Expected Value: Recent Episodes
TruMedia Networks
The Expected Value podcast takes you inside the sports analytics world, by talking with people who work for teams, media and other organizations. Conversations focus on what they do, how they do it, and how they got there. Baseball, football, soccer, basketball and more sports will be covered. Please subscribe and enjoy!
Trevor May is an ESPN Statcast analyst, podcaster, and former MLB pitcher for the Twins, Mets, and Athletics. He pitched professionally from 2008-2023, originally being drafted by the Phillies. Since retiring, he has done various podcasts, founded an Esports Lab applying sabermetric principles to gaming, and continued to grow his online presence through various media. In this episode he discusses…
- Available data early in his playing career and the evolution of Statcast
- Learning metrics to understand his and others successes
- Differences between being a starter and a reliever at the big league level
- Opponent preparation and how he approached various hitters
- Transitioning from player to analyst and becoming more involved on the media side
- The learning curve of ESPN’s Statcast broadcast and hopes for it moving forward
- Communicating data to a large audience and ways to make it digestible
- Starting an Esports lab to evaluate Overwatch teams and bringing more data to the industry
- Favorite video games, baseball movies, highlights of career, and much more
Show links
- Follow Trevor on Twitter @IamTrevorMay
- Follow Trevor on Instagram @trevmay65
- Subscribe to Trevor on YouTube @TrevorMayBaseball
- Listen to his podcasts: Rates + Barrels, Foul Territory, May Contain Action Podcast
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Zach Stovall is the Director of Analytics for the University of Tennessee baseball team who just won their first College World Series. He studied at UT while also working for the baseball team as a student manager. After three seasons with the Texas Rangers at their various minor league affiliates, he returned to the Volunteers for the 2024 season. In this episode, he discusses…
- Balancing schoolwork while working for a D1 baseball program
- Winning a College World Series vs a Major League World Series
- Interning at the Cape Cod League and studying under various scouts
- The differences between player development at the college and pro ball levels
- Communicating data to players of various ages and experience
- Pathway to pro ball and transitioning from college
- The evolution of baseball technology at the college level
- Barbecue food, best ballparks, highlight moments thus far, and much more
Show links
- Follow Zach on Twitter @stovall_zach
- Zach’s profile on UT Baseball
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Lance Brozdowski is a Player Development Analyst at Marquee Sports Network, the regional sports network for the Chicago Cubs. He brings an analytical insight and makes it more digestible for baseball fans. In this episode, he discusses…
- Methods he utilizes to evaluate and breakdown MLB players and prospects
- What a player development analyst does for a regional sports network
- Thoughts about the new, publicly available bat tracking data
- Working with and debating former big league players and managers
- Analytics and metrics that he hopes to have more access to in the future
- Pathway to getting here from an accounting background
- Communicating complex topics on air
- Under the radar prospects, favorite current pitch, who he’d start a franchise with, and much more
Show links
- Follow Lance Brozdowski on Twitter @LanceBroz
- Sign up for Lance’s Substack
- Check out Lance’s YouTube
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Tom Bliss is a Senior Manager of Football Operations Data Scientist for the NFL. He and his team work to improve the game for fans, players, and organizations through data analysis. They are constantly researching new ways to make the game more entertaining and safer. In this interview he discusses…
- NFL rule changes including the expectations around the new kickoff rule
- The schedule release and the various considerations the league looks at
- His day-to-day responsibilities and what programming is utilized in his role
- NGS, PFF, and various player tracking tools
- Big Data Bowl and what leads to successful entries
- Statistics that are likely to become publicly available for this season
- Pairing his physics/astronomy major with his current position
- Highlights of his career journey thus far
Show links
- Follow Tom Bliss on Twitter @DataWithBliss
- Tom’s blog centered around NFL Weather Data
- Codecademy article spotlighting Tom: Cool Job
- Learn more about the NFL’s Big Data Bowl
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Dr. Curtis Goss is a Performance Support Specialist for USA Swimming where he is currently prepping for the Olympic trials and the 2024 Summer Olympics. He was a collegiate swimmer at Indiana University where he also completed his PhD in Human Performance. In this interview he discusses…
- The current landscape of data and tech within the sport of swimming
- U.S. Trials and the anticipation for potential record breaking races
- Communicating data to swimmers of various ages and experience
- The ups and downs of current technology and the manual aspects to data collection
- Evaluating swimmer performance and identifying areas of improvement
- Swimming techniques and philosophies
- His path to working for USA Swimming and his drastically different career plan
- Working with Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel, Kate Douglass, etc.
- Highlights of his career journey thus far
Show links
- Follow Curtis on Twitter: @CurtisGoss13
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Tim Gibbons is TruMedia’s baseball professional services lead, dealing with players, agencies and facliities. He previously worked as a minor-league hitting coach in the Orioles system. In this episode, Tim talks about…
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His career path to becoming a hitting coach
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What a minor-league hitting coach does
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Data available to minor-league teams
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How a minor-league team’s approach is influenced by the parent club
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Communicating data to players
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Mixing data with coaching of mechanics
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How facilities and agencies use data
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New baseball data points available to coaches
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Follow Tim on Twitter: @LineDrivePro
Allison Loucks is the Director of Business Development and Innovation at ESPN, where she oversees ESPN’s Analytics group. Her team has created ESPN metrics including their Total QBR, Basketball Power Index and pass rush win rate. In this conversation, Allison talks about…
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What she does as a director of the analytics group and what a typical day looks like
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How ESPN creates proprietary metrics
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Challenges of using complex metrics in simple ways
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How sports betting has affected her team’s work
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Common misconceptions about ESPN metrics
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What’s on the horizon for the analytics team
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What she looks for when hiring
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Her ESPN career and journalism background
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Meeting one of her sports heroes
Show links
- ESPN Analytics home page
Matt Chang and his team won the 2024 NFL Big Data Bowl, an analytics competition with a $25,000 first prize. In this episode, Matt will discuss…
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His team’s submission, entitled Uncovering Missed Tackle Opportunities
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What the Big Data Bowl is and how he and his team became interested
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The data and question provided by the NFL
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Attacking that question through trial and error
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Creating a metric and its components
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Making the outputs easy to understand
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Ideal next steps with their metric
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Advice for anyone looking to enter contests like the Big Data Bowl
Show Links
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Kaggle notebook for Matt’s team’s winning submission
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Video of Matt’s team’s presentation
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Matt’s advice for future Big Data Bowl contestants
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Big Data Bowl home page
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Big Data Bowl Kaggle home page
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Matt’s transition from hardware to machine learning
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Follow Matt on Twitter and LinkedIn
Ben Zauzmer is an assistant general manager with the New York Mets, and he’s better known publicly for his book Oscarmetrics and his Twitter account @BensOscarMath, where he uses data to project winners of the Academy Awards. With this year’s Oscars ceremony coming on March 10, Ben joins Expected Value to talk about…
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How he got into the Oscars predictions business
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Creating an Oscars model from scratch
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The variables that go into his calculations
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Projecting nominees vs projecting winners
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Explaining probability
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Factoring in betting markets
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Reaction from the film community
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Majoring in applied mathematics at Harvard
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Course and skills recommended to aspiring analysts
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His favorite movie and favorite Best Picture winner
Show links
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@BensOscarMath on Twitter
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Buy Oscarmetrics on Bookshop or Amazon
Bobby Bandelow is the coordinator of advance scouting for the world champion Texas Rangers. During his decade-long career, he’s worked with the Astros, the then-Indians and the Rangers, in roles ranging from video intern to major-league analyst. In this conversation, Bobby talks about…
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Winning the 2023 World Series
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What an advance scout does for an MLB team
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How he presents data to Bruce Bochy and the Rangers staff
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Adapting to MLB rule changes
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Dealing with small sample sizes
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His career path with three MLB teams
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Advice for aspiring sports analysts
Show Links
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Follow Bobby on Twitter
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Bruce Bochy doesn’t miss a thing
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How the Rangers improved their defense
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The Patriotic Pig
Wes Johnson was named Head Baseball Coach for the University of Georgia on June 5th. Prior to taking the job in Athens, Wes served as the Pitching Coach for LSU, where he won a national championship earlier this year. He also has MLB experience, having served as the Pitching Coach for the Minnesota Twins from 2019-2022. His previous stops at Mississippi State and Arkansas add on to his SEC experience, in addition to his past as a high school baseball coach, among other stops. In this conversation, Wes talks about…
Balancing his responsibilities of being LSU’s pitching coach in the midst of a national championship run with his duties as Georgia’s head coach.
His career path and how he got into coaching in the first place.
An SEC school’s resources from a data perspective.
Coaching in MLB vs coaching at the collegiate level, including the different levels of preparation.
How stats factor in his approach to the transfer portal.
Communicating information to players vs a staff member.
Players to watch at Georgia and around the SEC next year.
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Wes.
Show Links
To check Wes’ biography, click here.
To read Wes’ interview with On3 about his MLB experience, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Brandon Ally is the Co-Founder of S2 Cognition, a performance evaluation company that is revolutionizing the way professional teams asses prospective players. He is also S2 Cognition’s Chief Business Development Officer and Director of Football. His educational background stands up again the brightest minds in sports. He has a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Tennessee, a PhD in Neuropsychology from Southern Miss, and worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University & Boston University, working in the Geriatric Neuropsychology Laboratory and Alzheimer’s Disease Center, respectively. He also has a background in academia, having served as Assistant Professor of Neurology at Boston University and Vanderbilt University. In addition to his roles at S2 Cognition, he currently serves as Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Louisville. In this conversation, Brandon talks about…
His academic background and what a PhD in Neuropsychology encompasses.
His athletic background at the University of Tennessee.
S2 Cognition’s origin story & what S2 Cognition does.
What they used to develop the primary S2 test and what the exam provides NFL teams.
How things in an athlete’s past influence how well they perform on the S2 test.
Misconceptions between the S2 test and the Wonderlic exam.
How his professional knowledge influences his coaching.
His favorite John Wick movie, and shaming Paul for not having seen it.
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Brandon.
Show Links
Follow Brandon on Twitter: @brandonally3
Follow S2 Cognition on Twitter: @S2Cognition
To check out S2 Cognition’s website, click here.
To check out what the S2 Cognition test said about the 2023 NFL Draft QB class, click here.
To read The Athletic’s piece on the S2 Cognition test, click here.
To read The Athletic’s piece on how the S2 Cognition test pointed to Brock Purdy’s NFL success, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Alison Lukan is an On-Air Analyst & Writer for the Seattle Kraken. In her role, she provides analysis for the Seattle Kraken’s local broadcasts on Root Sports Northwest, with her team winning a Regional Sports Emmy for their coverage this season. She holds a degree in Leadership Studies from the University of Richmond and has previously worked as a consultant in Washington D.C. and has a background in journalism, where she is one of the faces of the hockey analytics revolution. She has also written for The Athletic. In this conversation, Alison talks about…
Her academic and career path to get to where she is now.
How she caught the hockey bug and why she dove into hockey analytics.
What data is available at the NHL level, and her access to hockey data.
Her preparation and in-game process as an On-Air Analyst.
The challenges of communicating data on TV and the key to doing it clearly.
How her corporate background informs what she does now.
What an NHL team’s analytics staff looks like.
Where to get started if someone is looking to get into hockey analytics.
Her time as Spidey, the University of Richmond’s mascot.
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Alison.
Show Links
Follow Alison on Twitter: @AlisonL
To read Darren Brown’s piece on Alison’s first season with the Kraken, click here.
To read Alison’s piece in The Athletic’s piece on her time as Spidey, click here.
To read Alison’s piece on NHL players’ relationship with their sticks, click here.
To read Alison’s piece in The Athletic on the “Hockey Analytics Conference” (HAC), click here.
To read Bill West’s piece on Alison and hockey analytics, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
John Taormina is TruMedia’s Director of Football Strategy, overseeing TruMedia’s football related business. Prior to joining us at TruMedia, John spent time with the Atlanta Falcons. He started as a Football Analyst before becoming Manager of Football Analytics. His final role with the Falcons was Director of Football Data & Analytics. He holds a BA in Broadcast Journalism from Penn State, along with a Master of Science in Analytics from Villanova. In this conversation, John talks about…
His academic path and what led him to pursue a career in sports analytics.
His time with the Atlanta Falcons and how his responsibilities changed with each role.
What a typical NFL analytics department looks like from the inside.
How an NFL analytics department works with the coaching staff.
A first-hand perspective of what it’s like to be inside the war room during the NFL Draft.
Working with cap specialists and what the analytics department does during the off-season.
How he aided the Falcons decision makers with a massive trade.
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with John.
Show Links
Follow John on Twitter: @TheRealPapaJohn
To check out Championship Analytics, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Amelia Probst is a Data Scientist & Writer for Pro Football Focus (PFF). Despite being just 22 years old, the Cornell graduate has already worked in football, baseball, and lacrosse, including internships with the New York Mets and the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). In this conversation, Amelia talks about…
How she became interested in sports analytics.
How she applies what she learned at Cornell to working in sports analytics.
Her time with Cornell’s Sports Analytics club.
Interning with the Mets & the PLL.
What’s being done in collegiate lacrosse from a data perspective.
Joining PFF, what PFF does, and her role at the company.
What she has learned about football analytics while at PFF.
The difference between working in football, baseball, and lacrosse.
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Amelia.
Show Links
Follow Amelia on Twitter: @ameliaprobst.
To check out Amelia’s writing at PFF, click here.
To check out Amelia’s PFF piece on Offensive Linemen Volatility, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Paul Hembikedes, aka Hembo, is a Content Producer for ESPN and got his start in the Stats & Information department, working with Expected Value host Paul Carr in the ESPN research room. Currently, Hembo works on Get Up and #Greeny, Mike Greenberg’s daily ESPN Radio show. He also partnered with Greenberg to co-author “Got Your Number”, a New York Times Bestseller that explores sports history through the lens of who “owns” each number in sports. In this conversation, Hembo talks about…
The origin of “Got Your Number” and he and Greenberg’s process for choosing the numbers.
How he put together the stats and facts for each athlete.
How he balances stats and words in the book.
Biggest surprise when researching and writing the book.
His path and how he got to his current ESPN role.
What he had to learn to adapt his sports passion and knowledge to TV & Radio.
A look inside a researchers mindset & how he approaches the “give me the best stat” question.
Tips & advice for getting into sports research.
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Hembo.
Show Links
To purchase “Got Your Number”, click here.
Follow Hembo on Twitter: @PaulHembo.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Cory Jez is the Founder of Tour IQ, a golf analytics platform dedicated to providing PGA Tour players an the resources they need for the first time in golf history. He also has a unique resume, having worked for FanDuel, the Utah Jazz, Austin FC, and an an on-air analyst for the Portland Trailblazers. In this conversation, Cory talks about…
His time as an Analytics Manager with FanDuel.
His role as Director of Basketball Analytics with the Utah Jazz.
His time with Austin FC as the Director of Sport Science and Analytics.
The differences of coming into a job vs building a department from scratch.
His role as an On-Air Analytics Insider with the Portland TrailBlazers.
What Tour IQ is and how it can help golfers improve their game.
Transactional vs Transformational in the analytics process.
Building trust with “non-data” types.
Keys to communicating analytics concepts to athletes, front-office personnel, and a TV audience.
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Cory.
Show Links
Follow Cory on Twitter: @JezData
Follow TourIQ on Twitter: @tour_IQ
To check out Cory on LinkedIn, click here.
To check out Cory’s website, click here.
To check out TourIQ’s website, click here.
To read Sports Illustrated’s feature on TourIQ, click here.
To read UpRoxx’s feature on the Blazers’ analytics integration on their broadcasts, click here.
For more on the Tobacco Road golf course, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Tegan Ashby is the Assistant Director of Software Engineering for the Philadelphia Phillies. Before that, she worked in the NBA as a Senior Developer of Basketball Systems for the Brooklyn Nets, and as a Developer of Research & Development for the Philadelphia 76ers.. She holds a BA in Linguistics from Penn, and took classes at Cal Berkeley’s Ancient Neat Eastern and Biblical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics Graduate Studies program. In this conversation, Tegan talks about…
What a software engineer does and how it applies to a baseball team.
What kinds and volumes of data MLB teams deal with.
The difference between a development job with an NBA team compared to an MLB team.
What NBA engineering looks like.
Her background in Linguistics and how it helps her in her profession.
Advice on sports-specific tools for someone learning software engineering.
Co-founding the Women In Sports Data and how people can support the initiative.
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Tegan.
Show Links
Follow Tegan on Twitter: @bunsushi
Follow Women in Sports Data on Twitter: @WinSportsData
For more on Women in Sports Data, click here.
For more on SportsDataVerse, click here.
To check out Tegan’s website, click here.
To check out Tegan on LinkedIn, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Carlos Muñoz is a former bullpen catcher who spent nine years with the Houston Astros (2009-2017) and, most recently, served as a bullpen catcher and coach for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. He has also spent time as a scout and instructor throughout his career. In this conversation, Carlos talks about…
His Team USA & World Baseball Classic experience.
His path from Venezuela to where he is today.
What a bullpen catcher does.
Framing metrics and what goes into a being a good framer.
Robot umpires, and how they would affect catchers.
How Latino players use data differently than American players.
Why baseball is so big in Venezuela compared to other South American countries.
The recent MLB rule changes.
Our ‘Playing Favorites’ segment, including Carlos’ love for Venezuelan arepas.
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Carlos.
Show Links
Follow Carlos on Twitter: @Carlos96munoz
Follow Carlos on Instagram: @carlos96munoz
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Hassan Inayatali is a rising senior at the University of Toronto and part of the 2023 Big Data Bowl winning team, along with his partners Aaron White and Daniel Hocevar. Their project, “Between the Lines: How Do We Measure Pressure?” bested over 300 submissions to win the competition. In this conversation, Hassan talks about…
What data they had access to.
How they attacked their topic, where the data took them, and what idea had in mind.
What to say when pitching a coach on their model.
What they would do if they had more time and access to more data.
How he got into sports analytics.
Advice for anyone looking to get into sports analytics.
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Hassan.
Show Links
To check out Hassan & his team’s project on how to measure pressure, click here.
To read the Toronto Sun article about Hassan & his team, click here.
To read the University of Toronto Engineering News piece on Hassan & his team, click here.
For more on the NFL’s Big Data Bowl Finalists, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Matt Doyle is a Senior Writer for MLSsoccer.com and has been covering the league for over a decade. His ‘Armchair Analyst’ column is considered required reading for MLS fans around the globe. He also appears on ‘Extratime’, an MLSsoccer.com podcast that covers the league in depth twice a week. In this conversation, Matt talks about…
The 2023 MLS season
MLS’s new Apple TV deal and what his role will look like
How he got into soccer & soccer writing
How he uses data in his writing and analysis
What to do when the numbers don’t match the ‘eye test’
Soccer stats he’s not fond of
Advice for using numbers in writing
His favorite episode of ‘Firefly’
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Matt.
Show Links
Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattDoyle76
To check out ‘Armchair Analyst’ and the rest of Matt’s writing, click here.
To check out ‘Extratime’, click here.
Follow ‘Extratime’ on Twitter: @Extratime
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Rodrick David is the founder of Right Step Advising, a company dedicated to helping agents, athletes and schools figure out the next right step for them and their football careers. Before that, he was a scout for the Atlanta Falcons. In this conversation, Rodrik talks about…
His reaction to Super Bowl LVII & how he watched the game through a scout’s lens
His career path from college to being an NFL scout
How data is used in the college scouting process
What information teams gather at events like the Senior Bowl, NFL Combine, and Pro Days
What part of a scout’s job is aided by data
How agents & players are using data in relation to NIL
What he would do with the No. 1 pick if he was Chicago
Standouts and sleepers in the 2023 NFL Draft
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Rodrik.
Show Links
Follow Rodrik on Twitter: @RodrikDavid
To check out Rodrik on LinkedIn, click here.
To check out Right Step Advising, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Kalyn Kahler is a senior NFL writer for The Athletic, covering the league from a national perspective. She has a traditional journalism background and also likes to use numbers in her stories. She is a graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and has previously worked for Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, and Defector Media. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Colorado Springs Gazette, among other publications. In this conversation, Kalyn talks about…
Her path from Medill to The Athletic
Her general approach to using stats in stories
What she took away from working with Peter King
The evolution of data in journalism
How coaches and players react when she brings up stats to them
Advice for someone looking to break into the sports media field
Why she’s not a fan of even numbers
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Kalyn.
Show Links
Follow Kalyn on Twitter: @kalynkahler
To see Kalyn’s work at The Athletic, click here.
To check out Kalyn’s website, click here.
To read her piece on how the Eagles used the QB rush to their advantage, click here.
To read her piece on why NFL coaches call for shotgun at the goal line, click here.
To read her piece on how a cow becomes a football, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Joe Hultzen recently joined TruMedia as our MLB Team Lead. His decade-long experience in MLB allows him to provide clients with the services they need to maximize TruMedia’s product. He has held roles in the Baseball Operations, Advance Video Scouting, and Player Valuation departments. In this conversation, Joe talks about…
The best thing about working for a MLB team
The challenges of working for a MLB team
The biggest surprise about working for a MLB team
How the use of data evolved over the course of his decade with MLB teams
The key to communicating data well
His approach to communicating with front offices compared to players
What skills to develop when searching for a job with a MLB team
His favorite “how-did-I-get-here” moment
Where to eat when in Pittsburgh
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Joe.
Show Links
Follow Joe on Twitter: @JoeHultzen
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
This week, we’re doing things a bit differently on Expected Value. Producer Sergio De La Espriella has taken over Expected Value and conducted an interview in Spanish, as a way of expanding accessibility to data and analytics information to the Spanish-speaking public. Our Spanish-speaking guest is Cristian Perez. Cristian is coming off a four year stint with the Cincinnati Reds where he served as an Assistant Bullpen & Advances Scouting Coach. He also played college baseball at Duke University & the University of Southern California. In this conversation, Julio talks about…
How he ended up getting into baseball
His earliest experience with baseball analytics
Why forming relationships is such an important part of coaching
How much access Latin American players have to analytics
What can be done to make analytics more digestable to Latin American players
His favorite moments from his playing career and his time as a MLB coach
His favorite place to eat in South Florida
Show Links
Follow Cristian on Twitter: @Cris_Perez18
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Lauren Poe is part of ESPN’s sports analytics team, which is responsible for metrics like Total QBR, Power Indices for Basketball, Football, and Soccer, and Strength of Record for college football. She has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma, spent time as a math teacher, and got her ESPN in the Stats and Analysis department. In this conversation, Lauren talks about…
Her career path from math teacher to ESPN
Her early years in the ESPN Stats & Analysis group
The challenges and importance of data cleaning
Steps she took to join ESPN’s analytics team
What she does as a sports analytics developer
Creating and maintaining ESPN’s metrics
Her favorite college football metrics
Communicating data well in writie
How she watches games, especially Oklahoma football
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Lauren.
Show Links
Follow Lauren on Twitter: @laurenpoe.
Follow the Women in Sports Data on Twitter: @WinSportsData.
To check out the Women in Sports Data website, click here.
To check out ESPN’s 2022 College Football Playoff predictor, click here.
To check great article explaining ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI), click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
This week, we’re doing things a bit differently on Expected Value. Producer Sergio De La Espriella has taken over Expected Value and conducted an interview in Spanish, as a way of expanding accessibility to data and analytics information to the Spanish-speaking public. Our first Spanish-speaking guest is Julio Costa, data scientist for Fulham F.C. in the Premier League. Julio has an unorthodox background that includes studying in the United States, running his own analytics blog, and a history of coaching. In this conversation, Julio talks about…
His day to day duties as a data scientist.
His interaction with the players and coaching staff.
How data is prioritized at Fulham vs at other places he has been.
His journey to arriving at Fulham.
What he learned from his time at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Analysts Eye and how that impacted his career.
What he looks for when watching a match.
Tips for those looking to become a soccer data scientist.
His soccer fandom history coming from Portugal.
His favorite place to eat in London.
Show Links
Follow Julio on Twitter: @juliocosta_lisb.
Follow The Analyst Eye on Twitter: @theanalysteye.
To check out The Analyst Eye, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Sarah Rudd is one of the early pioneers of modern soccer analytics, being heavily involved in the evolution of soccer analytics over the last 10-15 years. Rudd recently joined Blue Crow Sports Group after spending time with Arsenal in the Premier League. Sarah is half of the “First Family” of soccer analytics, being married to Ravi Ramineni, another top soccer analytics mind who previously worked as the Director of Analytics for the Seattle Sounders. Ravi was on Expected Value a couple of years ago, making them the first wife-and-husband combo to appear on the podcast. In this conversation, Sarah talks about…
Her academic background and early professional path before transitioning into soccer
The 2011 presentation that put her on the soccer analytics map
What she did at StatDNA (the company Arsenal bought to be their in-house analytics group)
How the acceptance of analytics changed during her decade with Arsenal
Bridging the stereotypical gap between scouting and analytics
Working on the private side of soccer analytics
Advantages and disadvantages of a club doing everything in-house
Her new company Blue Crow Sport Group and what they’re up to
How she and her husband Ravi watch soccer games
What she’s done to track her excitement level during World Cup matches
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Sarah.
Show Links
Follow Sarah on Twitter: @srudd_ok.
To check out Sarah on LinkedIn, click here.
To check out Sarah’s 2011 NESSIS presentation, click here.
To take a look at a Guardian piece on StatDNA being bought by Arsenal, click here.
To check out a NY Times article on Arsenal and soccer analytics, click here.
For more on Blue Crow Sports Group, click here.
For more on Blue Crow Sports Group’s recent purchase of C.D. Leganes, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Chris Cleary is fresh off winning a national championship in his 4th season with the Ole Miss program, the 2nd national championship in Ole Miss athletics history. The Rebels were 7-14 in conference play at one point and turned their season around en route to a national championship. Chris joined the Rebels in August of 2018 as the Coordinator of Operations before being promoted to his current role in July of 2020. In this conversation, Chris talks about…
The College World Series experience and Ole Miss’ bounce back
Why the state of Mississippi has had so much college baseball success recently
What he does with the team and how analytics in incorporated into his process
How he uses data to help Ole Miss in the field, at the plate, and on the mound
The art of communicating that data to players
How data has evolved in college baseball over the past decade
Where to eat in Oxford
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Chris.
Show Links
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ccleary05.
To check out Chris’ biography, click here.
To take a look at Ole Miss baseball’s facilities tour, click here.
To check out Chris’ case study on the Cubs infield outs from 2019, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Robin Lund just wrapped up his fourth season with the Iowa Hawkeyes and his third season as the pitching coach. Iowa pitchers finished the season top-five in the country in ERA, K%, and opponents batting average, among other stats. Before he joined the Iowa staff, Robin spent over 15 years as an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology as UNI. In this conversation, Robin talks about…
His journey to becoming the Iowa Hawkeyes pitching coach
His work as a kinesiology professor and how that applies to coaching
How he got into traditional baseball analytics
His approach to baseball data as someone who came from the sports science side
Working with Iowa’s highly-regarded student manager program
Advice for data-minded people working with baseball people
Balancing individual pitcher plans with team-wide goals and approaches
Where to eat in Iowa City
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Robin.
Show Links
Follow Robin on Twitter: @Lunderton.
To check out Robin’s biography, click here.
For more on Robin’s path to Iowa, click here.
For more on Robin’s passion for cooking, click here.
For more on Iowa’s student manager program, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Seth Partnow was formerly the Director of Basketball Research for the Milwaukee Bucks, and he now writes for The Athletic and is the Director of Basketball for the data company StatsBomb. Last November he released a book titled: The Midrange Theory, Basketball’s Evolution in the Age of Analytics. In this conversation, Seth talks about…
His book The Midrange Theory, Basketball’s Evolution in the Age of Analytics
The first two games of the 2022 NBA Finals
How he watches games and looks at data afterwards
The state of NBA analytics in general
His path from law school to the NBA
Advice for anyone interested in basketball analytics
His Luc Longley story
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Seth.
Show Links
Follow Seth on Twitter: @SethPartnow.
To read Seth’s writing on The Athletic, click here.
To buy Seth’s book The Midrange Theory, click here.
To buy Thinking Basketball, click here.
To buy Basketball on Paper, click here.
To check out Cleaning the Glass, click here.
To catch up on Kevin Pelton’s writing, follow him on Twitter: @kpelton.
For more information on Seth’s favorite Milwaukee spot The Vanguard, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Fernando Palomo has worked at ESPN since 2000 as an anchor and soccer play-by-play commentator, both in English and Spanish. Fernando has covered multiple major soccer events including World Cups, Euros, and the UEFA Champions League. He has been one of the more receptive soccer people to using data and advanced stats on TV and frequently uses analytics in his broadcasts. In this conversation, Fernando talks about…
The upcoming Liverpool-Real Madrid Champions League final
What he looks for in soccer stats
How he uses data as an announcer
The differences in calling a game in English vs Spanish
How data is used and received differently in two languages
A track and field record that he still holds in his native El Salvador
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Fernando.
Show Links
Follow Fernando on Twitter: @fernandopalomo.
To read up on Fernando’s bio, click here.
To read a Q&A he did with Texas A&M Today, click here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Robyn Ritchie, a PhD student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, is part of the team that won the NFL’s Big Data Bowl this year. This was the fourth annual Big Data Bowl, put on by Mike Lopez and the league’s analytics staff, and the topic this year was special teams, with each team given a set of tracking data and asked to come up with analysis and strategies based on that data. Robyn and her teammates (Brendan Kumagai, Ryker Moreau, Elijah Cavan) bested over 200 contestants with their entry, entitled “Punt Returns: Using the Math to Find the Path” In this conversation, Robyn talks about…
Exactly what data she and her team used
How they approached the contest
What methods and tools they used along the way
Challenges they ran into
Communicating their ideas effectively
Her path to getting a master’s and a PhD in statistics
Why Simon Fraser has produced so many good sports analysts
Her advice for people looking to get into the field
Her work in curling analytics (yes, curling!)
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Robyn.
Show Links
Follow Robyn on Twitter: @RR_SportsStats.
For more on the Big Data Bowl, click here.
To watch the 2022 Big Data Bowl Finals, click here.
To see the Kaggle Robyn referenced in the episode, click here.
For more on the Canadian Statistics Student Conference, click here.
Check out the Winnipeg Free Press’ piece on Robyn by clicking here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.
Mike Tannenbaum started working in the NFL as an intern with the Saints back in 1994, and he worked his way up with the Browns, Saints and Jets, becoming the Jets general manager in 2006, then the Dolphins executive vice president of football operations in 2015. Mike is now the founder of The 33rd Team, a football think tank and media platform. In this conversation, Mike talks about…
The AFC and NFC Championship games
How Mike watches football games from a general manager’s perspective
What The 33rd Team is and how The 33rd Team uses analytics, including their Comprehensive Passing Metric
How data was used when Mike first started in the 90s vs how data is used now
Mike’s experience appearing on an episode of CSI:NY
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Mike.
Show Links
Follow Mike on Twitter: @RealTannenbaum
Check out The 33rd Team here.
Follow The 33rd Team on Twitter: @The33rdTeamFB
Check out the Comprehensive Passing Metric here.
Check out Mike’s appearance on CSI:NY here.
Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn
Chip Hale won a national title as a player with Arizona back in 1986, played seven years in the major leagues, then spent 15 years as a major-league coach and manger. He won a World Series as the Nationals bench coach in 2019, and then took over the Arizona baseball program last summer. In this conversation, Chip talks about…
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The evolution of data availability over the course of his playing and coaching career
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What information college teams have access to
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What college kids expect from data and how they use it
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How he balances stats and the eye test when making in-game decisions
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Keys to communicating with players
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Managing a couple innings in the 2019 World Series
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Memories from winning the 1986 NCAA title with Arizona
Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Chip.
Show Links
-
Follow Chip on Twitter: @UHCoachHale
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Check out Chip’s biography here.
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Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn
Jill Reiner and Ella Summer won the college division of this year’s NFL Big Data Bowl, which asked participants to “evaluate defensive performance on passing plays.” In these conversations, Jill and Ella will talk about….
- What they’re studying in school
- How they got interested in the Big Data Bowl and decided to join the competition
- Their approaches and methodologies in evaluating pass defense performance
- What surprised them as they dove into the data
- What next steps they’d ideally take to examine the topic further
- Keys to communicating their work effectively
- Other work they’ve done in sports analytics
Then TruMedia’s Andy Cox, who was a Big Data Bowl judge, joins the show to discuss the process of evaluating entries, along with what Jill and Ella did well.
Show links - Follow Jill on Twitter: @jillhreiner - Follow Jill’s black labs on Instagram: @archieandbodie - Jill’s Big Data Bowl submission on Kaggle - Denison interview with Jill - Follow Ella on Twitter: @EllaSummer17 - Ella’s Big Data Bowl submission on Kaggle - Announcement of Big Data Bowl winners - Watch the Big Data Bowl winners and presentations - Ben Baldwin’s Big Data Bowl summary on The Athletic - Follow TruMedia on Twitter: @TruMediaSports
Listen here or wherever you get podcasts: Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher , TuneIn
Robbie Robinson is a Complex Manager and Catching Instructor for the New York Mets. In this conversation, Robbie talks about…
- His baseball career path
- What he does for the Mets in his current role
- The evolution of available data over the past decade
- Using data to both know yourself and know others
- Keys to communicating data and the importance of relationships
- What data helps in evaluating the catching process
- Catcher framing data and applying that to catching technique
- Advice for analyst types looking to interact with players and coaches
- His how-did-I-get-here moment with a Hall-of-Fame player
Show links - Follow Robbie on Twitter: @robrobinson23 - TruMedia job openings - Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter
Listen here or wherever you get podcasts: Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher , TuneIn
Alex Vigderman is a Lead Research Analyst at Sports Info Solutions, and he talks about…
- What Sports Info Solutions does
- What he does as Lead Research Analyst
- Compiling the SIS Football Rookie Handbook and takeaways from its statistical analysis
- Analyzing strengths and weaknesses of Florida QB Kyle Trask
- The draft prospect that numbers suggest is undervalued
- Sports Info Solutions’ Total Points model, which measures individual contribution in football
- Creating metrics without necessarily knowing a player’s intent on a play
- Fine-tuning the Defensive Runs Saved stat
- The SIS defensive fantasy baseball draft
- Takeaways from this year’s SABR conference
- His path into sports analytics, as a psychology major at Penn
Show links - Follow Alex on Twitter: @vigmanoncampus - Purchase the SIS Football Rookie Handbook or e-book - Total Points: a primer and a look at the future - Sports Info Solutions DRS draft - Software Engineer job opening at TruMedia - Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter
Listen here or wherever you get podcasts: Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher , TuneIn
John Tobias is a professor of sports statistics and analytics at UNC-Charlotte, and he also works as a TV statistician for a variety of sports. In this conversation, John talks about…
- His unconventional path to working in both TV and the academic world
- What a statistician does during a broadcast
- How to choose what stats are given to talent
- Challenges to live TV
- How advanced stats factor into TV
- Communicating stats concisely in broadcasts
- Components that go into teaching sports statistics
- Advice for students and people interested in a sports analytics career
- Diversity (or lack thereof) in the sports analytics world
- Suggestions for making the field more diverse
- His favorite event he’s covered working in TV
Show links - Follow John on Twitter and Instagram - John’s bio at UNC-Charlotte - Boston Globe article on diversity in sports analytics - Strength in Numbers charity
Listen here or wherever you get podcasts: Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher , TuneIn
Mike Petriello is a writer and analyst for MLB.com, host of the Ballpark Dimensions podcast, and analyst on ESPN’s Statcast broadcasts. In this conversation, Mike talks about…
- The Rays pulling Blake Snell in the sixth inning of Game 6, and the fallout of that move
- How he decides what to write about
- His process for diving into the data
- His articles on Cody Bellinger’s fielding prowess and the different arm angles of the Rays pitching staff
- How to communicate complex ideas in writing
- What’s on the Statcast horizon
- Preparing for the Statcast broadcasts
- Differences in communicating data on TV compared to writing
- His career path to being a baseball writer
- Advice for aspiring baseball writers
Show links - @mike_petriello on Twitter - Ballpark Dimensions podcast - Cody Belinger’s fielding excellence - Arm angles of Rays pitchers - No one shifts DJ LeMahieu - Mike’s career path - Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter
Listen here or wherever you get podcasts: Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher , TuneIn
Justin Ray is the Head of Content for 15th Club, and he was previously a Senior Researcher at The Golf Channel and ESPN. Among the topics covered…
- How 15th Club works with golfers and media
- How golf data has evolved over the past 20 years
- What Strokes Gained is and how it can be used
- How players use data on and off the course
- Bryson DeChambeau’s unique approach to the game
- What’s next in golf analytics and how they trickle down to recreational golfers
- How to get started in golf analytics
- How he researches a tournament
- What makes The Masters unique from an analysis standpiont
- His top players to watch at The Masters
- How Barbaro got Justin a job at ESPN
Show links - Follow @JustinRayGolf on Twitter - 15th Club - Justin’s golf writing on 15th Club - Shotlink - Strokes Gained explained - The Increasing Presence of Data Analytics in Golf - How Bryson DeChambeau is Breaking Golf - PGA Tour stats page - Datagolf.com - Salt Lick BBQ - Driftwood, TX - Franklin Barbecue - Austin, TX - Picture of “Bill Self Killed Barbaro” sign - Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter
Listen here or wherever you get podcasts: Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher , TuneIn
Alok Pattani is a Data Science Developer Advocate for Google Cloud, which partners with sports organizations including Major League Baseball and the NCAA. He is also a consultant for the Dallas Cowboys, and he was previously a founding member of ESPN’s sports analytics department. In this conversation, Alok will talk about…
- What Google Cloud is and what he does for them
- How Google works with MLB and the NCAA
- BigQuery and how he uses it
- How the volume of sports data has changed in recent years
- What he does for the Cowboys
- What NFL teams are doing in the analytics space and how NGS data has changed that
- Advice for students looking to get into sports analytics
- Why he chose sports and ESPN out of college
- Developing and communicating metrics at ESPN
- Researching LeBron James’ The Decision show at ESPN
- How he combines his love for data with his love for ice cream
Show links - Follow Alok on Twitter: @AlokPattani - MLB Film Room powered by Google Cloud - Alok’s white paper on schedule-adjusted metrics in NCAA basketball (page 92) - Using BigQuery to simulate March Madness - Explaining ESPN’s Total QBR - 2011 notes on the Mavericks and Dan Crawford - Paul Carr’s Google presentation on effectively communicating data - Wentworth Homemade Ice Cream - Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter
Keith Goldner is the Vice President of Data Science at FanDuel, where he oversees the company’s sports modeling and innovation. He’s also the Chief Analyst for numberFire, the sports projection company he helped start straight out of college about a decade ago. In this episode, Keith talks about…
- What he does for FanDuel and numberFire
- Working with NBA teams, both now and a decade ago
- The most important thing in communicating data
- How to break into the sports analytics field
- What he looks for when hiring employees
- Three main avenues for sports analytics jobs
- Majoring in math at Northwestern
- Value of internships
- His tough decision to choose a startup over a team job after college
- Differences between backward-looking and forward-looking modeling
- State of field hockey analytics
- Hanging out with Shaq
Show links - Follow Keith on Twitter: @keithgoldner - Keith’s web site - FanDuel and numberFire - Sloan Sports Analytics Conference panels - Forbes 30 under 30 - Drive-By Football - Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter
Brian Burke has been at the forefront of football analytics over over a decade, since creating AdvancedNFLStats.com in the mid-2000s. He’s now a Senior Analytics Specialist at ESPN, where he and the analytics team recently unveiled new metrics for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate. In this episode, Brian will discuss…
- Previous metrics he’s developed at ESPN
- The process of building the models for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate
- Challenges he and the team faced in creating these metrics
- How he knows when to stop tinkering with new metrics and let them loose
- The excitement of releasing new metrics into the wild
- The headline story of the metric: Aaron Donald is average against the run
- What’s next on the analytics horizon
- What a typical NFL Sunday looks like
- His path from being a Navy fighter pilot to the sports analytics world
- A favorite Army-Navy moment
- How he broke a Navy war game.
Show links - Follow Brian on Twitter: @bburkeESPN - Introduction to Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate - Aaron Donald is an average run defender - Pass Block Win Rate and Pass Rush Win Rate - ESPN’s Analytics home page - Brian Burke bio - Brian joins ESPN - Advanced Football Analytics - Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter
Currently an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards, Dean Oliver is one of the godfathers of basketball analytics. In 2003, he wrote Basketball on Paper, one of the first and best books published in the field. Since then, he’s worked for four NBA teams plus ESPN and TruMedia. In this episode, he talks about…
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What he learned in his first season on the bench with the Wizards
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His role during a game
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Importance of using video with data
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How NBA analytics have changed over two decades
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How basketball analytics is like ice cream
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Where to start if you’re getting to know NBA data
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Importance of telling a story when using numbers
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Working in the media at ESPN
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How Basketball on Paper came to be and how Bill James was involved
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Thoughts on his Four Factors 17 years later
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When he first thought he had a chance to work in basketball
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Memories from his playing days at Cal Tech
Show links
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Follow @DeanO_Lytics on Twitter
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Basketball on Paper
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How the Wizards use Dean Oliver
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Wizards philosophical shift in hiring Dean Oliver
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How Dean Oliver changes the Wizards thinking
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Wizards hire Dean Oliver
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Presentation at 2016 OptaPro Forum
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Dean’s writing archives
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Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter
Namita Nandakumar is a senior quantitative analyst for the expansion Seattle Kraken, which begin NHL play in the 2021-22 season. Namita came to Seattle from the Philadelphia Eagles, and she’ll talk about…
- The excitement around the Seattle Kraken franchise
- Building a hockey team and an analytics team from scratch
- The state of hockey data in the NHL and beyond
- What she’s looking forward to about player tracking data
- Differences in working in football and hockey analytics
- Differences between doing public analytics and working for a team
- Her public work on drafting perfectly in the NHL and the effect of player size
- Her pitch for using the programming language R
- Advice for aspiring sports analysts
- Getting more women and underrepresented communities into sports analytics
Show Links - Follow Namita on Twitter: @nnstats - Profile on NHL.com - Namita on Hockey Graphs and The Athletic - Namita’s Twitter thread for people with sports analytics aspirations - Hockey analytics starter kit - What Does It Mean to Draft Perfectly: NESSIS poster and slide presentation - Hockey Graphs mentorship program - Measurables Office Hours program, Twitter, podcast - Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter
Tyler Heaps is U.S. Soccer’s director of sporting analytics, and in this episode he’ll talk about…
- Working with national teams from the senior level through the youth ranks
- How they’re handling work during the pandemic
- Thoughts on what Gregg Berhalter said in the previous episode
- Factoring league quality into analysis
- Dealing with small sample sizes
- Keys to working and communicating with a wide swath of coaches and players
- How he watches a game
- What’s interesting about player-tracking data
- His role in France with the World Cup-winning U.S. women
- Tips for breaking into the sports analytics field
- His favorite stadium in England
Show links - Follow Tyler on Twitter and LinkedIn - 2019 NESSIS panel - Article on his 2019 Opta Pro Soccer presentation - Augsburg alumni spotlight - Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter
Gregg Berhalter has been the head coach of the United States men’s national soccer team since December 2018, following a playing career that spanned 18 years and four countries (Netherlands, England, Germany, U.S.). He thenmanaged Swedish club Hammarby and the Columbus Crew before taking the USMNT job. In this conversation, Berhalter discusses…
- How data crept into his prep process as a player and coach
- How he and his staff use analytics to monitor the player pool
- Using data in game prep and during games
- What happens when data and the eye test conflict
- Keys to communicating data to players
- How he watches a game with data in mind
- One of his favorite games from his playing career
- His godfather, Hall-of-Famer Carl Yastrzemski
Show links - Gregg Berhalter’s U.S. Soccer bio - How the USMNT uses fitness data - Highlights of the 2008 German Cup quarterfinal between Bayern and 1860 Munich - Berhalter’s godfather is Carl Yastrzemski - TruMedia on Twitter: @TruMediaSports
Corrie van Zyl is a Cricket South Africa consultant who previously served as CSA’s general manager and the head coach of the South Africa national team, and he played for South Africa in the early 1990s. He talks about…
- How cricket data has evolved and what tracking data is now available
- How teams use data in player selection, match prep, batting orders, in-game decisions
- Analytics tools like ProVision and Hawkeye
- Strategic differences between test cricket and T20 cricket
- How the game has changed in recent years
- Parallels between cricket and baseball analytics
- Future of cricket analytics
Show links - Corrie van Zyl on ESPNcricinfo - Two-minute cricket primer video - Cricket South Africa- ProVision analytics platform - Lord’s Cricket Ground in London - TruMedia on Twitter: @TruMediaSports
Ben Mackriell is the Head of Team Performance Product Strategy at Stats Perform, which owns the data-tracking company Opta. In our conversation, Ben discusses…
- What teams are doing with data while leagues are shut down
- How he got into sports analytics
- His first club job with Everton
- Working at Everton, Fulham, Reading, Norwich City & Burnley
- The best advice he received as an analyst
- Keys to communicating data at clubs
- How he works with clubs in his Stats Perform role
- AI, computer vision, and the future of analytics
- The state of analytics in cricket and rugby
- Why he roots for Boston teams
- Joining Fulham right before Clint Dempsey’s famous chip against Juventus
Show links - Follow Ben on Twitter (@BenMackriell) & LinkedIn - Stats Perform & OptaPro - ProVision, the analytical platform from Stats Perform & TruMedia - How Opta collects data - Ben’s reflections on the 2020 OptaPro Forum - British Lions 2017 rugby documentary - Clint Dempsey’s chip vs Juventus in the 2010 Europa League quarters - The Test, an Australian cricket documentary series on Amazon Prime - The MVP Machine, by Ben Lindbergh & Travis Sawchik - Stats Perform on Twitter: @StatsPerform - TruMedia on Twitter: @TruMediaSports
Steve Fenn is a data visualization architect who specializes in Tableau. In our conversation, he’ll talk about…
- Importance and usefulness of data visualization
- What Tableau is, how it’s used to create data viz, and why it’s popular
- Principles of good data viz
- Common mistakes he sees
- Good visualizations he’s created and mistakes he’s made
- His Tableau Development Academy
Show links - Steve’s Tableau Development Academy - Follow Steve on Twitter: @StatHunting - Steve on LinkedIn - Steve’s Tableau page - Jimi Hendrix visualization - Star Wars visualization - MLS payroll visualization - Makeover Monday - Steve on John Burn-Murdoch’s visualization talk at the Sounders Analytics Conference - Follow TruMedia on Twitter: @TruMediaSports
Cynthia Frelund is a data scientist for the NFL Network, where she brings analytical insight to all aspects of the network’s coverage, including this week’s NFL Draft. In this episode, Cynthia talks about…
- Her analytics-based mock draft and how it differs from traditional mocks and big boards
- What prospect jumps out to her from a data perspective
- How she uses predictive analytics during the NFL season
- Dealing with the inevitability of predictions being wrong
- Communicating data and working through resistance to analytics
- Listening to NFL personnel and translating their thoughts into data
- Tools that go into her modeling (including Computer Vision, NGS data and various programming languages)
- Her path through business school and ESPN to her current position
- Advice to women in the field
- Her favorite marathon of the 20+ that she’s run
Show Links- Follow Cynthia on Twitter: @cfrelund - Women in Football Draft Special on Twitch - Mock Draft 2.0 - Analytics-based fits for top QBs - Cynthia’s NFL.com articles - Jets.com profile - Women in Sports Tech profile - Reddit AMA - FoxSports.com conversation - The42.ie interview - Northwestern’s predictive analytics master’s program - Follow TruMedia on Twitter: @TruMediaSports
Eric Thibault is the associate head coach of the reigning WNBA champion Washington Mystics. He’s been with the Mystics since 2013, and he has his hands in most every aspect of coaching the team. In this conversation, he talks about…
- What he does as an associate head coach
- Using data in advance scouting, player development, draft prep and more
- How available data has changed in the past decade
- Communicating with players and reinforcing positively
- Getting married a week after the WNBA Finals
Show links - Follow Eric on Twtter: @ET_hoops - Thibault promoted to associate head coach - Thibaults keep coaching in the family - Mystics-Lynx analytics scrimmage in 2015 - Thibault joins Mystics staff
The second guest in Expected Value’s Champions series is Jonathan Tosches, Manager of Advance Scouting for the reigning World Series champion Washington Nationals. In this episode, we talk about…
- What MLB advance scouts do
- Data he uses and what he produces
- Communicating and building relationships with players and coaches
- Working in the replay room during games
- How he saved the Nationals season
- His career path to the Nationals
- Stories from winning the World Series
Show links - Tosches sees Strasburg tipping pitches in World Series - Nationals celebrate at Capitals game
To kick off our Champions series on Expected Value, our first guest is Ravi Ramineni, director of soccer analytics for the reigning MLS Cup champion Seattle Sounders. Ravi talks about…
- His role, which covers on-field strategy, player recruitment & salary cap
- What he does on a matchday
- How his job has evolved in seven years with Seattle
- Descriptive, predictive & prescriptive analytics
- His career path from India to an MLS club
- Being married to a data analyst for another soccer club
- Winning trophies with Seattle
The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia mixes journalism and data as well as anyone covering the NFL. At last month’s NFL combine, he talked about…
- His career path to ESPN and The Athletic
- How he started manually tracking data
- Using numbers in journalism
- Evolution of NFL data during his reporting career
- How teams are using analytics better
- Advice for aspiring sports journalists
Show Links- Twitter: @SheilKapadia - Sheil on The Athletic - Top 100 NFL free agents - How the Ravens gain an advantage with fourth-down aggressiveness - Video of John Harbaugh talking analytics
Dmitry Gordeev and Philipp Singer won the NFL’s second Big Data Bowl, which asked competitors the question: When an NFL ball carrier takes a handoff, how many yards should we expect the play to gain? Expected Value spoke with the winners at the NFL Combine, covering topics including…
- How two Europeans with minimal NFL knowledge won the Big Data Bowl
- Keys to developing their model
- What separated their entry from the pack
- What their work suggests about running back skill
- What else interests them in sports analytics
Show links- Dmitry Gordeev on Twitter: @dott1718 - Philipp Singer on Twitter: @ph_singer - 2020 NFL Big Data Bowl - Sports Techie conversation with the winners - The Athletic’s preview and recap of the competition
Tom Worville is a newly-minted football (soccer) analytics writer for The Athletic, and he was previously a senior data analyst for the data and analytics company Opta. In this episode, he talks about…
- His Opta Pro Forum presentation on long and short goal kicks
- His career path from Analytics FC to Opta to The Athletic
- Why he’s joining The Athletic and what he’ll do there
- Communicating through data and visualization
- Being called a geek by Sam Allardyce
Show links- Follow Tom on Twitter: @Worville - Tom’s writing on The Athletic - His Opta Pro Forum presentation in four visuals
This episode features conversations with four presenters from last week’s Opta Pro Forum, a soccer analytics conference held in London.
- Karun Singh, a software engineer who used tracking data to identify recurring match situations
- David Perdomo Meza, a data scientist at Twenty3 who looked at how different playing styles worked against each other
- Will Gürpinar-Morgan, a Stats Perform data scientist who identified player roles using unsupervised learning
- Vignesh Jayanth, who is working on a master’s in data science and analyzed how to break down a low-block defense
Show links - Karun Singh: @karun1710 - David Perdomo Meza: @dperdomomeza1, Twenty3 - Will Gurpinar-Morgan: @WillTGM, Stats Perform - Vignesh Jayanth: @VigneshJayanth1 - Opta Pro: @OptaPro, web site & blog
Aaron Schatz is the founder and editor-in-chief of Football Outsiders, the first prominent football analytics web site. On this episode, we’ll talk about…
- Why the Chiefs are a 57% Super Bowl favorite, per DVOA
- How the Chiefs and 49ers match up on both sides of the ball
- Origins of Football Outsiders and DVOA
- Where football analytics is going
- How much easier getting into football analytics is now
- How he watches NFL games
- Appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers
Show links- Twitter: @FO_ASchatz, Football Outsiders - Football Outsiders - What is DVOA? - DVOA ratings entering the Super Bowl - Football Outsiders research findings - Football Outsiders on ESPN - Off the Charts football podcast - Aaron Schatz on Seth Meyers
Eric Eager is a senior data scientist at Pro Football Focus, and he co-hosts the PFF Forecast Podcast. In this episode, we’ll discuss…
- Takeaways from the AFC and NFC title games
- What makes the Chiefs so difficult to defend
- How good the Chiefs and 49ers defenses are
- Super Bowl bets that look appealing
- What PFF does and what he does there
- How teams use PFF data
- The rise of analytics in the NFL
- His career path through academia to PFF
- Advice for aspiring data scientists
Show links - Follow Eric on Twitter: @PFF_Eric - Eric’s bio and home page - PFF Forecast Podcast - Is the Chiefs defense for real? - How the Chiefs & 49ers made the Super Bowl
Mike Sando is a senior NFL writer at The Athletic, and he’s one of the most open-minded and analytically-minded national NFL writers, as well as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s election committee. In this episode, we talk about…
- The Divisional Round and conference championship games
- Mike’s career path from Whitworth to ESPN to The Athletic
- How football data has changed over the past two decades
- How he uses stats and analytics in his writing
- Advice for aspiring journalists about media, analytics & other skills
- How teams’ use of data has evolved & what they can/will do with NGS data
- How numbers are used in the Hall of Fame election process
- His favorite Super Bowl experience
Show links- Follow Mike on Twitter: @SandoNFL - Mike’s writing at The Athletic - Mike’s Divisional Round recap & title game preview - Whitworth alumni profile
Paul Sabin is a Senior Sports Analytics Specialist at ESPN, where he works on various metrics as part of ESPN’s Sports Analytics group. In this episode, Paul will discuss…
- What his job entails at ESPN
- The college football title game, through the lens of metrics like Total QBR and Football Power Index
- Creating the Player Impact Rating
- Challenges of capturing a human element in ESPN’s College Playoff Predictor
- Communicating uncertainty
- Midseason takeaways from ESPN’s Basketball Power Index
- How an engineering class pushed him toward a stats career
- Advice for people entering the sports analytics industry
- Being a Nationals fan during their World Series run
Show links- Twitter: @SabinAnalytics, @ESPNStatsInfo - ESPN’s Sports Analytics home page - Football Power Index - College football Total QBR - College football Player Impact Rating - Basketball Power Index - Midseason BPI takeaways
James Tippett is the author of The Expected Goals Philosophy: A Game-Changing Way of Analysing Football. Among the topics discussed in this episode:
- His initial exposure to expected goals
- What prompted him to write this book
- An overview of the expected goals statistic and how it’s calculated
- Using expected goals both descriptively and predictively
- Reaction to Brentford’s rise as an analytics club
- How expected goals is used in English media
- What’s next on the soccer analytics front
- Attending one of the year’s top sporting events
Show links - The Expected Goals Philosophy on Amazon - Twitter: @JamesTippett, @xGPhilosophy - Twitter thread with chapter-by-chapter summary - Book excerpt: Do clinical finishers exist? - Book excerpt: What do Lionel Messi and Ryan Fraser have in common?
Spencer Anderson is the Director of Basketball Analytics for the Indiana Pacers, and he’s one of few sports analytics people with both a master’s degree and a law degree. Among the topics covered:
- His career path to his current job
- What he does with the Pacers
- State of analytics in the NBA
- Keys to communicating data
- Load management in the NBA
- Where to eat in Iowa City
Show links - Follow Spencer on Twitter: @spencejanderson - Summer internship opening with the Pacers - NFL’s Big Data Bowl
A Senior Research Analyst at Sports Info Solutions, Mark Simon is as passionate and knowledgeable about baseball as anyone you will meet, and he is one of 12 voters for the Fielding Bible Awards. Among the topics covered:
- Mark’s career path to ESPN and Sports Info Solutions
- Communicating data to former players
- Advice for people looking to advance in the sports media and analytics industries
- Defensive Runs Saved
- How he votes for the Fielding Bible Awards
- His favorite final out of a World Series
Show Links - Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkASimonSays - Mark’s articles on The Athletic - Mark’s Yankees Index book - 2019 Fielding Bible Awards & voting breakdown - Updates to Defensive Runs Saved - Sports Info Solutions - Sports Info Solutions baseball podcast - 2020 Bill James Handbook - Mark’s personal web site - Mark recites all final World Series outs since 1954
Mike Goodman is a soccer writer and managing editor of StatsBomb.com, and last week he wrote a good piece entitled, “A case study on using data to prepare to administer the eye test,” reacting to an MLS playoff game in which data and the eye test seemed to differ. Mike is one of the better writers at bringing together data and a tactical eye, and then producing easy-to-understand articles that appeal to a broad audience. Among the topics covered…
- Why and how he wrote that piece
- Bridging the proverbial gap between analytics and the eye test
- How he approaches data when watching a game and when unfamiliar with a team
- Keys to using numbers well in writing
- What he hopes to see from player-tracking data
- His favorite things about living in Latvia
Links Mentioned in this Episode - Follow Mike on Twitter: @TheM_L_G - Original StatsBomb.com article - Steve Zakuani tweets that inspired the article - Explaining post-shot expected goals: OptaPro, StatsBomb - StatsBomb conference panel with Vosse de Boode (Head of Sports Science and Analytics at Ajax) - Jāņi in Latvia
Asmae Toumi is the editor-in-chief of Hockey-Graphs, a site that analyzes and visualizes the NHL, and she’s a prominent member of the online hockey analytics community. Among the topics discussed:
- How to get started in the field
- Challenges of hockey analytics
- What puck- and player-tracking data might do for the sport
- Hockey-Graphs’ mentorship program
- Her love of both R and Brad Marchand
Links Mentioned in This Episode - Follow Asmae on Twitter - Hockey-Graphs - Meta Hockey - NBA Stuffer - Evolving H ockey - HockeyViz - Charting Hockey
Taylor Twellman has been ESPN’s lead soccer analyst for nearly a decade, and he provides perspective on using data in television and communicating with non-analytics types. Among the topics discussed…
- The objective information he looked for as a player
- His prep process for broadcasting a game
- What makes a stat good and useful for him
- Challenges of working information into a soccer broadcast
- What’s interesting about expected goals
- What he wishes he could quantify and what he’d like to get from player-tracking data
Jeff Bennett oversees ESPN’s Stats & Information Group, which produces statistics and analytics that power all of ESPN’s platforms. Having been at ESPN for 25 years, Jeff’s career parallels the rise in sports data and analytics, and he is one of the most influential people in mainstream sports stats over the last quarter century. In this podcast, he discusses…
- What ESPN’s Stats & Information Group does
- How his interest in sports and numbers developed
- Joining the ESPN research team and working shows like SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight
- Starting the Sports Analytics team
- Developing metrics like Total QBR
- Working with the NFL’s NGS data
- The future of sports analytics
This episode features two soccer-related presenters from last weekend’s NESSIS conference in Boston: Laurie Shaw and Sam Gregory. Both guests talk about their presentations and research, which use player-tracking data.
Harvard’s Laurie Shaw (@EightyFivePoint) presented on using player-tracking data to classify and analyze team strategy, by identifying formations in different situations. Laurie has a background in astrophysics and hedge funds, and he talks about how his previous experience helps him in sports analytics.
Sportlogiq data analyst Sam Gregory (@GregoryDSam) presented on detecting off-the-ball runs with the goal of identifying players who act similarly, which run types are effective against certain teams, and more. Sam previously worked at Opta and has an extensive background in soccer analytics.
This episode features two NFL-related presenters from last weekend’s NESSIS conference in Boston: Ron Yurko (@Stat_Ron) and Dani Chu (@chuurveg). Both guests talk about their presentations and research, which use NFL player-tracking data.
Ron Yurko’s presentation focused on in-play valuation, which can lead to live models for expected points and win probability, instead of the traditional pre- and post-play models. Ron also touches on how sports analytics is gaining acceptance in the greater analytics community.
Dani Chu and his team won the college division of the NFL’s Big Data Bowl earlier this year, and his presentation was about using the tracking data to identify receiver routes. Dani talks about the Big Data Bowl process and what extensions might come from his research.
Jared Hughes has been pitching in the majors since 2011, and the new wave of data is crucial to his preparation process. Among the topics covered:
- How he uses analytics to prepare and review
- Pitching during the launch-angle revolution
- Statcast numbers he finds interesting
- What he wishes could be quantified
- Communicating analytics to players
Michael Lopez has been the NFL’s Director of Football Data & Analytics for over a year, and he’s also a statistics professor at Skidmore College. He brings a strong academic background and a coaching perspective to his NFL job. Among the topics covered:
- What he does in his role for the league
- State of analytics in the NFL
- The league’s relatively new NGS player-tracking data
- Working with the NFL competition committee
- The NFL’s first Big Data Bowl (and the next one?)
- Advice for students interested in a sports analytics career
Lucy Rushton is the Head of Technical Recruitment and Analysis for Atlanta United, which has won three trophies in its first three MLS seasons, including last year’s MLS Cup. Before joining Atlanta in 2015, Lucy was Head of Technical Scouting at English club Reading, and prior to that, she was a Player Recruitment Analyst for Watford. She also grew up playing the sport and won the English Championship as a player for Reading. Among the topics covered:
- How Atlanta incorporates data into recruitment
- Evaluating players from across leagues and colleges
- Interacting with the Atlanta Falcons
- Working with new and different coaches
- How teams in England and the U.S. use data
- Women in the sports analytics industry
- Adjusting to life in the South
The first guest on Expected Value is Daniel Adler, the Minnesota Twins Director of Baseball Operations, who previously worked in the NFL with the Jaguars, Browns and Patriots. Among the topics covered…
- What a Director of Baseball Operations does and how analytics are involved
- The Twins home run explosion this season
- Differences in baseball and football analytics
- What he looks for when hiring analysts
- A Bartolo Colon story
Expected Value features conversations with sports analytics insiders about what they do, how they do it, and how they got there. Guests include people working for teams, leagues, media and more, covering sports including baseball, football, soccer, and basketball. Please subscribe, spread the word, and enjoy!