The MVP Machine
How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players
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The MVP Machine
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Narrated by:
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Josh Hurley
About this listen
Move over, Moneyball - a cutting-edge look at major league baseball's next revolution: the high-tech quest to build better players.
As best-selling authors Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik reveal in The MVP Machine, the Moneyball era is over. Fifteen years after Michael Lewis brought the Oakland Athletics' groundbreaking team-building strategies to light, every front office takes a data-driven approach to evaluating players, and the league's smarter teams no longer have a huge advantage in valuing past performance.
Lindbergh and Sawchik's behind-the-scenes reporting reveals:
- How the 2017 Astros and 2018 Red Sox used cutting-edge technology to win the World Series.
- How undersized afterthoughts José Altuve and Mookie Betts became big sluggers and MVPs.
- How polarizing pitcher Trevor Bauer made himself a Cy Young contender.
- How new analytical tools have overturned traditional pitching and hitting techniques.
- How a wave of young talent is making MLB both better than ever and arguably worse to watch.
Instead of out-drafting, out-signing, and out-trading their rivals, baseball's best minds have turned to out-developing opponents, gaining greater edges than ever by perfecting prospects and eking extra runs out of older athletes who were once written off. Lindbergh and Sawchik take us inside the transformation of former fringe hitters into home-run kings, show how washed-up pitchers have emerged as aces, and document how coaching and scouting are being turned upside down. The MVP Machine charts the future of a sport and offers a lesson that goes beyond baseball: Success stems not from focusing on finished products, but from making the most of untapped potential.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik (P)2019 Basic BooksCritic Reviews
"I wish this book spent more time on the Red Sox winning four times as many titles as the Yankees this century, but The MVP Machine is a great and informative deep dive on the challenges of unlocking talent and building winning teams in the age of analytics." (Bill Simmons, founder and CEO, The Ringer)
"This is the book baseball needed, the definitive document on how the best players in the world are using new ideas to become even better. Until now, no one had delivered an authoritative, comprehensive look at the revolution that is transforming the sport and offering lessons that extend even beyond the field. If you want to understand the inner workings of the modern game, you must read The MVP Machine." (Ken Rosenthal, baseball reporter for The Athletic, Fox Sports, and MLB Network)
"A lot of books have claimed to be Moneyball 2.0, but this book actually delivers. It chronicles the changes that are transforming the game of baseball at a fundamental level and shifting power back into the hands of players and coaches." (Mike Fast, special assistant to the general manager, Atlanta Braves and former director of research and development, Houston Astros)