SABR member Drew Balen on scouting baseball … from Edmonton
From Liam McGuire at Sportsnet.ca on January 25, 2013, on SABR member Drew Balen:
It’s a 14-hour drive from Drew Balen’s Edmonton home to the nearest major league park.
Or 800 miles as the line drive travels.
Yet, Balen is focussed on major league games each and every night of the season.
He says it’s not unusual for him to be doing something baseball related throughout the entire day.
“During the season, I will watch a number of plays during the day for at least an hour or two,” Balen says. “Then I’ll watch two or three games live, plus spend time looking at information from our databases.”
Balen works for Inside Edge, an advanced scouting service that provides advanced information to baseball teams and media.
Inside Edge works with over half of the teams in MLB, in addition to offering services at the amateur level.
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Balen graduated from Brock University in 2012 with a degree in sports management and he got involved with Inside Edge after attending a Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) analytic conference.
“At the SABR analytic conference in Arizona during spring training last year, I met one of the founders and co-owners of Inside Edge, Randy Istre, and the head of their California office, Kenny Kendrena.
“We talked for a few minutes and they decided to hire me.”
Read the full article here: http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2013/01/25/canadian_baseball_network_edmonton_point_streak/
Related link: To learn more for the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference, March 7-9 in Phoenix, Arizona, click here
Originally published: January 25, 2013. Last Updated: January 25, 2013.