Classic market inefficiency. All of MLB copies - go for home runs; who cares about Ks? Rays come in and say what about just filling the bases with really fast guys? All these guys who are high-on-base percentage guys and really good at defense that no one values. Classic Moneyball that everyone fell out of favor with, but there's more than one way to win games.
Spot on. In some ways I think the Rays were doing for pitching what Moneyball did for hitting. Like instead of glorifying velo and Ks (i.e., a lot of the easily quantifiable stuff), they prioritized pitchers who get outs. And that might have more to do with movement and surprising arm angles and pitch shapes, which are cool but less sexy and easily measured than MPH. Same way the A's just prioritized getting on base, didn't care if it was a walk or an ugly swing or whatever. Finding an edge just requires a little creativity :)
Classic market inefficiency. All of MLB copies - go for home runs; who cares about Ks? Rays come in and say what about just filling the bases with really fast guys? All these guys who are high-on-base percentage guys and really good at defense that no one values. Classic Moneyball that everyone fell out of favor with, but there's more than one way to win games.
Spot on. In some ways I think the Rays were doing for pitching what Moneyball did for hitting. Like instead of glorifying velo and Ks (i.e., a lot of the easily quantifiable stuff), they prioritized pitchers who get outs. And that might have more to do with movement and surprising arm angles and pitch shapes, which are cool but less sexy and easily measured than MPH. Same way the A's just prioritized getting on base, didn't care if it was a walk or an ugly swing or whatever. Finding an edge just requires a little creativity :)