Big Data Baseball: Math, Miracles, and the End of a 20-Year Losing Streak
Written by Travis Sawchik
Narrated by Peter Larkin
4/5
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About this audiobook
Big Data Baseball provides a behind-the-scenes look at how the Pittsburgh Pirates used big data strategies to end the longest losing streak in North American pro sports history.
New York Times Bestseller
After twenty consecutive losing seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates, team morale was low, the club’s payroll ranked near the bottom of the sport, game attendance was down, and the city was becoming increasingly disenchanted with its team. Big Data Baseball is the story of how the 2013 Pirates, mired in the longest losing streak in North American pro sports history, adopted drastic big-data strategies to end the drought, make the playoffs, and turn around the franchise’s fortunes.
Big Data Baseball is Moneyball for a new generation. Award-winning journalist Travis Sawchik takes you behind the scenes to expertly weave together the stories of the key figures who changed the way the Pirates played the game, revealing how a culture of collaboration and creativity flourished as whiz-kid analysts worked alongside graybeard coaches to revolutionize the sport and uncover groundbreaking insights for how to win more games without spending a dime.
From pitch framing to on-field shifts, this entertaining and enlightening underdog story closely examines baseball’s burgeoning big data movement and demonstrates how the millions of data points which aren’t immediately visible to players and spectators, are the bit of magic that led the Pirates to finish the 2013 season in second place and brought an end to a twenty-year losing streak.
Editor's Note
Gut instinct vs. big data…
Does incorporating data analysis take away from the art of sports, or does it sweeten the taste of victory? This “Moneyball”-esque tale about the MLB Pirates puts in the hard work & examines the raw data to find out.
Travis Sawchik
TRAVIS SAWCHIK covers the Pirates and Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Sawchik has won national Associated Press Sports Editor awards for enterprise writing and numerous state-level awards. Sawchik’s work been featured or referenced on ESPN, Grantland.com, and MLB Network. He is the author of Big Data Baseball.
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Reviews for Big Data Baseball
59 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If you finished reading Astroball and Moneyball, and still haven't gotten your baseball fix, check this book out.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Does a masterful job of expalining what the new analytics of baseball are and how they are used in real game situations. I highly recommend this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you enjoy baseball and have an interest in data science then check this out. It definitely introduced me to baseball concepts, such as, pitch framing, that I had never considered before.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Terrific account of the increasing influence that sabermetric data is having on major league baseball. while mostly about defensive shifting, as a former catcher I particularly liked the huge amount written about pitch selection and pitch framing. Most of that data is still new and growing.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breezy read about the Pittsburgh Pirates and their turnaround in 2013 (with a glimpse here and there into 2014). Decent mix of what happened on the field with what was being studied/analyzed off the field. I liked the introduction of new concepts (to me) like pitch framing and the impact of the two-seam fastball. It was surprising to me to learn how much deep resistance there has been in professional baseball to ideas like shifting - but that it's finally starting to change. Enjoyed reading the book, but as a data scientist myself, would have liked some more insights into the ways that the numbers were crunched. On the plus side, I appreciated the author's coverage of the importance of communication between team leadership (starting with manager Clint Hurdle, on to GM Neal Huntington, and to the other coaches and front office people) and the data scientists and the players themselves.