The MVP Machine Quotes

“Among athletes, the unlikely source is the stathead who’s spent time in uniform, satisfying Sarason’s condition that the ideal go-between be embedded in the community, “rendering some kind of service within the schools, requiring that in some way they become part of the school.” These rare birds of baseball, fluent in front office and dipped in dugout wisdom, are “perfect conduits to get a message from high theoretical guys down to guys who are just used to grinding it out on the baseball field,” San Diego Padres manager Andy Green said in 2017. “Unless that message gets translated where a guy speaks both languages, it usually ends up falling on deaf ears. It can be the perfect game plan laid out by the front office, but if it doesn’t run through one of those conduits, it tends to, one, not be understood, or two, not be implemented at all or maybe even spurned altogether.”
― Travis Sawchik, The MVP Machine: How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players

“Every team now knows which players are projected to be good. But the best teams are discovering ways for players to accomplish what they aren’t projected to do.”
― Travis Sawchik, The MVP Machine: How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players

“These new peaks in performance aren’t just the product of better technology. They’re a manifestation of a new philosophy of human potential. Increasingly, teams and players are adopting a growth mindset that rejects long-held beliefs about innate physical talent. One of the only innate qualities may be how hard players are willing to work.”
― Travis Sawchik, The MVP Machine: How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players

“In one way, Muncy was an obvious candidate to end the ordeal with one swing: during the regular season, he hit a home run every 11.3 at-bats, the best rate of any hitter who played at least fifty games.”
― Travis Sawchik, The MVP Machine: How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players

“The Athletic Pitcher by Ron Wolforth.”
― Travis Sawchik, The MVP Machine: How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players