2024 SABR Analytics: Watch highlights from Brian Kenny on Analytics Now
At the SABR Analytics Conference on Friday, March 8, 2024, 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 “herd” mentality and taking chances in the front office
- “A general manager (told) me that he sent out his head of analytics, his head of scouting, and his farm director and said, ‘Come back to me and bring me a list of our top prospects. As an individual organization, give me a list of our prospects in order. I want to see how you all evaluate them.’ And they all came back with the same lists. And the general manager said, ‘If all three of you have the same lists, why am I employing all three of you?’ Something to think about.”
- “It’s something that transcends baseball. There are repercussions from straying from your herd. We all want to think alike. There is a tendency for groupthink. There is a tendency to think in that same herd mentality – that same herd that was keeping analytics out of baseball for so long because they did not want to hear about your fancy math. Now, it’s been replaced by another herd mentality, another groupthink. … [Instead] take a chance, think for yourself, take a shot. We have to force ourselves … to think outside our own little box that we have constructed.”
On the questions that exist in baseball today
- “There are things we still don’t understand. … As we get more and more granular into the data, as we get into smaller and smaller things that are worthwhile — swing plane for a hitter, pitch sequencing, grip on the baseball — we’re digging deeper into all these things and they matter. But there are still big questions that are unanswered. … (New York Mets owner) Steve Cohen, richest owner in baseball, is still wondering – what the hell happened (in 2023)? Number one payroll in the history of the sport. Tore it down midseason, that’s how bad it was. … (San Diego Padres GM) A.J. Preller, mover and shaker, ine of the best scouts, one of the best baseball minds in the business. Still wondering – what happened? And we still don’t know. It was on the field, it happened moment by moment. It just did not happen within the data. It did not make sense, and yet it happened. John Mozeliak of the Cardinals, one of the smartest, most successful GMs in baseball. Still wondering – what happened?”
On the future role of analytics in the job community
- “Can you figure out what’s happening while it’s happening? Before it’s happening? Those answers are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. … As you guys now go off and you want to get careers in baseball and other places, this is a good place to think. Think independently. And as we get smaller and smaller, remember, there are big, big questions that are still unanswered.”
Transcription assistance from Sebastian Kirkpatrick.
For more coverage of the 2024 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.
Originally published: May 1, 2024. Last Updated: March 18, 2024.