Rates and Barrels podcast

[btdart20]

The last two Rates and Barrels podcasts have been top shelf.  Kyle Brody name dropped Sig and Elias too.

This guy was a good interview too.

 

[Frobby]

Can you give a brief synopsis of what was covered?  

[Just Regular]

The Kyle Boddy one had some Drew French stories - Boddy characterized him as one of the weirdos the Astros brought in back in the day as Luhnow and Sig were intentional about pulling in folks with different ideas.      Boddy also shared the detail French has been fired from FIU during a conversation about how some baseball organizations are challenged to sustain interest in the modern cutting edge.

@emmett16might know more as he's mentioned doing some of their training, but AI in baseball Boddy described how they are trying to harvest their several years of coaches conversations with players to study the best ways to articulate concepts, and to use that database as a no-risk training tool for interns as Driveline figures out if they are worth letting talk to Mookie Betts.      Emmett may or may not have already given AI Adley Rutschman some performance notes.

[emmett16]

I'm going to check out those podcasts.  I haven't listened yet but reading the comments by @Just Regular a couple things came to mind with the AI stuff. I've been doing Driveline Certs (and my son has been training with their online academy) for a couple years now.  Until this winter, I hadn't seen a lot of turn-over.  Very recently, it seems like there has been a lot of transitioning and coaches/trainers are taking jobs elsewhere.  Maybe that's very typical and I just hadn't seen it, but the AI thing makes me wonder if some folks might be getting replaced (I could be very off-base here but that's what came to mind). 

The other thing that stuck out to me was the individuality of the training.  Historically all the players were taught the same exact thing.  Even driveline had very 'one way' to do it.  What has been the biggest change in the last few years has been the sculpting of training/workouts to the players.  Each players have different body types and do certain things well so a one size fits all approach isn't optimal.  This is also overlapping into how they communicate with players (which you mentioned), and into other phases nutrition intake based on body composition.  

I can imagine how AI could be super helpful when you are trying to create a unique workout, diet, motivation/drive component, and rest/recovery program for 40 players (in D1) or 120+ players ? (MLB org).  Every players body is different and every players mind is different.  Trying to optimize each player to their fullest potential is a monumental task.  

[emmett16]

@btdart20 that was a fascinating listen.  They touched on the hardest thing to do when teaching or coaching.  And that's explaining what you want the student/player to do in a way they understand.  You can say the same exact thing to 10 people and they will hear it and understand it differently.  I've noticed while coaching, this same concept happens with players.  It's crazy how saying something slightly different can have a different impact on the player.  I had so many moments when I see a light bulb go off and in my head I say to myself "I've been telling you this for months now".  Instead of just repeating the same cues all the time, I've made an intentional focus to try and say it differently or describe a movement differently every time.   Changing up drills that that do the same thing is helpful as well, as some drills that 'fix' a problem for certain players are completely worthless to others.  It's pretty cool that after figuring out to optimize a player, they are now focusing on how to optimize the players ability to download that information in an efficient manner.  Game changer.  

Re-thinking my comment about AI replacing people was probably silly in hindsight now.  When I  think about it, all those guys were hired by teams.  With their expansion to AZ (and they are also planning new facilities in a lot of new places as well) and the talent that they are building,their guys are getting poached on the regular.  

Edited December 14, 2023 by emmett16

[emmett16]

The comment about Mookie Betts and giving guys like him big contracts was awesome.  They highlighted the fact that the players make-up, work ethic, drive, & mental attributes are just as important, if not more so than a talented player.  The org knows that that type of player is going to give 110% and continue to do any and everything to make themselves better (Mookie had his best power output last year) at age 30).  Paying that type of player makes them a figure head for the organization and paying out that big money isn't a waste, as they don't expect as much of a fall off at the end of their career because of their drive.  Making sure that all the players in the org have the same mind-set and rewarding the players that have that mind-set, the talent, and the results keeps the entire organization in alignment.  

And this is what the Orioles have done, so you can see why they are hesitant to give up 'their' guys for other players, regardless of the talent.  

Edited December 14, 2023 by emmett16

[emmett16]

@Frobby I think one of the most relevant nuggets that came out of that is something that has been discussed a lot recently on this board.  The 'hoarding of talent' (OH negative view on our abundance of talent).  They discuss how important it is to put all your resources into every player in the organization, not just the top guys at the highest level.  They attribute the Dodgers success to their development of players and the ability to replace a player with a high caliber performer when an MLB guy (inevitably) goes down.   This happened last year with the Dodgers as their MLB team was decimated with injuries but the team didn't miss a beat.  Well worth a listen. 

[Just Regular]

Replacement level ordinarily refers to league-wide, but I do believe these data-driven days there is perhaps more variation in a Club's own replacement level than there has been at other times in baseball history.     

There's a lot of meat on the bone for MLB and the MLBPA to haggle over.     Maybe Framber Valdez and Corbin Burnes are only good because they fell into the opportunity for the best training.     Maybe Kyle Bradish too.

Its possible Dylan Cease hasn't had that caliber of organizational support yet ever in his baseball life.

[btdart20]

Boddy's a numbers savant.  He said he was banned from casinos for card counting and playing the numbers.  That type of trend analysis and tech advances is the niche he (and many others) are exploring with analytics.  Add in a healthy measure of curiosity, ambition, and a personal connection to complete the Driveline origin story.

If leadership skills is Management 101, then "If you don't measure, you don't know" is Management 201.  That's the passion behind player development these days.  Before Fangraphs, it was the old school baseball card stats.  Now we're seeing sprint speed, pop time, LA, spin rates, range factors... and that's just what's public.  Teams value this type of data even more than what is publicly available.  They have to have more advanced or more tailored data that they are tracking.  And Elias and Sig are at the forefront of this great thought experiment!

21 hours ago, Frobby said:

Can you give a brief synopsis of what was covered?  

Honestly, the last two full podcasts covered a ton of topics.  From coaching (like @emmett16 pointed out), player development, trends (from sweepers to AI), jobs in the industry, tools they are using, player selection, computer program languages (a team of experts/specialists), the ability to fail...  I think I could listen to the last two podcasts multiple times, marinate in it, and get something different out of them each time...  Basically, just nerding out over player development.

6 hours ago, emmett16 said:

They discuss how important it is to put all your resources into every player in the organization, not just the top guys at the highest level.  They attribute the Dodgers success to their development of players and the ability to replace a player with a high caliber performer when an MLB guy (inevitably) goes down.   This happened last year with the Dodgers as their MLB team was decimated with injuries but the team didn't miss a beat.  Well worth a listen. 

Driveline did a poll of their followers asking "Do Non-Prospects Matter?"

Professional Player Development: Crowd-Sourced Edition! (drivelinebaseball.com)

 

 

[emmett16]

2 hours ago, btdart20 said:

Boddy's a numbers savant.  He said he was banned from casinos for card counting and playing the numbers.  That type of trend analysis and tech advances is the niche he (and many others) are exploring with analytics.  Add in a healthy measure of curiosity, ambition, and a personal connection to complete the Driveline origin story.

If leadership skills is Management 101, then "If you don't measure, you don't know" is Management 201.  That's the passion behind player development these days.  Before Fangraphs, it was the old school baseball card stats.  Now we're seeing sprint speed, pop time, LA, spin rates, range factors... and that's just what's public.  Teams value this type of data even more than what is publicly available.  They have to have more advanced or more tailored data that they are tracking.  And Elias and Sig are at the forefront of this great thought experiment!

Honestly, the last two full podcasts covered a ton of topics.  From coaching (like @emmett16 pointed out), player development, trends (from sweepers to AI), jobs in the industry, tools they are using, player selection, computer program languages (a team of experts/specialists), the ability to fail...  I think I could listen to the last two podcasts multiple times, marinate in it, and get something different out of them each time...  Basically, just nerding out over player development.

Driveline did a poll of their followers asking "Do Non-Prospects Matter?"

Professional Player Development: Crowd-Sourced Edition! (drivelinebaseball.com)

 

 

I saw that poll and didn't know a good place to post on here.  Glad you started this thread.  Interesting stuff for sure.  

[Just Regular]

2 hours ago, btdart20 said:

He said he was banned from casinos for card counting and playing the numbers. 

I think he said he was part of the MIT blackjack team, which eventually got a movie treatment.      The years it all happened, I do wonder if dealer Sig Mejdal ever had to consult with his pit boss over Kyle Boddy or a teammate.

[Just Regular]

The podcast last week introduced Trevor May as a regular Friday guest for player input to the kind of stuff Eno/DVR have been serving fantasy players for years.

Eno mentioned beating 14 other competitors for Grayson Rodriguez playing 2024 baseball-flavored math games with fellow fans.

[Just Regular]

Trevor May this week had an anecdote from his Minnesota time with Jeremy Hefner and Josh Kalk that he was the source as a Twin researching and bringing to them modern pitching content here and there, and that later when he followed Hefner to the Mets it became more the stuff of their day to day life.

[Just Regular]

Tidbits from last couple days:

-Co-host/Brewers fan Derek Van Riper reporting DL Hall may start Game 2 following Freddy Peralta.

-Guest Mike Petriello shared Kevin Brown will anchor various national Nerd Cast broadcasts (not sure if they are ESPN or MLB network) with him and Trevor May on the Statcast color commentary type stuff.      Congrats KB with a first step nationally on baseball.

[btdart20]

On 2/23/2024 at 4:21 PM, Just Regular said:

Trevor May

The last couple of times he was on they went into depth on pitch shape and various FB topics.  

A recent show had Pitcherlist's Nick Pollack nerding out too.