Feb 2006: Co-author and editor of O’Reilly’s “Baseball Hacks”

On Baseball

"Our ability to generate stats has gotten way ahead of our ability to make any sense of it… it's going to take a lot of work by people like Mr. Kaplan before we understand what all this means."

v Bill James (LA Times)

“Until Kaplan got into the act, talent scouts tracked players on written notes that they later stuffed into file drawers…Now he’s developed databases and decision-support systems for just about every Major League team in the country.”

v ComputerWorld

“Kaplan has already has devised three formulas that could, if instituted, change the way managers handle their bullpens.”

v Baseball America

“Keeping track of thousands of baseball scouting reports for minor and major league teams can be very cumbersome. Especially remembering where you filed them. Well, there's a new software program to help sort out all of this mess. Joining us today is Ari Kaplan, the man behind this new program…And it’s the best thing since sliced bread.”

v CNN interview (with anchor Sean Callebs)

“Kaplan's dream of becoming a GM is not as far-fetched as it once may have seemed. Many a baseball manager has spent seasons learning statistics and scouting before heading to the dugout…Making sense of players and their stats is probably the single most important job of the manager.”

v Contract Professional cover story

“This month, the 20-year old phenom will leave the Pasadena campus and join the Baltimore Orioles, because he can crunch numbers the way Jose Canseco crunches fastballs. When it comes to computing statistics, Ari Kaplan is The Natural. Baseball is beckoning because as any fan knows, the sport thrives on numbers – and more so than ever in the computing age.”

v LA Times

“Like many kids growing up in New Jersey in the 1980s, Ari Kaplan avidly followed the New York Mets and star pitcher David Cone. But Mr. Kaplan was a baseball nut with a high understanding of math. While others filled out box scores, he formulated equations to track the pitching staff's performance.”

v Crain’s Chicago Business “40 Under 40” award

“He really has a love for the game, and he is very knowledgeable.”

v Bill Harford, independent scout for the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and Minnesota Twins

See the Contract Professional cover story

DM Review: Executive Interview

See the CNN/Fn transcript .

See the Today Show interview transcript .

See an LA Times Article .

See a Baseball America Article.

See an 1997 Trenton Times Article on Ari's Alumni of the Decade Award.

See a 1991 Trenton Times Article.

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