eric A Longenhagen: Let’s hang out for a while today and watch some sports.

12:04
Alex: Can you see the Braves farm system ranking mid range by next year? Large draft bonus pool for the 2026 draft and Alfredo Sena signing next January?

12:05
Eric A Longenhagen: Probably still toward the bottom, growing prospects into 55 FV guys or better is what really moves the needle on our rankings.

12:05
Scotty: Afternoon Eric. Anyone you’re impressed with that you’ve seen recently on the backfields?

Read the rest of this entry »


Who To Root for in the World Baseball Classic? Pool A

Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

The World Baseball Classic is officially back! We’re been running preview content for the last two weeks, but now that the tournament is actually underway, you’ve got to pick a team to root for. You may even have to pick one team from each of the four pools. To help you choose a your favorite, I’ll be offering a reason to cheer for each of the 20 teams in the field. We started with Pool C and Pool D yesterday. Pool B will run later today.

Canada

The big reason to root for Canada is that this might finally be the year the team breaks through and makes it to the knockout round. With Puerto Rico at the top, Pool A is by no means a cakewalk, but the second spot doesn’t have a hands-down favorite. Baseball America’s power rankings have Canada ranked seventh in the tournament, with Cuba ninth, Colombia 14th, and Panama 16th. Canada’s outfield is going to be really fun. Let’s break it down.

Right Field: When healthy, Tyler O’Neill is a human mountain who hits majestic dingers. (When not healthy, he’s still a human mountain, just without the dingers.) O’Neill had an ugly 2025 season, getting into just 54 games for the Orioles (due to not healthy) and running a wRC+ of 93. However, the underlying numbers weren’t bad at all. He posted a paltry .218 BABIP and a robust .360 xwOBA, the second-highest mark of his career. The small sample size is messing with us here. O’Neill is just one year removed from a 2024 season in which he launched 31 home runs with a 133 wRC+, and he’s raked in spring training. He also batted .615 in the 2023 WBC. Watch out.

Center Field: O’Neill was once a plus defender, but age and injuries have slowed him down, and his numbers in recent years aren’t great. Luckily, Denzel Clarke can cover for him. Denzel Clarke can cover everything. The A’s center fielder has a weak bat, but you could make a strong argument that he was the best defensive outfielder in baseball last year. According to Statcast, his 11 fielding runs ranked 30th among all outfielders, even though his 383 2/3 innings played ranked 123rd. On a per-inning basis, no one could touch him.

Left Field: We’ve got more power in the corners. Marlins prospect Owen Caissie just came in at 62 on our Top 100 Prospects list. Last year with the Cubs, he struck out a whopping 41% of the time in his brief major league debut, but he also launched 22 homers in 99 games at Triple-A Iowa. The 23-year-old Caissie is going to make loud contact or whiff big. Either way, it’ll be fun to watch. Should we finish with some gratuitous Denzel Clarke highlights? Of course we should.

Colombia

If you want to root for the team that’s most likely to have a pitcher take a deep breath and say, “I’m getting too old for this sh*t,” then Colombia is your squad. The team features the starting pitching duo of Jose Quintana and Julio Teheran. The 37-year-old Quintana made his major league debut in 2012, and he’ll be suiting up for the Rockies this season. Teheran is a mere 35, but he debuted for the Braves in 2011 at the tender age of 20. He spent 2025 in the Mexican League and is currently a free agent. If he pitches well, he could earn one last ride. Together, Quintana and Teheran have played for 11 different major league teams and made more than 600 major league starts. Their backs must be killing them.

Neither pitcher appeared in the 2023 WBC, but both pitched brilliantly in 2017, giving up one run apiece in their respective starts. Teheran won his, but Quintana earned a no-decision as Colombia went on to lose in extra innings. This team also has a real shot here. Colombia will definitely be relying on experience more than youth – I didn’t even mention the 38-year-old Donovan Solano – but Pool A is pretty wide open, and the team allowed just one run during its three-game qualifiers. How time flies.


Clockwise fom top left: Rick Scuteri, Kim Klement, Matt Kartozian, Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Cuba

Once again, it’s all about the arms. Cuba is without several prominent major leaguers, but the roster may well have enough pitching to make it work anyway. We have to start with the 30-year-old Livan Moinelo, who plays in Japan for the SoftBank Hawks. The southpaw debuted in Japan in 2018, and he looked fine in his first season. Then he turned into one of the best pitchers in the league. Pitching in relief, he ran a 1.32 ERA and a 1.80 FIP from 2019 to 2023. That’s five years, and his ERA never rose above 1.69! In 2023, he put up a 0.98 ERA despite an elbow issue and a hip injury that required surgery after the season. Naturally, at that point, SoftBank decided to turn him into a starter. Risky move with a guy who’s coming off surgery and just put up a sub-one ERA, right? Don’t worry. Over the past two years as a starter, Moinelo is 23-8 with a combined ERA of 1.67. He’s fun to watch, too. He’s listed at just 5-foot-10 and 154 pounds. He features a four-pitch mix with a big, loopy curveball he’s not afraid to locate in the strike zone and a sneaky mid-90s fastball that seems to jump out of his hand.

If that’s not enough, can I interest you in Raidel Martínez, who spent the first 10 years of his career with the Chunichi Dragons and is now with the Yomiuri Giants? Martínez is in some ways the opposite of Moinelo. He’s a lanky right-handed closer with a career 1.99 ERA in NPB. The last time he ran an ERA above 2.00 was 2021. In 2023, he allowed just two runs in 48 appearances. He posted a 0.39 ERA. Over the past two years, he has a combined 89 saves. Maybe he should try starting.

Last, you might be familiar with Yariel Rodríguez, who put up a 3.08 ERA across 66 appearances for the Blue Jays last year. Thanks to an ugly walk rate, his peripherals weren’t as rosy, and he got lit up in the playoffs. Still his fastball touches the upper 90s.

Panama

On Wednesday, MLB.com published an article titled “World Baseball Classic partners with more than 150 brands from around the world.” Did you know that there was an entity called World Baseball Classic, Inc.? I’m betting you didn’t, because nothing kills the romance of a big worldwide sporting event like contemplating the filthy lucre that makes the whole thing run. And yet, right there on MLB.com, nestled among stories about thrilling prospects and grizzled managers and sibling connections, is a press release trumpeting the triumph of corporate synergy that is the WBC. What does this have to do with Panama? Well, I’m writing up different reasons to root for 20 different teams, and I figured with 150 different corporate partners around the world, at least one of them deserved to be rooted for. So I just picked one.

Congratulations, Panama. Sure, we will be cheering for old friends like Christian Bethancourt and Rubén Tejada and exciting prospects like Enrique Bradfield Jr., but mostly we will be cheering for your jersey sponsor, Caja de Ahorros, which is a bank.

Let’s go Caja de Ahorros! Who wants a checking account? Loans for everybody! Panama means business.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico has one of the better rosters in the tournament, but it’s hard to talk about this team without talking about what might have been. The insurance providers for the WBC refused to insure at least eight different Puerto Rican players, including stars Carlos Correa, José Berríos, Victor Caratini, and Francisco Lindor, citing an increased injury risk. One imagines that the actuaries at the insurance companies threw a small, sad breakroom party with soda and mini cupcakes when they found out that Lindor had injured himself anyway. That all this happened right before the tournament started added insult to injury, and the team considered pulling out altogether. It’s not all that often that you get to combine two truly rewarding passions: rooting for a baseball team and heaping scorn on insurance companies, so you should really grab this opportunity while you can.

If you’re looking for a more positive reason to cheer for Puerto Rico, look no further than the catcher position. Without Caratini, Team Puerto Rico is running out 39-year-old Martín Maldonado and 35-year-old Christian Vázquez. These two share more than just a position, an advanced age, and a place of birth. They’re both no-bat catchers who don’t grade out well according to the advanced defensive metrics. They’re still playing regularly because wherever they go, their team believes they’re bringing the intangibles. It’s Nichols’ Law of Catcher Defense in action at a global scale, and Maldonado and Vázquez are playing their trade under manager Yadier Molina. Can vibes-based catching take Puerto Rico to a championship? Maybe, but only if you believe hard enough.


New York Mets Top 45 Prospects

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the New York Mets. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as our own observations. This is the sixth year we’re delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see in the “position” column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers. The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player has to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb.

A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here. A much deeper overview can be found here.

All of the ranked prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. It has more details (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and integrates every team’s list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here. Read the rest of this entry »


Job Posting: St. Louis Cardinals – Multiple Openings

Direct links to applications (please see job details below):

Data Engineer
Application Developer


Data Engineer

Summary of Responsibilities The role of the Data Engineer will be to maintain and further develop the modern, scalable, baseball data pipeline for the St. Louis Cardinals. This person will collaborate with the Baseball Systems group to ensure high quality data is available to scouts, coaches, players, and other baseball decision-makers. This person should be detail-oriented, enjoy collaborating with others, communicate effectively, both verbally and written, have a growth mindset, and love the game of baseball.

Essential Functions of the Job

  • Build and support components of our data pipeline that ingests raw baseball data and outputs baseball data ready for review and analytics modeling by Baseball Operations
  • Continuously extend our data pipeline to ingest additional data sources and handle increasingly dense datasets
  • Continuously improve our data pipeline by reducing latency, reducing cost, and reducing errors
  • Communicate effectively with Baseball Operations staff to ensure we are anticipating and supporting their data needs
  • Rigorously test our data pipeline to improve its quality and maintainability over time

Minimum Education and Experience

  • Bachelor’s degree in a technical field, or a combination of relevant education and work experience
  • Experience identifying, triaging, and resolving data issues
  • Interest in modern data system architectures, design patterns, and best practices
  • Ability to apply creative solutions to challenging technical tasks
  • Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment
  • Proficiency with more than one modern programming languages
  • Familiarity with data-related concepts such as data pipelines, databases, SQL, JSON, and REST APIs

Education and Experience Preferred

  • Professional experience in a software engineering, data reliability, and/or a quality assurance environment
  • Proficiency with Python or Go (or proficiency with multiple languages and a desire to learn Python or Go)
  • Proficiency with DevOps tools including Git, CI/CD pipelines, and configuration-as-code
  • Proficiency with Cloud computing, Kubernetes, and/or container-based or serverless application deployment

To Apply
To apply, please follow this link.


Application Developer

Summary of Responsibilities
The role of the Application Developer will be to design, develop, and maintain baseball-related applications for the St. Louis Cardinals. This person will collaborate with fellow developers, analysts, systems engineers, and Baseball Operations staff to ensure that high quality data, analytics, and visualizations are accessible in a timely fashion to front office members, scouts, coaches, trainers, and players. This person should be detail-oriented, enjoy collaborating with others, communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, and have a strong interest in the game of baseball. This individual will be expected to work on projects independently, participate in code reviews and maintain coding standards, assist in troubleshooting and debugging efforts, and stay updated with the latest trends and best practices in application development.

Essential Functions of the Job

  • Build and support new applications used Baseball Operations staff to engage with player information, performance, and projections used to guide baseball decisions.
  • Create and maintain intuitive interfaces for scouts, coaches, and players to enter and view pertinent information, enhance their day-to-day workflow, and visualize complex data effectively.
  • Investigate and evaluate new technologies and work to incorporate cutting-edge tools into new and existing applications.
  • Communicate effectively with Baseball Operations staff to improve training, generate feedback, and build relationships with users from differing backgrounds.
  • Rigorously test and make appropriate fixes and adjustments to applications developed by yourself and other team members.

Minimum Education and Experience

  • Bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related field.
  • A minimum of 2 years of web development through work experience, internships, co-op programs, or personal projects.
  • Experience with web development frameworks and libraries, such as Angular, React, or Vue.js.
  • Proficiency in HTML, CSS, and TypeScript.
  • Familiarity with version control systems like Git.
  • Experience interfacing with relational databases.
  • Design and development of user interfaces with backend services.
  • Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools and eager to integrate them into daily workflows to enhance productivity and code quality.

Education and Experience Preferred

  • Experience developing backend services with Go (Golang).
  • Interest in building reusable UI components.
  • Proficiency in designing intuitive and visually appealing user interfaces (UI).
  • Interest in creating data visualizations using frameworks such as d3.js, Three.js, and GSAP.
  • Experience with Javascript/Typescript testing methodologies and tools.
  • General knowledge of current MLB analytics, news, markets, trends, etc.

To Apply
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the St. Louis Cardinals.


Job Posting: Colorado Rockies – Multiple Openings

Direct links to applications (please see job details below):

Director of Baseball Systems
Principal Analyst, Baseball Research and Development
Director of Baseball Data Science


Director of Baseball Systems

About the Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies Baseball Club is embracing the climb, committed to building a championship-caliber organization on the field, in the clubhouse, and throughout our business operations. Playing at altitude presents unique competitive challenges and opportunities, and we embrace innovation, collaboration, and evidence-based practices to support elite performance. Rooted in the traditions of America’s pastime, we operate with integrity, service, quality, and trust while striving to create an exceptional experience for our players, staff, and fans.

Position Summary
The Director of Baseball Systems leads the strategy, architecture, and evolution of the technical foundation that powers Baseball Operations decision-making. This role owns the design, governance, and operation of the club’s data platforms, internal applications, and underlying architecture.
This is a transformational leadership role responsible for modernizing and unifying baseball data systems, establishing production-grade data pipelines, and building a durable, AI-ready architecture that enables automation, advanced analytics, and the integration of future capabilities to support long-term competitive advantage.

Key Responsibilities

Systems Strategy & Architecture

  • Define and execute the long-term vision for baseball data platforms and internal systems.
  • Oversee phased re-architecture and modernization of data warehouse and pipeline components where appropriate.
  • Establish scalable, secure, and sustainable data models that unify player, performance, scouting, and operational data.
  • Guide cloud platform strategy, including warehouse and compute decisions, based on scalability, integration, and long-term flexibility.
  • Design platform foundations that enable scalable experimentation, automation, and advanced analytical workflows as capabilities evove.
  • Implement modern data engineering standards, including orchestration, transformation, observability, and infrastructure practices that support long-term platform health.
  • Maintain a clear, multi-year roadmap aligned to competitive and operational goals.

Data Platform & Engineering Leadership

  • Ensure data pipelines are production-grade, reliable, and optimized for performance and cost.
  • Establish governance, lineage, monitoring, and deployment standards across environments.
  • Partner with Baseball Data Science and Research & Development teams to ensure infrastructure supports modeling and applied analytics needs.
  • Lead development and evolution of internal baseball applications and portals.
  • Reduce manual workflows by enabling integrated access to unified baseball information.

Leadership & Collaboration

  • Lead and develop Data Architects, Data Engineers, and Application Engineers.
  • Serve as the bridge between technical teams and Baseball Operations stakeholders.
  • Guide cloud modernization efforts with minimal operational disruption.
  • Foster a disciplined, forward-thinking engineering culture focused on long-term platform health.

Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent experience).
  • 8+ years of experience designing and operating production data platforms and complex technical systems.
  • Deep experience architecting cloud-based data environments (AWS, GCP, or similar) with the ability to evaluate platform tradeoffs objectively.
  • Experience leading cloud modernization, migration, or multi-cloud architecture initiatives (e.g., AWS,GCP, or similar).
  • Strong understanding of distributed data systems and large-scale data warehousing, including architecture supporting high-volume, multi-source datasets such as spatiotemporal tracking and event-based data.
  • Experience building and maintaining production data pipelines and modern ELT/ETL frameworks.
  • Familiarity with cloud-native tooling and best practices, including orchestration, CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, and environment management.
  • Demonstrated experience leading technical teams and owning systems in live production environments.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience in professional sports or complex, data-rich operational environments.
  • Experience leading data warehouse rebuilds or platform transformation initiatives.
  • Familiarity with modern automation and AI-enabled data architectures, including infrastructure that supports experimentation, model deployment, and operational use of advanced analytics.
  • Experience integrating multiple vendors, tracking systems, or external data sources into unified platforms.

Work Schedule
This role requires flexibility consistent with the demands of Major League Baseball, including extended hours, travel, and non-traditional schedules throughout the season.

Physical Requirements

  • Ability to work in office, stadium, training, and travel environments.
  • Ability to work at a computer for extended periods.
  • Ability to travel as required.
  • Ability to communicate effectively in individual and group settings.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $180,000 – 225,000 annually, commensurate with experience and qualifications.

This full-time position is eligible for the Club’s comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with employer match, paid time off, game tickets, employee discounts, and additional benefits in accordance with plan eligibility.

APPLICATION PROCESS

  • Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis but must be received by March 13th, 2026. Please note that this is just an estimate, and the posting may be removed or extended at any time.
  • The estimated time to complete the recruitment process will be by April 3, 2026.
  • A note for Colorado Rockies employees: Please apply via the internal job board in UKG by following these prompts: MENU > MYSELF > MY COMPANY > VIEW OPPORTUNITIES > select the position > CONSENT > APPLY NOW
    • If you cannot access UKG, please list your most recent Manager as an Employee Reference on your application.

To Apply
To apply, please follow this link.


Principal Analyst, Baseball Research and Development

About Us
The Colorado Rockies Baseball Club is embracing the climb, committed to building a championship-caliber organization on the field, in the clubhouse, and throughout our business operations. Playing at altitude presents unique competitive challenges and opportunities, and we embrace innovation, collaboration, and evidence-based practices to support elite performance. Rooted in the traditions of America’s pastime, we operate with integrity, service, quality, and trust while striving to create an exceptional experience for our players, staff, and fans.

Position Summary
The Principal Analyst is a senior applied leader within the Baseball Insights Department, reporting to the Director of Research & Development. This role serves as the primary analytics partner for Hitting Development and is responsible for translating data science models, biomechanical inputs, and technology outputs into actionable insights that drive offensive performance.
This position bridges Data Science, Research & Development, Performance Science, and field staff to ensure analytical tools are technically sound, practically applied, and meaningfully embedded within baseball environments. While hitting development is the primary focus, this role also contributes to broader analytical direction and applied workflow design across Baseball Operations.

Key Responsibilities

Hitting Development & Performance Integration

  • Serve as the lead analytics partner for Hitting Development across Major League and Player Development environments.
  • Integrate bat tracking, ball tracking, pitch metrics, biomechanical data, motion capture, and force plate data to identify performance gains in swing mechanics and offensive production.
  • Partner with Performance Science and hitting coaches to translate analytical and biomechanical findings into clear, actionable adjustments.
  • Identify performance trends, skill gaps, and developmental opportunities through quantitative and qualitative analysis.
  • Advance the organization’s applied understanding of hitting performance and add offensive value.

Model Development & Applied Analytics

  • Contribute to the development of descriptive and predictive models related to hitting performance.
  • Partner with Baseball Data Science to refine, validate, and strengthen models over time.
  • Incorporate coaching insight and baseball domain expertise into model application.
  • Design tools, reports, and workflows that maximize clarity, usability, and on-field adoption.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

  • Serve as a connector between Data Science, R&D, Performance Science, Player Development, and Major League staff.
  • Communicate model assumptions, outputs, and limitations clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
  • Incorporate applied feedback to continuously improve analytical tools and processes.
  • Support alignment between analytics outputs and organizational philosophy.

Leadership & Culture

  • Mentor applied analysts as the department grows.
  • Help establish applied analytics standards and best practices.
  • Contribute to a collaborative, high-performance Baseball Insights culture.
  • Support documentation and knowledge-sharing processes.

Required Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Data Science, Statistics, Biomechanics, Kinesiology, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.
  • 5+ years of experience in applied analytics, sports performance analysis, biomechanics, or related discipline.
  • Demonstrated experience integrating multiple performance data streams (e.g., bat tracking, motion capture, force plates, pitch/ball tracking).
  • Proficiency in Python, R, SQL, or similar analytical tools.
  • Experience contributing to or developing performance models.
  • Ability to translate complex quantitative and biomechanical outputs into actionable insights.
  • Deep understanding of baseball hitting mechanics and offensive performance concepts.
  • Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Advanced degree in a quantitative or biomechanics-related field.
  • Experience in professional or elite-level baseball environments.
  • Experience integrating biomechanical data into applied development settings.
  • Background in model validation, experimental design, or applied research methodology.
  • Experience mentoring analysts or shaping analytics workflows.

Physical Job Requirements
The physical demands and work environment characteristics described below are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Work Environment

  • Work is performed in a combination of office settings, indoor training facilities, laboratory/performance environments, and outdoor baseball environments.
  • Regular presence at Major League and Player Development facilities is required.
  • Occasional travel to affiliate locations, training complexes, and other organizational sites may be required.
  • Work may include evenings, weekends, and extended hours during the baseball season.

Physical Requirements

  • Ability to remain in a stationary position (sitting or standing) for extended periods while analyzing data and using computer systems.
  • Frequent use of a computer, keyboard, and other office equipment.
  • Ability to communicate effectively in person, by phone, and via electronic communication.
  • Ability to move throughout office spaces, clubhouses, dugouts, batting cages, bullpens, and performance labs.
  • Ability to observe and interpret visual information, including data visualizations, video analysis, and live on-field activity.
  • May occasionally lift and/or move items up to 25 pounds (e.g., portable technology equipment, training devices).
  • Ability to work in varying environmental conditions, including indoor facilities and outdoor weather conditions typical of baseball operations.

Compensation & Benefits
Annual Salary: $130,000 to $170,000

  • This full-time position is eligible for the Club’s benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with employer match, paid time off, game tickets, employee discounts, and other benefits according to plan eligibility.

Application Process

  • Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis but must be received by March 13th, 2026. Please note that this is just an estimate, and the posting may be removed or extended at any time.
  • The estimated time to complete the recruitment process will be by April 3, 2026.
  • A note for Colorado Rockies employees: Please apply via the internal job board in UKG by following these prompts: MENU > MYSELF > MY COMPANY > VIEW OPPORTUNITIES > select the position > CONSENT > APPLY NOW
    • If you cannot access UKG, please list your most recent Manager as an Employee Reference on your application.

To Apply
To apply, please follow this link.


Director of Baseball Data Science

About Us
The Colorado Rockies Baseball Club is embracing the climb, committed to building a championship-caliber organization on the field, in the clubhouse, and throughout our business operations. Playing at altitude presents unique competitive challenges and opportunities, and we embrace innovation, collaboration, and evidence-based practices to support elite performance. Rooted in the traditions of America’s pastime, we operate with integrity, service, quality, and trust while striving to create an exceptional experience for our players, staff, and fans.

Position Summary
The Director of Baseball Data Science leads the Data Science function within the Baseball Insights group and sets the strategic and technical direction for modeling across Player Personnel, Player Development, Health & Performance, and Major League strategy.

This role defines how descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive models are built, validated, and applied to measure player performance, skill, and value. As the technical leader of the team, the Director establishes standards for analytical rigor, modeling quality, and methodological excellence, ensuring clarity around what the data indicates and where uncertainty remains.

The Director will build and execute a multi-year roadmap to advance data science capabilities, grow team expertise, and sequence investments in models, tools, and AI to support long-term competitive success. While providing strategic leadership, this role remains hands-on in model development and research, particularly as capabilities scale.

Key Responsibilities

Modeling & Research Leadership

  • Establish and maintain consistent definitions for core performance metrics across the organization.
  • Set the modeling philosophy and technical standards for Baseball Data Science.
  • Lead the design, validation, documentation, and continuous improvement of descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive models.
  • Develop models that measure and explain player performance, skill development, health, and strategic outcomes.
  • Serve as the senior technical reviewer for core models and analytical methodologies.
  • Contribute directly to high-impact modeling initiatives.

Strategy & Decision Support

  • Establish research priorities aligned with organizational and competitive objectives.
  • Guide the progression from foundational descriptive insights to advanced predictive and prescriptive capabilities.
  • Partner with Baseball Operations leadership to translate analytical findings into actionable insights.
  • Develop and maintain a clear multi-year roadmap for advancing data science capabilities.

Cross-Functional Partnership

  • Collaborate with Research & Development, Baseball Systems, and Baseball Operations to ensure models are understood, trusted, and effectively applied.
  • Provide guidance on model assumptions, interpretation, and limitations.
  • Partner on data infrastructure needs to support scalable and reliable modeling environments.
  • Incorporate applied feedback to continuously refine models and analytical frameworks.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

  • Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Data Scientists.
  • Build a high-performance culture grounded in rigor, collaboration, and innovation.
  • Assess skill gaps and implement development plans to deepen technical and baseball domain expertise.
  • Recruit top analytical talent and help position the organization as a leader in baseball analytics.
  • Champion responsible and practical applications of AI to accelerate analysis, modeling, and decision support.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Lead and manage the Baseball Data Science team, including Data Scientists responsible for model development and advanced statistical research.
  • Partner cross-functionally while maintaining clear role definition between Data Scientists and applied analyst functions.

Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative discipline (Statistics, Data Science, Mathematics, Economics, Engineering, or related field) or equivalent experience.
  • 7+ years of experience in baseball analytics, sports analytics, or data science, including leadership responsibility.
  • Deep understanding of baseball decision-making across player evaluation, development, and game strategy.
  • Strong proficiency in Python and SQL.
  • Demonstrated experience building, evaluating, and deploying analytical models in applied environments.
  • Experience leveraging AI-enabled tools or methods within research or modeling workflows.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in a quantitative discipline.
  • Leadership experience within professional baseball or elite sports.
  • Track record of building models that materially influenced organizational decisions.

Work Environment
This role requires flexibility consistent with a Major League Baseball environment, including extended hours, travel, and non-traditional schedules throughout Spring Training, the regular season, postseason, and off-season planning cycles.

Physical Job Requirements

  • Ability to work in a fast-paced professional baseball environment, including offices, clubhouses, training facilities, stadiums, and travel settings.
  • Ability to sit, stand, and work at a computer for extended periods.
  • Ability to travel by car and plane, including multi-day trips.
  • Ability to communicate effectively in individual and group settings.

Compensation & Benefits
Suggested Annual Salary Range: $160,000 – $200,000, commensurate with experience and qualifications.

This full-time position is eligible for the Club’s comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with employer match, paid time off, game tickets, employee discounts, and other benefits according to plan eligibility.

Application Process

  • Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis but must be received by March 13th, 2026. Please note that this is just an estimate, and the posting may be removed or extended at any time.
  • The estimated time to complete the recruitment process will be by April 3, 2026.
  • A note for Colorado Rockies employees: Please apply via the internal job board in UKG by following these prompts: MENU > MYSELF > MY COMPANY > VIEW OPPORTUNITIES > select the position > CONSENT > APPLY NOW
    • If you cannot access UKG, please list your most recent Manager as an Employee Reference on your application.

To Apply
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the Colorado Rockies.


Waste Not, Walk Not: Tyler Rogers Has A Plan

Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

Tyler Rogers makes me happy that I’m a baseball analyst. Not in the same way that Shohei Ohtani does, of course. Not in the same way that Tarik Skubal does, or Bobby Witt Jr., or any other number of superstars. Those guys are great because they do the obviously good baseball things, like running fast and throwing hard and hitting balls far. Rogers looks like an accountant who was hurriedly inserted into the game as a last resort. He also just threw 77 1/3 innings with a 1.98 ERA last season. His career ERA is 2.76 over eight seasons. I don’t know about you, but something about that tickles me endlessly.

Rogers’ superpower is his command. Last year, he walked only seven batters, a 2.3% rate. But that command can be hard to pin down. For instance, take a look at the 26 pitches Rogers threw in three-ball counts:

As you can see from the overlaid PitchingBot command grades, these locations are nothing special. There are too many crushable cookies, too many non-competitive pitches, and not enough action on the fringes of the strike zone. It’s a 42 command grade all in, nothing to write home about. In fact, Rogers walked more batters than league average per three-ball pitches thrown (in a tiny sample, to be clear). When batters got to this point in the count against him, they had a decent chance of reaching first for free. How, then, did he post the second-lowest walk rate in the majors?

To understand that, we’ll have to rewind the count. Walks require three things: a three-ball count, a pitch outside the strike zone, and no swing from the batter. Rogers cuts things off with item number one. Look at how he started batters last year:


Read the rest of this entry »


Effectively Wild Episode 2449: Season Preview Series: Mariners and Marlins

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a Shohei Ohtani survey, early WBC action, Andrew McCutchen’s new team, Payton Tolle’s triple-digits t-shirt, ABS-driven changes to Alex Bregman’s and Bo Naylor’s listed heights, wonky player cards, why teams start spring training days so early, Dodgers pitching problems, and the prevalence of inventive slides, then preview the 2026 Seattle Mariners (50:22) with The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish, and the 2026 Miami Marlins (1:34:43) with MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola, plus a few postscript updates (2:17:42).

Audio intro: Justin Peters, “Effectively Wild Theme
Audio interstitial 1: Cory Brent, “Effectively Wild Theme
Audio interstitial 2: Tom Rhoads, “Effectively Wild Theme
Audio outro: Alex Glossman and Ali Breneman, “Effectively Wild Theme

Link to YouGov survey
Link to Team USA vs. Rockies recap
Link to WBC soundtrack story
Link to MLBTR on McCutchen
Link to Speier on Tolle
Link to Tolle max velos
Link to in-season velo data 1
Link to in-season velo data 2
Link to in-season velo article
Link to 2025 info on height changes
Link to 2025 Naylor page
Link to 2026 Naylor page
Link to 2024 Bregman page
Link to 2025 Bregman page
Link to 2026 Bregman page
Link to 2024 Lux page
Link to 2025 Lux page
Link to wonky Ohtani card
Link to wonky Judge card
Link to wonky Bregman card
Link to wonky Naylor card
Link to email about giant player
Link to early starts post
Link to Baumann on Sasaki
Link to FG World Series odds
Link to Crizer on slides
Link to Sam on slides
Link to Naylor’s inclusiveness comments
Link to team payrolls page
Link to Mariners offseason tracker
Link to Mariners depth chart
Link to “Boys Podcast” SNL skit
Link to Ryan’s author archive
Link to Marlins offseason tracker
Link to Marlins depth chart
Link to Christina on Marlins’ elimination
Link to Christina on Alcantara’s outing
Link to “catcher’s balk”
Link to Christina on pitch-calling
Link to 2025 Marlins Pythag/BaseRuns
Link to 2025 team RP WAR
Link to 2025 team RP WPA
Link to Pérez nickname article
Link to grievance avoidance article
Link to Lauren’s NL East post
Link to Christina’s author archive
Link to ball/strike ejections article
Link to Brewers challenges tweet
Link to Tango’s challenges tweet
Link to Brewers challenges article

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