SABR Analytics Conference

2018 SABR Analytics Conference Speakers

Here is a list of speakers, panelists and moderators for the seventh annual SABR Analytics Conference, March 9-11, 2018, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Eduardo Perez Analyst ESPN	Brian Kenny Host MLB Network	Amiel Sawdaye Sr. VP/Asst. GM Arizona Diamondbacks
Mike Ferrin Broadcaster Arizona Diamondbacks	Eric Gagné Cy Young Award winner Texas Rangers coach	Jon Sciambi Broadcaster ESPN
Lorena Martin Director of High Performance Seattle Mariners	Tom Tango Sr. Data Architect, Stats MLB Advanced Media	Philip Cho Senior Analyst Los Angeles Dodgers
Chris Getz Director, Player Development Chicago White Sox	Andy McKay Director, Player Development Seattle Mariners	Jarett Sims CEO/Founder Monsterful VR

Click here to learn more about the research presentations at the 2018 SABR Analytics Conference.

Click on a link below for highlights and photos from our featured panels and sessions:

The State of Analytics: Brian Kenny and Jon Sciambi
1:10-2:00 p.m., Friday, March 9

• Brian Kenny is a host at MLB Network, where he appears across the network’s studio programming, including “MLB Now” and “MLB Tonight.” He is also the author of Ahead of the Curve: Inside the Baseball Revolution. A 25-year national TV and radio veteran, Brian joined MLB Network from ESPN, where he was a “SportsCenter” anchor, host of the “Brian Kenny Show” on ESPN Radio and an Emmy Award-winning anchor for “Baseball Tonight.”
• Jon “Boog” Sciambi joined ESPN full time in 2010 as play-by-play voice for MLB on ESPN Radio, while continuing the same role for college basketball and MLB on ESPN, which he has done since 2005. He has been the regular play-by-play voice for “Wednesday Night Baseball” telecasts since 2014. Previously, Jon was the lead play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Braves on Fox Sports South and SportSouth from 2007-09, and host for 790 The Ticket in South Florida, and as voice of the Florida Marlins on WQAM from 1997-2004.

MLB Team Approach to Analytics
2:45-3:45 p.m., Friday, March 9

• Mike Ferrin is entering his third season on the Diamondbacks radio broadcast team, as the pre- and postgame show host and secondary play-by-play announcer on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM and the Arizona Diamondbacks Radio Network. Since 2007, he has worked as a nationally renowned broadcaster on SiriusXM MLB Network Radio as the host of “Power Alley” and the on-site host in the MLB postseason and Winter Meetings. Previously, he was the play-by-play announcer for the Double-A Bowie Baysox and a sports producer and reporter for WGN Radio in Chicago.
• Eduardo Perez is an analyst for ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” and an announcer for “Monday Night Baseball.” He was the Houston Astros’ bench coach in 2013 after two seasons as the Miami Marlins’ hitting coach. He has served as manager of the Colombian national team and as manager and general manager of the Puerto Rican national team. In 2008, he earned Manager of the Year honors in the Puerto Rican Winter League and in 2009 he led the Ponce Lions to the Caribbean Series. From 1993-2006, Eduardo played parts of 13 seasons in the Major Leagues, primarily as a first baseman, for the Angels, Cardinals, Reds, Devil Rays, Indians and Mariners. He joined ESPN as an analyst for the 2006 postseason and worked full-time for the network for the next four seasons before returning in 2014.
• Eno Sarris is a staff writer for The Athletic, where he specializes in pitching analytics. He takes the best public analytics findings to the players in the clubhouse to get their reactions. He has also been a contributor to FanGraphs, ESPN, MLB.com, Fox Sports, SB Nation, The Hardball Times, and others.
• Amiel Sawdaye is entering his second season as Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager with the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he oversees the team’s amateur and international scouting and assists GM Mike Hazen on all facets of baseball operations. He spent 15 seasons working in the Boston Red Sox front office, most recently as VP of Amateur and International Scouting, helping the club win three World Series. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in decisions information systems.
• Moderator: Vince Gennaro is the President of SABR’s Board of Directors, author of Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball, and host of a weekly national radio show, Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM. He is also the Associate Dean and Clinical Associate Professor of NYU’s Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport. He is a consultant to MLB teams and appears regularly on MLB Network. He is also the architect of the Diamond Dollars Case Competition series, which brings together students and MLB team and league executives and serves as a unique learning experience, as well as a networking opportunity for aspiring sports executives.

MLB Advanced Media Statcast Presentation
4:00-5:00 p.m., Friday, March 9

• Mike Petriello is a Stats Analyst for MLB Advanced Media and writes daily about Statcast and advanced metrics for MLB.com and each of the 30 club sites, bringing the latest in stats to the baseball public. He can also regularly be seen on MLB Network, is the host of the Statcast Podcast. Prior to joining MLBAM, he wrote for FanGraphs and ESPN.
• Tom Tango is the Senior Data Architect, Stats at MLB Advanced Media and is the co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. He also developed the Tangotiger.com website, where fans and analysts will find a large number of research pieces devoted to sabermetrics. Tom has previously worked as a consultant for major-league teams in baseball and hockey.
• Daren Willman is the Director of Baseball Research and Development for MLB Advanced Media. He spearheads socially fan driven content featuring Statcast in his work for MLBAM. He developed the popular data websites BaseballSavant.com, MLBfarm.com, and NFLsavant.com. Previously, he was the lead software architect at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston.

Player Development Panel
8:30-9:30 a.m., Saturday, March 10

• Chris Getz is entering his second season as the Chicago White Sox Director of Player Development. He played parts of seven seasons with the White Sox, Kansas City Royals, and Toronto Blue Jays, after being drafted by Chicago out of the University of Michigan in 2005. After his retirement in 2014, he joined the Royals front office as a baseball operations assistant, assisting in minor-league operations and player personnel decisions.
• Andy McKay is entering his third season as the Seattle Mariners Director of Player Development, responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Mariners minor-league system, including roster management and skills development. Previously, he served as Peak Performance Coordinator for the Colorado Rockies from 2012 to 2016. He also spent 14 seasons as the head baseball coach at Sacramento City College, winning one California state championship and eight league titles.
• Moderator: Eduardo Perez is an analyst for ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” and an announcer for “Monday Night Baseball.” He was the Houston Astros’ bench coach in 2013 after two seasons as the Miami Marlins’ hitting coach. He has served as manager of the Colombian national team and as manager and general manager of the Puerto Rican national team. In 2008, he earned Manager of the Year honors in the Puerto Rican Winter League and in 2009 he led the Ponce Lions to the Caribbean Series. From 1993-2006, Eduardo played parts of 13 seasons in the Major Leagues, primarily as a first baseman, for the Angels, Cardinals, Reds, Devil Rays, Indians and Mariners. He joined ESPN as an analyst for the 2006 postseason and worked full-time for the network for the next four seasons before returning in 2014.

Is the Media Doing its Part to Advance the Analytics Discussion?
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., Saturday, March 10

• Eno Sarris is a staff writer for The Athletic, where he specializes in pitching analytics. He takes the best public analytics findings to the players in the clubhouse to get their reactions. He has also been a contributor to FanGraphs, ESPN, MLB.com, Fox Sports, SB Nation, The Hardball Times, and others.
• Jon “Boog” Sciambi joined ESPN full time in 2010 as play-by-play voice for MLB on ESPN Radio, while continuing the same role for college basketball and MLB on ESPN, which he has done since 2005. He has been the regular play-by-play voice for “Wednesday Night Baseball” telecasts since 2014. Previously, Jon was the lead play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Braves on Fox Sports South and SportSouth from 2007-09, and host for 790 The Ticket in South Florida, and as voice of the Florida Marlins on WQAM from 1997-2004.
• Rob Neyer is a longtime baseball writer and editor for ESPN.com, SB Nation, and most recently FoxSports.com. Rob began his career as a research assistant for groundbreaking baseball author Bill James, and later worked for STATS, Inc. He has also written or co-written six baseball books, including The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers (with Bill James), winner of the Sporting News/SABR Baseball Research Award.
• Moderator: Brian Kenny is a host at MLB Network, where he appears across the network’s studio programming, including “MLB Now” and “MLB Tonight.” He is also the author of Ahead of the Curve: Inside the Baseball Revolution. A 25-year national TV and radio veteran, Brian joined MLB Network from ESPN, where he was a “SportsCenter” anchor, host of the “Brian Kenny Show” on ESPN Radio and an Emmy Award-winning anchor for “Baseball Tonight.”

Global Sports Betting and the Role of Integrity Technology
12:00-12:45 p.m., Saturday, March 10

• Bill Squadron is the Special Counsel for Genius Sports. He has been an executive, government official, and attorney in the sports media, technology and data fields for more than 25 years, and is currently Special Counsel to Genius Sports, a global leader in data, analytics and betting services. Prior to his role at Genius Sports, he served as President of Bloomberg Sports, which created groundbreaking data and analytics products for multiple sports, both in the U.S. and internationally. He was also the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Sportvision, Inc., and head of advanced media and technology in North America for IMG.

Diverse Perspectives Panel
3:45-4:30 p.m., Saturday, March 10

• Ehsan Bokhari is a Senior Analyst in Baseball Research & Development with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He holds a Ph.D. in quantitative psychology and a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and psychology from the University of Arizona.
• Philip Cho is a Senior Analyst in Baseball Research & Development with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He holds a master’s degree in operations research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree from the United States Air Force Academy. He was an operational flight test analyst in the Air Force from 2011-14 and has also served as a visiting researcher at Columbia University.
• Emilee Fragapane is a Baseball Operations Coordinator with the Los Angeles Dodgers. She holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a bachelor’s degree in quantitative microeconomics from California State University at Sonoma. She joined the Dodgers front office as a baseball operations intern in 2013 and as a full-time baseball research analyst in 2014.
• Dr. Lorena Martin joined the Seattle Mariners front office in 2017 as the team’s first-ever Director of High Performance, where she is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the Mariners physical and mental training approach of players and staff, including oversight of the entire organization’s medical, strength and conditioning, nutrition, and mental skills departments. Prior to joining the Mariners, she was Director of Sports Performance Analytics for the Los Angeles Lakers. She has earned three post-doctorates in GIS spatial analysis (2016), biostatistics (2015), and epidemiology (2014) at the University of California at San Diego, along with a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Miami. She is the author of Sports Performance Measurement and Analytics (2016) and the co-author of Sports Injury Prevention & Rehabilitation (2017).
• Moderator: Vince Gennaro is the President of SABR’s Board of Directors, author of Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball, and host of a weekly national radio show, Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM. He is also the Associate Dean and Clinical Associate Professor of NYU’s Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport. He is a consultant to MLB teams and appears regularly on MLB Network. He is also the architect of the Diamond Dollars Case Competition series, which brings together students and MLB team and league executives and serves as a unique learning experience, as well as a networking opportunity for aspiring sports executives.

Technology Panel
9:00-10:00 a.m., Sunday, March 11

• Jeremy Booth is the CEO of the New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series and the CEO/President of Program 15 Baseball Player Development, based in Houston, Texas. He is also a Senior Consultant at Monsterful VR. Previously, he spent nine years as an area scout and supervisor in the Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, and Seattle Mariners organizations.
• Matt Reiland is a data consultant and operates Power Alley Analytics. He previously managed finance teams at Lowe’s corporate headquarters, and performed cost and schedule analysis of oil and gas investments at ConocoPhillips. He served for seven years as a Nuclear Submarine Officer in the US Navy, including a tour on the USS Montpelier. He graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in mathematics and earned his MBA at The Citadel.
• Jarett Sims is the CEO and founder of Monsterful VR, a New York-based tech startup that produces virtual-reality training tools for baseball prospects. Previously, he was the Vice President of Product for HYPR and he also has worked as a product manager, web developer, and UI designer. He is a graduate of George Washington University and the son of longtime Seattle Mariners broadcaster Dave Sims.
• Moderator: Brett Kurland is a professor of practice at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. He is the founding director of the Phoenix Sports Bureau of Cronkite News at Arizona PBS, where students cover professional and intercollegiate sports for a variety of professional media outlets. He is an Emmy Award-winning sports producer and multimedia entrepreneur with more than 16 years of experience producing content across a variety of platforms, ranging from mobile phones to broadcast television networks. Kurland’s work has included documentaries, features, live events and studio shows for numerous networks, including ESPN CBS, FOX and NBC.

Pitching Panel
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Sunday, March 11

• Eric Gagné is a former National League Cy Young Award winner and three-time All-Star closer. He was hired recently by the Texas Rangers as the pitching coach for their Arizona League affiliate. In 2003 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he set an NL record with 55 saves and a 1.20 ERA in 77 appearances, becoming just the second Canadian-born pitcher to win the Cy Young Award. He set a major-league record by converting 84 consecutive save opportunities from 2002-04. He earned a World Series ring with the Boston Red Sox in 2007 and recorded 187 saves over his 10-year career. He also served as Team France’s pitching coach during the 2013 World Baseball Classic qualifiers and pitched for Team Canada in the 2017 WBC.
• Ed Lynch was the general manager of the Chicago Cubs for six seasons (1994-2000) following an eight-year career as a pitcher in the major leagues with the Cubs and New York Mets, with whom he earned a World Series ring in 1986. After retiring and obtaining his law degree from the University of Miami, he moved into the front office as the San Diego Padres’ farm director in 1990 before he was hired by the Cubs as baseball’s youngest GM at age 38. In Chicago, he selected Kerry Wood with his first pick in the amateur draft and helped lead the Cubs back to the postseason in 1998. Later, he served as a special assistant to the GM with the Cubs and, until recently, a scout with the Toronto Blue Jays.
• Moderator: Barry M. Bloom was a national reporter for MLB.com for more than 15 years and has nearly four decades of experience covering sports. He covered baseball and hockey for five years at Bloomberg News and also spent 16 years as a writer at the San Diego Union-Tribune.

For more information on the 2018 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics/2018.