For the second straight year, members of the Syracuse University Baseball Statistics and Sabermetrics Club participated in the Diamond Dollars Case Competition in Phoenix, Arizona, over Spring Break.
Five members of the club traveled to Phoenix to attend the annual Society of American Baseball Research Analytics Conference, of which the competition is a part, for four days and attended various baseball analytics panels, discussions and multiple Spring Training games.
The Diamond Dollars Case Competition was founded by SABR President Vince Gennaro and during the competition, students from colleges and universities across the U.S. compete against each other by preparing an analysis and presentation of a baseball operations decision. As part of this year’s competition, the SU representatives were tasked with creating the perfect bullpen for any National League team for 2016.
The SU team chose the Pittsburgh Pirates. Over the course of six days prior to the competition, the team worked together using both qualitative and quantitative analysis to complete the task. The “perfect” bullpen for the 2016 Pirates, the team concluded, was comprised of Andrew Miller, Zach Britton, Jeurys Familia, Darren O’Day and Brett Cecil. Competition rules specified the bullpen be made up of five pitchers and provided tiers of players to choose from.
On the first day of the conference, the team presented in front of judges from the Washington Nationals, St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks. The SU team competed against the likes of New York University, Middlebury College, St. John Fisher College and Virginia Tech. SU finished second in that undergraduate division, losing to NYU after a tense debate between judges.
The SU team was comprised of Jeremy Losak, Justin Perline, Matthew Russo, Joey Weinberg and Justin Mattingly. They were accompanied by club adviser Dr. Rodney Paul of the Department of Sport Management.
Industry leaders and some of the best minds in baseball presented at the conference and the SU students were able to network with many of baseball’s brightest, including general managers, media members and former MLB players.
“Nowhere else will you have an opportunity to hear from and network with the brightest minds in the industry,” said Losak, a senior sport management major.
For Weinberg, attending the conference was an “invaluable experience.”
“Being able to listen to the current landscape of analytics in baseball is something I won’t soon forget,” said Weinberg, a junior sport management major. “I want to pursue a career in analytics and hearing from those in the industry was incredibly helpful.”
The Baseball Statistics and Sabermetrics Club is currently in its fourth year of existence. The club meets at 6 p.m. Wednesdays in Falk 100.