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A14 sports
Saturday 4 March 2023
‘Every number is good’: Analytics helping speed up baseball

By JIMMY GOLEN believed they had found more action and less time
AP Sports Writer a better way to measure waiting for events to hap-
Robot umpires. A strike everything from free agent pen. MLB tested dozens
zone that looks more like signings to when to go for of possible solutions in the
a stop sign than a rectan- it on fourth down. It's now minor leagues during the
gle. Allowing the batter to a 2,200-person conclave past two years and some
take off for first base on any that fills a downtown con- proved impractical.
pitch, not just a dropped vention center with power- "Many of them wound up
third strike. ful people. Over the years, on the cutting room floor,"
With the new pitch clock some of the strategies the he said. Future changes
speeding up the sport, statisticians came up with would be designed to in-
baseball's brain trust al- to help a team win also crease batting averages
ready is trying to figure out changed the nature of and cut down on strike-
what might come next in games. In basketball, that outs that reached a historic
its efforts to make games meant players attempting high in 2021: The majors are Home plate umpire Jim Wolf waits as the pitch clock counts
more exciting and keep 3-pointers at unprecedent- whiffing at a rate higher down during the first inning of a spring training baseball game
them moving along. ed rate; in baseball, it led than batters facing Hall of between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers
And the people running to a game that has gotten Famer Sandy Koufax. Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, in Phoenix.
the sport are using the longer and more boring. "We're rushing to get stuff Associated Press
same kind of number- The average time of a nine- done that should have umpires are already adjust- over 19 seasons and is now
crunching analytics that inning game has stretched been done 30 years ago," ing for this, unofficially and a baseball VP.
caused the problem to from 2 hours, 30 minutes James said on the confer- perhaps unintentionally. The results after almost a
solve the problem. "This is in the mid-1950s to 2:46 in ence's baseball rules pan- It would be possible to week of spring training:
Phase One. There proba- 1989 and 3:10 in 2021. el. "And let's get on with it." implement with the auto- Game times are down
bly is more coming," Major Statistics pioneer Bill James Moving fences back would mated umpires being used about 24 minutes from last
League Baseball execu- said "it's past time" for those increase batting averages, in Triple-A this season. The year's Grapefruit and Cac-
tive vice president Morgan running the national pas- but it would be expen- robo-umps could be in the tus Leagues. Violations in
Sword said Friday at the MIT time to fight back. And he sive and in some ballparks majors as early as next sea- which the umpire awards
Sloan School Sports Analyt- praised them for using the impractical. James men- son, but Sword said "all the an automatic ball or strike
ics Conference. "But with nerds' own numbers to do tioned that short home runs strike zones we are testing are being called at a rate
every single one of these it. "In a sense, the game is down the line used to be a are rectangular." of 1.63 per game, com-
things, we've always tried a war between the front double; that one is also un- The solutions that did stick pared to 1.7 when it was
to (ask): 'Is this a reason- offices, who are trying to likely to be brought back. came in three catego- tested in the minor leagues
able change that baseball figure out a way to make Changes in equipment ries: Rules to speed up the last year.
fans are going to support, the game slow and bor- and playing surfaces have game, most notably a timer Once minor league players
or are we veering toward ing, and (league officials) also been discussed. that limits the wait between adjusted, there was a call
something that's not base- who are trying to figure out Sword said he wants the pitches; restrictions on de- about every other game,
ball any more?' a way to make it fast and dropped third strike rule ex- fensive shifting; and bigger Sword said. That's happen-
"It's a very subjective skill," exciting," he said. tended to all pitches, but bases, to make it slightly ing at spring training, too.
Sword said. "There's lots of "We have some very intel- conceded: "Nobody likes easier to steal bases. "Players are adapting right
things that would work that ligent adversaries in that that except for me." "Maybe I would have sto- now," Ibañez said. "We're al-
would just irritate people war," Sword replied. James also suggested len six bases instead of ready seeing it in the data.
too much to make it worth Sword said the commis- "adding sides" to the cur- five," said Raúl Ibañez, who At the major league level,
it." The MIT conference sioner's office worked rent rectangular strike actually stole 50 bases in a these are the best athletes
began in 2007 as a small backward from surveys zone to exclude hard-to-hit major league career with in the world, and they're
gathering of stat nerds who that showed fans want pitches at the corners. Most five teams that stretched the most adaptable."q

NFL launches professional

development program for players

former players opportuni- cords. Pro Football Podcast.
ties to prepare for their fu- The program kicks off next A group of 16 players will be
ture after football. week in Los Angeles with at Nike World Headquar-
NFL Career Tours gives 18 players, including Kan- ters in Oregon on March
players exclusive access sas City Chiefs guard Trey 13-14 for a look at the sports
to major organizations to Smith, going to work with business industry, includ-
learn about various career Fifth Season and Hidden ing product development,
opportunities and network Empire to gain an all-ac- marketing, and branding.
with industry leaders. Sixty cess look into all facets of Sixteen others will go to In-
men will participate in the the entertainment industry, terscope Records in Los
program this month to gain including acting, casting Angeles on March 20-21.
Kansas City Chiefs guard Trey Smith (65) celebrates after behind-the-scenes expe- for roles, directing, financ- They'll learn all aspects of
defeating the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL Super Bowl 57 rience in entertainment, ing, producing, and distrib- the music industry, includ-
football game, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023, in Glendale, Ariz.
Associated Press sports business, and the uting movies. ing becoming an artist,
music industry. "The opportunity to better managing an artist, pro-
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — scouting combine, the NFL The NFL has partnered with myself outside football from moting the music, operat-
While the best college launched a professional the Fifth Season and Hid- a professional standpoint, ing a record label, and en-
players showcase their development program Fri- den Empire film groups, I think it's extremely impor- visioning the money need-
skills at this week's annual day to provide current and Nike, and Interscope Re- tant," Smith said on the AP ed to be successful.q