MASN color commentator Ben McDonald sounded off about how much importance the Baltimore Orioles place on analytics after a loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. The Orioles are currently 22-29 (21-29 when McDonald’s comments were made), tied for last place in the AL East.
“We can talk about analytics and what could happen and what should happen if you hit the ball hard,” McDonald said. “But I don’t care if you hit the ball hard. Like, I don’t care if you hit it hard and you hit it to somebody. You’re out. I don’t care how hard you throw ball four. I don’t care what your spin rate was on your breaking ball if you bounce it three feet in front of home plate. I don’t care.
“What I care about is, do you make plays? Do you make pitches? Do you get hits when it matters? And that’s what the Orioles are struggling to do right now. They are struggling to have all phases of the game go right at the same time. That’s where the struggle is. So, all this nonsense is eyewash to me about all this analytical stuff.
“You either do, or you don’t. And right now, the Orioles don’t. They are not doing it, and they’re not playing well right now. That’s the bottom line.
“They are having trouble finishing ballgames. Where do they go from here? I can’t tell you where they go from here. I don’t know where the Orioles go from here, other than that they have to start playing more consistent baseball. That’s the bottom line.”
Well, McDonald’s comments got plenty of attention in the Orioles verse, and that led to the Baltimore media asking first-year Orioles manager Craig Albernaz about the organization’s relationship with analytics.
“In my opinion, this is my personal take on this; I want more information, honestly,” Albernaz explained, via MASN. “Like, I love all the information. And all it is is just pieces to the puzzle. I think the more information you have, it helps you guide what’s happening in the game and your decision-making, but it’s not the end-all, be-all. I think it’s, you take all the information you have, and then also you have to watch the game and players’ feedback and coaches’ feedback, and then you make your decision.
“Like, analytics, numbers, data have been along since this game has started. Obviously, it just looks different now. It’s more granular than batting average and ERA. Now there’s actually concrete data points that can give you a look underneath the hood of what the player is actually doing. And a lot of numbers are there for evaluation purposes, which to me doesn’t matter to me. It’s just more of taking the numbers and how can we get players better. And then also, can we find small margins for matchups that can either help us win the game or put our players in the best spot to succeed?”
This is a pretty fair explanation from Albernaz. Every single organization in Major League Baseball, and in professional sports these days, puts analytics to use. Analytics are simply about gathering all of the information you can and using it all to your advantage in terms of player evaluation, percentages, tendencies of the opposing teams, etc. It would be putting your organization at a disadvantage to not put every piece of information and resource to use.
The Orioles need to play and execute better on the baseball field, and Albernaz, along with the Baltimore front office, would admit that. But it’s not because of an overreliance on analytics.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.