At the SABR Analytics Conference on Saturday, February 28, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona, a team from MLB Statcast provided an update on system features related to Baseball Savant and automatic balls-and-strikes (ABS).

Panelists included: David Adler, Graham Goldbeck, and Do-Hyoung Park from Major League Baseball.

• Watch: Click here to watch a video replay of MLB Statcast Updates: Baseball Savant and ABS (YouTube)

Here are some highlights from the panel:

On the effect of timing batters’ swings

• Adler: “Looking at the leaders when this comes out, it should match your sense of how hitters swing at the ball or what types of swings pitchers are inducing with their different pitch types.

On “Miss Distance” leaderboards at Baseball Savant

• Adler: “You’ll be able to filter these a lot of different ways. There’s the typical style of the Baseball Savant leaderboards, by count, by pitch type, by the zone where the pitch is. You might want to look at high pitches versus low pitches differently. So we’ll have all of that available on leaderboards when they come out.”

On ABS challenge success rates by hitters and fielders

• Park: “There’s a little bit more of a stabilized seven-day ruling overturn and challenge rate that we present, just to see if there are any meaningful trends that you can see. The only full-season data we have available for this right now is 2025 Triple-A regular season. So we’re also interested to see, as we go on, is the (challenge) skill going to get better? Are overturn rates going to increase? Are challenge rates going to move meaningfully as we go through the season? This is going to be where we’re able to see those trends.”

On changes to the strike zone because of the ABS system        

• Park: “The strike zone is definitionally changing. We took a lot of care to make sure that whatever strike zones you see regarding ABS site-wide are now going to be ball/strike accurate. A ball is a ball. A strike is a strike.”

On strikeout vs. walk rates

• Goldbeck: “You can see the strikeout rate has actually been growing for a while. I know analytics gets a bad rep for driving this number a lot higher in recent years, but there’s a jump here in the 1970s and 1980s. It’s been a plateau lately, and we’re hoping it stays that way. We also see the walk rate is fairly consistent throughout this whole period, and that’s kind of one of the things we’re banking on with this system. The zone is smaller, so in theory, if pitchers threw exactly the same as they have historically, there might be more challenges and more walks. But we think ultimately the pitchers are in control of the ball, and they have some upper limit of how many walks they want to allow. So we think they’ll probably change their behavior slightly, and we don’t expect these numbers to change drastically with the challenge system.”

On umpire behavior following a check-swing challenge

• Goldbeck: “As soon as we started instituting this 45-degree angle, before that, they would call it at about 15-18 degrees. That was kind of the “break-even point,” where half the time it would be called a strike, half the time it wouldn’t be called a strike. After we implemented ABS, it very quickly jumped to 40 degrees. So we do think this is something that can be taught and changes here. Again, this is early testing, but we’re very encouraged and will probably continue to look at this in the future.”

Transcription assistance from Dazhane Moseley.

For more coverage of the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

At the SABR Analytics Conference on Saturday, February 28, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona, the Players We Love in 2026 Panel focused on

Panelists included: Dave Adler of Baseball HQ; writer/podcaster Derek Carty; Jason Collette of Rotowire; Eno Sarris of The Athletic; and moderator Derek VanRiper of The Athletic.

• Watch: Click here to watch a video replay of the Players We Love in 2026 Panel (YouTube)

Here are some highlights from the panel:

Favorite American League hitter this year

Adler: “I’m really looking forward to seeing what [New York Yankees infielder] Ben Rice does this year. It’s not going to be a surprise. He did pretty well last year, with 26 home runs. He really came onto the scene. But there are signs that he’s going to do even better this year. He’s only 27 years old, but he raised his contact rate, he really cut down on the strikeouts during the year, particularly in the second half. Batting average went up quite a bit. Importantly for his power, his exit velocity went up. He ended up with an average of 93.3 mph, which was ninth in Major League Baseball. And the associated things, his hard-hit contact rate went up quite a bit, and he did better against lefties. So I’m really looking for a breakout from Ben Rice this year.”

American League pitchers we love this year

Carty: “The guy I’m looking at is José Soriano [of the Los Angeles Angels]. I recently released a new version of my projection system, THE BAT X, that uses Statcast data for pitchers. I built my own stuff, essentially a model using velocity, movement, spin, tunneling, all kinds of stuff like that. It really likes José Soriano. He doesn’t strike me as a guy who has traditionally great stuff. He throws hard, but he’s not blowing guys away. He’s not generating tons of swings and misses, but when you look at the whole profile and all of the different outcomes he gets from his pitches, he profiles really, really well. You look at his FanGraphs page, he has an 8 K/9 [ratio], a 4 BB/9, it kind of looks like a mediocre profile. But then you look at his groundball rate, and it’s like 65% — the highest rate in baseball — while still generating swings and misses at a reasonable level. This just puts him on a level that very few guys are.”  

Collette: “Jack Leiter [of the Texas Rangers]. What really impressed me last year is how he made adjustments in-season, especially towards the second half. Really leveraging more, cutting back on the sinker, going more with the fastball usage, and changing the way he was approaching guys. By the end of the season, posting average to above-average whiff rates on all his pitches, and that’s the kind of growth you want to see from somebody. When they get that first level of adversity, and then have to make that adjustment, I was just super impressed with that adjustment he made and expect some big things from him this year.”       

Relievers we love this year

Carty: “I like Fernando Cruz [of the New York Yankees]. If he were to only throw a splitter, not taking into account predictability and sequencing effects, just the pure quality of the pitch is a 2.03 ERA. Which is just insanely, insanely good, and he throws it 60% of the time. So he has this pitch that’s one of the best in baseball, and he throws it a lot. If I run the model back to 2020, there have only been three better splitters that have profiled better than Fernando Cruz’s. … He’s 35 years old. He’s not a household name. Not really going to be in the mix for saves for the Yankees, but I think he’s going to be a very valuable part of that bullpen and maybe one of the better relievers in the AL. THE BAT X is projecting a 12.4 K/9 and a 3.40 ERA out of him on the whole, so I think Cruz is one of the more unsung relievers in baseball right now.”

On players who “break” the projection model

Sarris: “The players that break, or don’t work inside your model, are intriguing as well. You have to investigate them. I think from an organizational standpoint, it would behoove you if you say, “These are our KPIs, and these are the things that we believe in, and there are also these other guys that are really interesting, and we can’t let them go.” There’s that one guy in the room saying, “We have to just take him!” Even if the model says he’s wrong, we have to leave open the fact that we could be wrong.”

On projection models during the era of the Automatic Balls and Strikes system (ABS)

Sarris: “Because this isn’t going to be a full ABS, I think a good framing catcher can still steal you a couple of strikes at the top of the zone. They’re not going to be able to challenge every single one, but it’s clear to me that the top of the strike zone is where the battle will be. If you can hit the corners, there are actually some new strikes that will be there, but across the top and in the middle of the strike zone, you’re going to lose some strikes as a pitcher. I think a lot of this stuff is going to be important for the entire league, and maybe not as important for any one player in the end.”

Transcription assistance from Dazhane Moseley.

For more coverage of the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

At the SABR Analytics Conference on Friday, February 27, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona, Vince Gennaro delivered a talk on The Next Edge: Where the Competitive Advantage is Moving in Baseball.

Gennaro is the founder and Executive Director of the Lab for Transformative Leadership at NYU’s School of Professional Studies. He is the author of Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball; host of a weekly national radio show, Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM; and the former President of SABR’s Board of Directors. 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.

• Watch: Click here to watch a video replay of Vince Gennaro’s talk (YouTube)

Here are some highlights from Gennaro’s talk:

On using data to gain a competitive advantage

• “There is no question that baseball has gone way farther than any one else, than any other sport, in terms of using data to gain competitive advantage. … This tailwind of technology, the new data‑capture devices over the last 10 or 15 years, combined with inexpensive cloud storage and advances in computing power, have really launched baseball.” 

On asking the right questions 

• “The quality of questions that are posed — and then, are they going to be applied against the highest leverage points that we can really impact? — I think it’s worth remembering this from time to time. The quality and the framing of the question is likely to be the ceiling on the answer that you’re going to generate. It’s very hard to generate a better answer than the quality of the question you pose.”

On team chemistry

• “It’s not team chemistry … it’s really the environment that determines how people interpret decisions, how they respond to pressure, and how they learn and adapt in real time.” 

On the impact of managers and coaches

• “It’s critical that the affect, the projection, physically, visibly, that the manager and coaching staff exude is one of common control. … It’s doing it in a way that doesn’t create angst. Because it sends an enormous signal to every player and everybody on the coaching staff as to whether or not we’ve got a big problem here. … This is going to turn into some sort of fracture that’s going to be bigger than this moment.” 

Transcription assistance from Carla Martínez Santiago.

For more coverage of the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

At the SABR Analytics Conference on Sunday, March 1, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona, a Arizona Diamondbacks Front Office 360 panel discussion was held to talk about their roles and careers in baseball.

• Watch: Click here to watch a video replay of the 2026 Arizona Diamondbacks Front Office 360 Panel (YouTube)

Panelists included:

• Jennifer Brann, Senior Analyst, Baseball Ops R&D
• Max Glick, Director, Baseball Ops R&D
• Cory Hahn, Director, Pro Scouting
• Maile Kamada, Data Engineer, Baseball Ops R&D
• Kelvin Kondo, Assistant Director, International Scouting
• Jason McLeod, Vice President, Baseball Operations
• Kristyn Pierce, Director, Baseball Administration
• Connor Shannon, Director, Player Personnel

Here are some highlights from the Arizona Diamondbacks Front Office 360 Panel:

On the culture within the Diamondbacks front office

• Hahn: “It’s competitively driven, but it’s super organic. It’s super collaborative and I think we empower every one of us to do the job to the best of our ability and we give each other the landscape to do so.”

On the hiring process for Major League Baseball and how to get noticed

• Shannon: “Everyone who ends up getting a job has done something in the application process, whether it’s an individual project or deep diving into something that goes along with their resume and cover letter, to really stand out. We’re looking for people who go above and beyond, and we’re also looking for people who never give up.”

On defining success working in a Major League Baseball front office

• Pierce: “I define success as not the job title and not the compensation. Obviously, those are great perks if you can get to that level, but at the end of the day that’s not what I’m most proud of. [What I’m most proud of are] the relationships you cultivate within your department. I mean, we see each other more than some of our families, to be completely honest.”

On the impact of AI on front offices and how it has affected data analysts

• Glick: “At this point, AI is a really useful tool where it can really make all of our analysts more efficient and be able to write code quicker, figure out something that they don’t know how to do and evolve their skill set by learning and having the AI write the code. I wouldn’t say it’s replacing jobs in our department. We really value our people, but I could see in the future some way where that could happen.”

On what front offices want to see from applicants submitting their code/projects

• Brann: “It’s not necessarily the code that’s written. That’ll get you past the first step, but the second step is, can you explain it? Can you expand? What are some ways that you would have done better or different things to make sure you understand the concepts we’re talking about?

On how to manage the work-life balance when working in baseball

• Kamada: “I think having an open line of communication with your family is important. I started working for the Diamondbacks last year and I currently live in Los Angeles and am engaged and going to be married in two months. That was a very serious conversation I had to have with my fiance. Do we move? So I think having that open line of communication is very important. Things can happen and hopefully they’ll go along with the ride with you.”

On creating a balance between data analytics and in-person scouting

• Kondo: “Subjectively speaking, when we go in and scout a player, we’re seeing a really small window from that player’s performance. He might look really good, he might look really bad. I think analytics give us more of a broad view of that player. If you’re logging in more at-bats and you’re seeing multiple pitches, I think balancing that out and also being aware that both can help, you have to find the sweet spot there.”

On managing the ups-and-downs of team performance in the front office

• McLeod: “It’s the competitive nature that keeps you going. I do think when you are losing, you have to have leadership that keeps the ship going in the right direction and keeps as much positivity as you can have in that situation alive. And that’s where hiring dynamic people in certain roles to run these departments is so important.”

Transcription assistance from Nate Johnson.

For more coverage of the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

At the SABR Analytics Conference on Saturday, February 28, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona, Doug Fearing of Teamworks Intelligence delivered the keynote talk.

Fearing is the Chief Data Officer at Teamworks Intelligence. He was also the co-founder and CEO of Zelus Analytics. Following Zelus’s acquisition by Teamworks in 2024, he now leads the expansion of its advanced analytics capabilities across the Teamworks operating system.

From 2015 to 2018, he founded and led the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Baseball Research and Development team, growing from one full-time employee to 20 in software development, data analytics, and performance technologies. He also worked with the Tampa Bay Rays from 2010 to 2015 as a Senior Advisor with their R&D team. He holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a B.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Afterward, Fearing was honored by SABR CEO Scott Bush as the recipient of the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference Lifetime Achievement Award.

• Watch: Click here to watch a video replay of Doug Fearing’s keynote talk (YouTube)

Here are some highlights from Fearing’s talk:

On utilizing the Hierarchical Nearest-Neighbor Gaussian Process (HNNGP) Model

• “The model established a set of reference pitches and when a pitcher threw a new pitch, it predicted performance for that pitch based on a weighted similarity to the established reference set. But the real breakthrough was that the coefficients on those reference pitches could also be hierarchical, which meant we could estimate both pitcher skills and batter tendencies simultaneously. We had effectively built a model where the pitcher and batter effects were interacting mathematically much closer to how they were on the field. One of the elegant benefits of this HNNGP approach is appropriately smooth heat maps, things that you actually could present to coaches.”

On batted ball spray distributions

• “We weren’t just looking at zones or buckets on the field. We were building mix effects models to predict the horizontal spray distribution of ground balls to inform our infield shift decisions. The resulting model led to at least one interesting insight: a player’s variance in their spray distribution was proportional to their pull tendency. The players with the weaker pull tendencies were more unpredictable.”

On Latent Skill Framework using Joint Modeling

• “Instead of treating some statistics as inputs and others as outputs, the model effectively builds a joint distribution across all of a players observed performance data. Every season, every level, every handedness split simultaneously.”

On the analysis of college level players

• “That same level neutral structure that I talked about earlier in the latent skill projection framework that powered our pro projections, it allowed us to evaluate college players on the same scale as Double-A players. In addition to the benefit of being able to evaluate college players, that also meant for our pro players, we could still use their college data to inform our estimate of their skill.”

On asset value

• “Every major league team, through the minor league system, through the draft, is essentially managing a portfolio. There are lots of risks and rewards to prospects and how you value those financially. How you think about the organizational health is an important part of trades or also projecting future performance.”

Transcription assistance from Ryan Belina.

For more coverage of the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

At the SABR Analytics Conference on Friday, February 27, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona, the Career Paths in Baseball Biomechanics Panel included Franky Mulloy of the Cincinnati Reds; Hillary Plummer of the San Diego Padres; Megan Stewart of the Milwaukee Brewers; and Will Vandenberg of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The panel was moderated by Will Carroll, Under the Knife columnist.

• Watch: Click here to watch a video replay of the Career Paths in Baseball Biomechanics Panel (YouTube)

Here are some highlights from the panel:

On how they utilize biomechanics in their roles

• Plummer: “My title is Quality Assurance Specialist, but basically, I am a Sports Scientist. I do a lot of workload monitoring data mainly focused on pitchers and keeping them healthy.”
• Vandenberg: “I focus mainly on field performance, less with the weightroom and trainers. Trying to understand baseball from a biomechanics perspective. What makes players good and help understand baseball better.”

On communicating biomechanics data to coaches and players

• Plummer: “All we can do is give the coaches the information that we have, and we can give our suggestions. How they use that data is up to them, it’s their decision. I have noticed that a lot of pitching coaches don’t want to touch arm action. So, we focus on the lower body side, sinking up the lower half and the trunk to try and correct that to see if it cleans up the arm action a little bit. But, really, it’s kind of up to the coaches, front office, and scouts. They all make that decision if they want to make a big mechanical change.”
• Stewart: “I think it all depends on the level too and where they are at in the organization. I think a big aspect of it is trust and having that relationship with them. So, it took me many seasons to be able to be at a place where I am with our current coaches and players as well. So, you want them to trust you when you say something.”
• Vandenberg: “If a player looks good or bad, but if they are performing, and the data doesn’t say the same story what do you do? I think that’s the biggest question I face. When players are at a lower level performing well, and we don’t like their mechanics whether it’s hitting or pitching, do you trust that this performance will carry to the next level? If we can solve that we will be good.”
• Mulloy: “We don’t know what causes injury. So, anyone that tells you that, we can get predictors or things that are higher risk categories, but we cannot say conclusively what caused that injury. It is important to understand your coaching staff when you’re integrating with them. If there is a particular pitching style they have or like, if the data aligns with that good if it counterargues that, make sure you have your reasoning for why that is different and don’t be afraid to do that. It will take a couple years to build that relationship and trust with the players and coaches.”

On the value of changes in biomechanics data

• Mulloy: “I think it depends on the individual. Knowing the player. There are some players I don’t want to give any information to because they go down a massive rabbit hole trying to change everything. There are other players who are incredibly good at siloing information and what they use. Some guys can make those adjustments very quickly; other guys you have to create constraints for them to play with and feel it out a little more.”

On using biomechanics data in the draft process

• Stewart: “I think it’s going to vary by team on how involved you are in that process. For us, we definitely get consulted. We do write-ups on guys. We talk with our scouting group all the way down to the scout that is directly interacting with that player, up to our top end VPs of scouting.”

Transcription assistance from Ryan Belina.

For more coverage of the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

Doug Fearing of Teamworks Intelligence was honored with the SABR Analytics Conference Lifetime Achievement Award on Saturday, February 28, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Fearing is the Chief Data Officer at Teamworks Intelligence. He was also the co-founder and CEO of Zelus Analytics. Following Zelus’s acquisition by Teamworks in 2024, he now leads the expansion of its advanced analytics capabilities across the Teamworks operating system.

From 2015 to 2018, he founded and led the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Baseball Research and Development team, growing from one full-time employee to 20 in software development, data analytics, and performance technologies. He also worked with the Tampa Bay Rays from 2010 to 2015 as a Senior Advisor with their R&D team. He holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a B.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

For more coverage of the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

Congratulations to Michael Rosen, Richard Staff, R.J. Anderson, and Daniel R. Epstein, winners of the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards. They were recognized in an awards ceremony during the SABR Analytics Conference on Saturday, February 28, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Rosen was voted as the winner of the Contemporary Baseball Analysis Award for his article “How Much Do Trail Runners Matter? An Investigation,” published by FanGraphs on September 8, 2025.

Staff was voted as the winner of the Contemporary Baseball Commentary Award for his article  “The Secret Brotherhood of the Phantom Ballplayers,” published by Defector on July 21, 2025.

Anderson was voted as the winner of the Historical Baseball Analysis/Commentary Award for his article “What MLB’s salary cap history can tell us about the upcoming CBA negotiations,” published by CBS Sports on December 1, 2025.

Epstein was voted as the winner of the John Dewan Defensive Analytics Award for his article “Stand in the Place Where You Are,” published by Baseball Prospectus on May 5, 2025.

The SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards recognize baseball researchers who have completed the best work of original analysis or commentary during the preceding calendar year.

• Related link: Click here to view all finalists for the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards

Voting for the winners was conducted online from January 26–February 6, 2026, at SABR.org, BaseballProspectus.com, FanGraphs.com, and IBWAA.com, with results weighted equally at 25%.

To view past winners of the SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards, click here.

At the SABR Analytics Conference on Friday, March 14, 2025, in Phoenix, Arizona, Brian Kenny of MLB Network delivered the opening remarks with a talk on Analytics Now.

• Watch: Click here to watch a video replay of Brian Kenny on Analytics Now (YouTube)

Here are some highlights from Kenny’s talk:

On the front-office revolution

• “Cleveland Guardians (President of Baseball Operations) Chris Antonetti (and I) were just talking about the revolution of the front office. He said when he got to Cleveland in 1999, there were eight people, eight executives in the whole executive staff of the Cleveland Indians. They were very forward-thinking led by John Hart. And he said they now have 55 people in the Baseball Operations department alone. It’s exploded. We know Cleveland is not a big-market club; it’s not a big payroll club, but they certainly invest in their brain power, and that’s paid off.”

On embracing uncertainty in both baseball and life

• “When I’m talking about what analytics are all about, at least for me, it was always: Don’t have the answer to the question before the question is even asked. Bill James always told me, ‘A completely acceptable response is ‘I don’t know.’’ We should approach everything that way. How do you put together a winner? How much pitching is enough? How much relief pitching is enough? How strong should your bench be? How do you allocate your resources? No one quite knows the exact answers. But a lot of clubs have figured a few things out. That’s what I love — you figured a few things out that work. You can do it in your life as well: what works, what doesn’t work, what might I not be thinking of exactly here? And baseball clubs have done that.”   

On honoring the legacy of LGBT baseball pioneer Billy Bean

• “I think of Billy and try to further his legacy. Be kind to someone, reach out to someone, lend your expertise to somebody else. Be cognizant that not everybody might be as quick or strong as you are. Be aware of that. If you get a chance to look up Billy Bean, he’s the best inclusion of Major League Baseball. There’s many people possible furthering his legacy.”

Transcription assistance from Yun-Kai Guo.

For more coverage of the 2025 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

At the SABR Analytics Conference on Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Phoenix, Arizona, Dr. Glenn Fleisig delivered the keynote talk on “The Tommy John Surgery Epidemic: Why So Many Injuries and What Can Be Done to Stop Them?”

Fleisig is the Research Director of the American Sports Medicine Institute and the Founding President of the American Baseball Biomechanics Society. He also serves as an advisor to Major League Baseball, Little League Baseball, and USA Baseball. After earning his engineering degree from MIT and interning at the US Olympic Training Center, Dr. Fleisig was hired in 1987 by renowned orthopaedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews to develop the American Sports Medicine Institute. Over a four-decade career, Dr. Fleisig has published more than 200 scientific articles on baseball biomechanics and other topics, delivered 400 presentations throughout the world, and has been interviewed for thousands of stories in the media.

Afterward, Fleisig was honored by SABR CEO Scott Bush as the recipient of the 2025 SABR Analytics Conference Lifetime Achievement Award.

• Watch: Click here to watch a video replay of Glenn Fleisig’s keynote talk (YouTube)

Here are some highlights from Fleisig’s talk:

On the origin of Tommy John surgery

• “Tommy was a lefty pitcher, a star pitcher for the Dodgers at this time [in 1974], and then he felt something funny in his elbow. He then went to see his team’s snappily dressed doctor, that’s Dr. Frank Jobe over here, and something was wrong with his elbow and Dr. Jobe talked to Tommy and he said — I’ve talked to the late Dr. Jobe about this — but basically Dr. Jobe said he’d thought about this because a different pitcher on the Dodgers a few years ago had his career end too briefly because of this kind of elbow injury. It was Sandy Koufax.”

On the causes of pitcher injuries

• “There was a consensus [in the 2024 MLB injury report]. Most of the people surveyed thought that chasing velocity and pitching at maximum effort (were) the number one causes. Other things identified in the report are chasing ‘stuff,’ like trying to get more spin and vertical break and horizontal break, a lot of the things that we talk about at this conference, and also amateur overuse. Professional baseball and amateur baseball are connected, and the kids who are playing year-round and getting drafted, they’re coming in with some damage already in their arm.”

On pitchers throwing as hard as they can

• “I’ve been trying to tell the teams and the pitchers that you are going to have a better career if you don’t throw every throw as hard as you can — that you have more durability, you’re not worth anything to anybody or yourself if you’re not pitching. And if we talk to the guys from 20 years ago, the All-Stars, they did not throw every throw as hard as they can. They didn’t have the radar gun in the stadium every time judging them.”

On scouting and the importance of velocity

• “A pitcher in high school or in the Dominican Republic or in college, they know that their ticket right now is the radar gun, not how many wins or strikeouts or whatever they have. If that’s what they’re being rewarded on, that’s what they’re doing. But if the major-league teams wake up and know that a guy with a little less velocity but good stuff might be more valuable, then the risks and rewards might change.”

On the stress placed on a pitcher’s elbow

• “What’s called a Valgus torque, you have like 100 Newton-meters. It’s a science term you might remember from high school physics, but it’s how much torque is going back. To try to translate what 100 Newton-meters is, 100 Newton-meters is the equivalent of holding 60 pounds in your hands. Imagine you’re in that position, someone is giving you like five 12-pound bowling balls to hold in this hand, imagine the stress on your elbow. That’s how much stress is on the elbow at that instant.”

Transcription assistance from Jack Barron.

For more coverage of the 2025 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.