Job Posting: Inside Edge Baseball Operations Intern

Position: Inside Edge Baseball Operations Intern

Location: Bloomington, MN

About Inside Edge:
Inside Edge Scouting Services specializes in data capture and analytics down to the finest details of every Major League game. Major League clubs, media, and other clients subscribe to their real-time pitch-by-pitch data, custom-tailored reports, and advanced analytic tools to gain an edge on their competition. They provide a fun, fast-paced work environment and an opportunity to get started on a career in baseball and differentiate yourself from other job seekers. Past interns have gone on to positions with both Major League clubs and media organizations.

Position Title & Description:
Candidates filling this position will gain valuable experience with technologies and processes increasing their qualifications to work in baseball and the broader sports industry. Hires can expect to begin training March 5. Interns will need to make a commitment to working most nights, weekends, and holidays over the course of the season.

Key areas of responsibility:

  • Participate in a rigorous training program before the season starts
  • Use Inside Edge software to enter and crosscheck live pitch and scoring data
  • Mark actions to be reviewed by supervisors
  • Add, review, and update qualitative player notes
  • Review video replay ensuring integrity of charted data
  • Update internal Inside Edge logs and databases
  • Generate end of game reports

Wages and term of employment:

  • March 5th through the end of the 2020 regular season (September 27th)
  • Starting at $10 per hour

Qualifications:
While in-depth training will be provided, candidates need a strong understanding of both the basics and subtleties of baseball games, and will be required to quickly and accurately recognize pitch types, locations, and scoring data.

To apply:

  • Fill out Inside Edge’s online screening, which can be found here.
  • Send an email with your resume to bobbygiller@gmail.com. Feel free to include supplemental information and a quick note on what you’re including. A cover letter is unnecessary.
  • Depending on the results, Inside Edge will contact you for a resume and to set up an interview.

The timeline for the hiring process can be found here.

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


Job Posting: Cleveland Indians Fellowships

Please note this posting contains two positions.

Position Title: Amateur Scouting Fellow

Primary Purpose
The Indians Fellowship program is designed to accelerate the pace of development and impact for high-potential candidates. Fellowship roles are focused on complex challenges, developing new approaches, tools and techniques to meaningfully drive the organization forward.

The Cleveland Indians are seeking two Fellows to join their Amateur Scouting department. Each Fellow will work collaboratively with the amateur scouting staff. Fellows will operate as an extension of the front office staff and be a resource for scouts and Baseball Operations. Fellows will be expected to manage the collection of multiple data streams on amateur players to prepare the organization for acquisition opportunities.

The ideal candidate will be curious, creative, open-minded, and excited to work in a collaborative and rapidly-changing environment. The candidate will have exceptional interpersonal skills and execute the organization’s vision through passion, resourcefulness, curiosity and strategic thinking. They will take the initiative to perform research that advances the Indians’ procedures and philosophies, especially on the draft.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Baseball Technology:

  • Operate bat/ball tracking technology and other sports science technology.
  • Manage video process from all opportunities to assess players, including but not limited to games, workouts and events.
  • Manage the corresponding data and video collection process.

Support Scouting Operations:

  • Assist scouting staff with the organization and execution of the scouting process through thorough data collection.
  • Assist scouting staff with player workouts.
  • Assist scouting staff with various administrative and information-gathering tasks.
  • Provide holistic player assessments.
  • Understand and apply organizational philosophies to all phases of the scouting and information-gathering processes.

Role Requirements and Preferences
Education & Experience Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree
  • Demonstrated passion for at least one of scouting, baseball analytics, sports science, hitting or pitching analysis and/or biomechanics, strength and conditioning, motor learning, or other baseball related field.

Skills:

  • Organization: Ability to create, maintain and execute a schedule with precision and agility.
  • Work Ethic: A relentless drive to collect more and better information.
  • Passion: Demonstrate a clear passion for the game, teammates, the organization and learning.
  • Resourcefulness: Utilize organizational resources to develop and understand organizational philosophies.
  • Self-awareness: Understand your skillset, understand your biases, and recognize your areas of development.
  • Strategic Thinking: Employ a problem-solving mindset and strategic thinking.

Job Requirements:

  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Working knowledge of advanced baseball statistics and publicly available research.
  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office.
  • This position will require travel to games, workouts, and events across the country.

Standard Requirements:

  • Reads, speaks, comprehends and communicates English effectively in all communications.
  • Represents the Cleveland Indians in a positive fashion to all business partners and the general public.
  • Ability to develop and maintain successful working relationship with members of the Front Office.
  • Ability to act according to the organizational values and service excellence at all times.
  • Ability to work with multicultural populations and have a commitment to fairness and equality.
  • Ability to walk, sit or stand for an entire shift.
  • Ability to work extended days and hours, including holidays and weekends.
  • Ability to move throughout all areas and levels of the Ballpark.
  • Ability to work in a diverse and changing environment.
  • Occasional physical activity such as lifting and carrying boxes up to 25 lbs.

To Apply
To apply, please complete the application, which can be found here.

Position Title: Baseball Operations Fellow

Primary Purpose
The Indians Fellowship program is designed to accelerate the pace of development and impact for high-potential candidates. Fellowship roles are focused on complex challenges, developing new approaches, tools and techniques to meaningfully drive the organization forward.

The Cleveland Indians are seeking multiple Fellows to join their Baseball Operations department. Each Fellow will work full-time with one of the Indians’ minor league affiliates and report to both the Player Development and Baseball Operations departments. Fellows will operate as an extension of the front office staff and be a resource for both players and coaches. Fellows will be expected to manage the collection of multiple data streams. Fellows will gain exposure across multiple departments and have access to and be encouraged to use a suite of internal, proprietary resources.

The ideal candidate will be curious, creative, open-minded, and excited to work in a collaborative environment. The candidate will have exceptional interpersonal skills and the ability to present complex topics to a wide range of audiences. They will take the initiative to perform research in the areas of their choosing that advances the Indians’ player development procedures and philosophies.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Baseball Technology:

  • Operate bat/ball tracking technology and other sports science technology.
  • Manage pre-game and in-game video process.
  • Manage the corresponding data and video collection process and assist with interpretation.

Research and Development:

  • Collaborate with coaching staff and player development staff to monitor player goals and player progress.
  • Perform ad hoc research and analysis, both at the request of staff and independently.
  • Communicate findings and insights to Minor League Coaches, Players, and Player Development and Baseball Operations Department.

Coaching Staff Support:

  • Assist Minor League field staff with pre-game on-field activities.
  • Assist Minor League field staff with Advance Scouting process.
  • Assist affiliate staff with various administrative tasks.

Role Requirements and Preferences
Education & Experience Requirements:

  • Bachelor’s degree
  • Demonstrated passion for at least one of scouting, baseball analytics, sports science, hitting or pitching analysis and/or biomechanics, strength and conditioning, motor learning, or other baseball related field.
  • Conversational Spanish or better a plus

Skills:

  • Organization: Ability to create, maintain and execute a schedule with precision and agility.
  • Work Ethic: A relentless drive to collect more and better information.
  • Passion: Demonstrate a clear passion for the game, teammates, the organization and learning.
  • Resourcefulness: Utilize organizational resources to develop and understand organizational philosophies.
  • Strategic Thinking: Employ a problem-solving mindset and strategic thinking.

Job Requirements:

  • Experience with SQL and statistical software (i.e. R, Python, Stata, SAS) a plus.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Working knowledge of advanced baseball statistics and publicly available research.
  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office.
  • This position will be based at an affiliate and will include travel to away games.

Standard Requirements:

  • Reads, speaks, comprehends and communicates English effectively in all communications.
  • Represents the Cleveland Indians in a positive fashion to all business partners and the general public.
  • Ability to develop and maintain successful working relationship with members of the Front Office.
  • Ability to act according to the organizational values and service excellence at all times.
  • Ability to work with multicultural populations and have a commitment to fairness and equality.
  • Ability to walk, sit or stand for an entire shift.
  • Ability to work extended days and hours, including holidays and weekends.
  • Ability to move throughout all areas and levels of the Ballpark.
  • Ability to work in a diverse and changing environment.
  • Occasional physical activity such as lifting and carrying boxes up to 25 lbs.

To Apply
To apply, please complete the application, which can be found here.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the Cleveland Indians.


Sunday Notes: The White Sox Wanted Rafael Devers (and the Elbow Gods Got Their Revenge)

When the White Sox traded Chris Sale to Boston, they received a pair of top-shelf prospects in return. Yoan Moncada was seen as possessing superstar potential, while Michael Kopech was a first-round pick who pumped 100-mph gas. Also coming to Chicago in the deal were a pair of midrange prospects, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz.

Which team got the better of the December 2016 blockbuster? It’s too early to say, but one thing is certain: The Red Sox dodged a bullet. Basabe and Diaz became part of the package only after then GM Dave Dombrowski balked on including a 20-year-old corner infielder who’d yet to advance beyond A=ball.

“At one point, I asked for Rafael Devers,” acknowledged White Sox GM Rick Hahn, when asked about the trade. “Marco Paddy, who runs our international operation, had mentioned him back when he originally signed with Boston [in 2013], and our pro scouts had obviously seen him in Greenville and Salem. Joe Butler, Joe Siers, and John Tumminia — John has since retired — were all high on him, and made sure he was in the mix. The reason we liked Devers so much was because of those guys.”

As for Kopech, the 23-year-old right-hander is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery. A pair of other notable White Sox pitching prospects are, as well. I asked for an update on all three. Read the rest of this entry »


Effectively Wild Episode 1457: The Sign-Stealing Spiral

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the first stirrings on the free-agent market, the latest developments in the Astros sign-stealing scandal, where MLB investigation’s might lead, what the appropriate punishments would be, the psychology of sign-stealing, whether pitchers should call pitches, fighting technology with technology, Mike Trout’s MVP award win, a fixable flaw in the BBWAA’s awards voting, the hirings of Ben Cherington and Gabe Kapler, and EW Secret Santa sign-ups, plus a postscript about still more aspects of the sign-stealing story.

Audio intro: Spiritualized, "You Lie You Cheat"
Audio outro: Doug & The Beets, "Bangin’ on a Trash Can"

Link to story on teams’ sign-stealing paranoia
Link to Rob’s sign-stealing audio footprint story
Link to article about crime deterrence
Link to FanGraphs post on Trout’s third MVP win
Link to Andrew Baggarly on Kapler
Link to Grant Brisbee on Kapler
Link to video of Darvish and Yelich
Link to Jeff’s 2017 post about the Astros’ projected strikeout rate
Link to EW Secret Santa sign-up
Link to order The MVP Machine

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 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com


RosterResource Free Agency Roundup: NL Central

This is the fifth of a six-part series — the AL East, AL Central, AL West, and NL East pieces have been published — in which I’m highlighting each team’s most notable free agents and how it could fill the resulting void on the roster. A player’s rank on our recently released Top 50 Free Agents list, along with Kiley McDaniel’s contract estimates from that exercise, are listed where relevant. In some cases, the team already has a capable replacement ready to step in. In others, it’s clear the team will either attempt to re-sign their player or look to the trade or free agent markets for help. The remaining cases are somewhere in between, with in-house candidates who might be the answer, but aren’t such obvious everyday players to keep the team from shopping around for better options.

Here’s a look at the National League Central.

Chicago Cubs | Depth Chart | Payroll

Nicholas Castellanos, OF
FanGraphs Top 50 Free Agent Ranking: 11
Kiley McDaniel’s contract projection: 4 years, $56M

Castellanos had been an above-average hitter for a few seasons, although his fielding has left much to be desired. But for the two months following a trade from the Tigers to the Cubs, he was the kind of hitter — 154 wRC+, 16 home runs in 225 plate appearances — whose bat could more than make up for his defensive inadequacies.

Since the Cubs were the team to witness the 27-year-old at his best, especially at Wrigley Field where he slashed .384/.412/.750 in 119 plate appearances, they would have to at least be open to bringing him back. But with the current state of the roster, that does not appear likely unless they trade Kyle Schwarber. Read the rest of this entry »


Cole Hamels’ Vintage Changeup Returned in 2019

There’s a lot of starting pitching on the free agent market this offseason. There’s Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler, Dallas Keuchel, and Hyun-Jin Ryu, among many others. But one guy who has always piqued my personal interest is left-hander Cole Hamels, who is entering free agency for the first time in his 14-year major league career.

Hamels ranked as the 19th-best free agent on the FanGraphs’ Top 50 released earlier this month. Kiley pegged him for a two-year, $28 million contract, and the median (two-years, $30 million) and average (1.93-years, $28.2 million) crowdsource values were pretty close to that. Per his agent, John Boggs, he’s already generated interest from 13 different teams; according to Boggs, Hamels plans to pitch “at least five more seasons.”

Whether or not Hamels can actually pitch for another five years remains to be seen, but what is certain is that he still had plenty left in the tank in 2019. Hamels pitched 141 and two-thirds innings this season, to the tune of a 3.81 ERA and a 4.09 FIP. He struck out 23% of hitters and walked just 9%. Hamels was worth 2.5 WAR over his 27 starts, a solid figure, especially for the middle-of-the-rotation starter Hamels is now. Shoulder and oblique injuries kept him from making a full season’s worth of starts, but when he was on the mound, he was solid.

Driving much of this success was Hamels’ changeup, which experienced a resurgence in 2019. Check out his weighted runs above-average on the pitch by year:

Hamels’ wCH by Year
Season wCH
2006 14.5
2007 17.4
2008 23.4
2009 11.8
2010 6.2
2011 29.3
2012 13.8
2013 28.6
2014 19.7
2015 17.2
2016 0.9
2017 7.0
2018 0.9
2019 11.6

Read the rest of this entry »


Mike Trout’s Third MVP Is His Latest Step Into Elite Company

When I was a little kid, I used to love reading Guinness World Records books. My childhood bookshelf at my parents’ house reflects this admittedly odd curiosity: There are several of the, I don’t know, adult(?) versions of the book from the mid-2000s — the ones that are text-heavy and include bummer-ish topics like war and crime. But then there are the “kids” versions, the ones whose pages are filled with large portraits of record-breakers, with little bar graphs in the corner to show what their performance looks like against the competition.

One of those kids’ books I had included a page dedicated to “Most MVP Awards” won in baseball. I remember seeing Barry Bonds‘ big smile, resting vibrant next to one of those graphs that showed just how transcendent he was. He’d won seven by the time this book published; the other names listed had won just three each. I knew Bonds, because I’d watched him often. The other names, I knew only from history books — names like Mantle, DiMaggio and Foxx. Pujols and Rodriguez hadn’t yet joined this class of three-time winners, hadn’t gotten the privilege of being immortalized as one of those short, stubby bars next to the tall structure looming above Bonds’ name on the tiny illustration intended to tell me who was the best ever at playing my favorite sport.

At the time I picked up this particular 2005 edition of my beloved book series, Mike Trout was just 13 years old. On Thursday, at the age of 28, Trout received the honor of joining this very silly-looking bar graph:

Read the rest of this entry »


Wild, Wild East: The Braves Sign Will Smith

It seems like only last week, I was jamming 14 Will Smith movies into a single paragraph of free agent hype, taking an obvious joke well past its logical conclusion. What would I do when Will Smith actually signed? Use the same movie jokes again? I wasn’t too worried about it. Free agents take months to sign! The Giants had made Smith a qualifying offer. No less a reliever than Craig Kimbrel had languished on the vine until after the amateur draft in similar circumstances. The same jokes could be funny again in a few months.

Well, the joke’s on me, because Smith signed a three-year, $40 million contract with the Braves yesterday. What follows is a level-head, straightforward analysis of that transaction. Just know that, if it weren’t so close in time, I’d probably have written another article of movie names.

The Braves fit a classic archetype of team that looks for free agent help. Their young core gelled impressively in 2019. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies keyed the offense, while Mike Soroka, Max Fried, and Mike Foltynewicz provided the starting pitching. The team had veteran help, of course: Freddie Freeman chipped in his usual stellar offense, Josh Donaldson was superb in a bounce back year, and Dallas Keuchel provided much-needed innings on his own one-year deal.

They also have payroll room. With Donaldson and Keuchel re-entering free agency, they only had $100 million in expected commitments for 2020 before the Smith signing. With Acuña and Albies signed long-term to (some would say exceedingly) team-friendly contracts, it makes perfect sense to spend on the rest of the roster, maximizing their playoff chances while they have a strong foundation to build from. Read the rest of this entry »


The Chicago Cubs Are in Gentle Decline

This Cubs team had their moment in 2016, but it is starting to look like their best days may be behind them. (Photo: Arturo Pardavila III)

“Who doesn’t enjoy going downhill? That’s when you get to stop pedaling.” – Christian Finnegan

Every successful thing has a peak. The Romans had the Pax Romana. Napoleon had the Battle of Austerlitz. The Simpsons had the Who Shot Mr. Burns? cliffhanger. For the early 21st-century Cubs, it was Michael Martinez grounding out on a mild November evening, giving the team its first World Series championship since 1908. Moistened by celebratory alcohol, this was almost certainly the peak for these Cubs, and even a second championship probably wouldn’t touch the magic of this moment.

Since 2016, the Cubs finished each season a bit less successfully than the previous one. The 2017 team dropped four of five to the Dodgers in the NLCS, and the 2018 team’s end came in a wild card game against the Colorado Rockies. The 2019 team didn’t even make it into October.

The club’s dynasty was built on developing players from within and using their big-market financial heft to play in free agency. These two ingredients have faded into the background in recent years as the team’s farm system has been weakened from trades and graduations while ownership has increasingly embraced a more frugal financial strategy. The Cubs are a team in decline, to the point at which they’re just any old NL Central contender, not a behemoth pushing around the Cardinals or Brewers or Reds. Read the rest of this entry »


Despite Stardom and Swagger, Dave Parker is Still Short of Cooperstown

This post is part of a series concerning the 2020 Modern Baseball Era Committee ballot, covering executives and long-retired players whose candidacies will be voted upon at the Winter Meetings in San Diego on December 8. For an introduction to JAWS, see here. Several profiles in this series are adapted from work previously published at SI.com, Baseball Prospectus, and Futility Infielder. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

2020 Modern Baseball Candidate: Dave Parker
Player Career WAR Peak WAR JAWS
Dave Parker 40.1 37.4 38.7
Avg. HOF RF 71.5 42.1 56.8
H HR AVG/OBP/SLG OPS+
2712 339 .290/.339/.471 121
SOURCE: Baseball-Reference

A five-tool player whose power, ability to hit for average, and strong, accurate throwing arm all stood out – particularly in the Pirates’ seemingly endless and always eye-catching assortment of black-and-yellow uniform combinations — Dave Parker was once considered the game’s best all-around player. In his first five full seasons (1975-79), he amassed a World Series ring, regular season and All-Star MVP awards, two batting titles, two league leads in slugging percentage, and three Gold Gloves, not to mention tremendous swagger, a great nickname (“The Cobra”), and a high regard for himself. “Take Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente and match their first five years up against mine, and they don’t compare with me,” he told Roy Blount in a 1979 Sports Illustrated cover story.

Parker, who had debuted with the Pirates just seven months after Clemente’s death and assumed full-time duty as the team’s right fielder a season and a half later, once appeared to be on course to join the Puerto Rican legend in Cooperstown. Unfortunately, cocaine, poor conditioning, and injuries threw him off course, and while he recovered well enough to make three All-Star teams, play a supporting role on another World Series winner, accrue hefty career totals and play past the age of 40, his game lost multiple dimensions as he aged. Hall of Fame voters greeted his case with a yawn; he debuted with just 17.5% on the 1997 ballot, peaked at 24.5% the next year, and while he remained eligible for the full 15 seasons, only one other time did he top 20%. He made appearances on both the 2014 Expansion Era ballot as well as the ’18 Modern Baseball one, but even after going public with his diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease, he didn’t come close to election. Aside from the precedent set by Harold Baines‘ election last year — a small committee can throw us a wild card now and then — there’s little reason to believe his fate will be different this time. Read the rest of this entry »