Elias and Sig bits in The MVP Machine excerpt

[Just Regular]

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2019/6/3/18644512/mvp-machine-how-houston-astros-became-great-scouting

A longish excerpt focusing on the Astros of recent vintage from Travis Sawchik and Ben Lindbergh's new book .  I think this book will probably be a good summary of where the analytic frontier today is.

The Elias bit in the link is about how he was part of the "scouting group" that would rearrange the draft boards in the evenings while "scouts" watched the games, blending the eyewitness reports and video analysis.

There's more on Mejdal, about how his path started with the draft, but then extended towards participating in the development of the players the Astros selected with the help of his system.  He also has a pretty cool quote about the limits of knowledge, citing the Astros JD Martinez release and no one else in baseball wanting him for their 40 even after JD had unveiled the "new version" of himself in the spring of 2014.  I expect in the 5 years since teams have gotten much faster at not just identifying real player changes quickly, but curating themselves for their personnel, as the success stories on the Castros and McHughs, never mind the Coles and Verlanders, are featured.

 

[hoosiers]

Great piece.   Thanks for sharing.

[24fps]

Terrific read!  Loonnnnng but worth the time and trouble.  Really adds some perspective on "the process".  I wonder how much of this thinking factored into this weeks draft?