How Ari Kaplan helps Major League Baseball Teams

 

I help you make decisions, not guesses. Through the past 18 seasons I provide MLB organizations strategic analysis of player talent, payroll, and technology for player development. In 2006 I was Special Assistant to the CEO of an NL team.

 

People tell me one of my key differentiators is my deep analysis of pitching. I have built up some of the most powerful and insightful techniques and solutions through years of interaction and refinement with baseball Presidents and GMs.

How can I benefit an organization?

·        ANALYTICS: I am regarded as a leading authority, having edited and co-authored a book on modern analytics: Baseball Hacks. The California Institute of Technology awarded me the “Alumni of the Decade” award for groundbreaking sabermetrics used to evaluate pitcher talent.

·        SCOUTING: I am one of the only analytical experts that has scouted at the ML level. I understand the scouting mentality, coming up from scouting departments. And I bring business and executive management leadership, having been a successfully CEO and President of two highly visible multi-million dollar organizations outside of MLB.

·        EXECUTIVE: I have had a successful executive career outside of MLB, from CEO of a leading international software firm to President and GM of public companies and President of the technology association of the largest worldwide enterprise software firm (Oracle Corp).

Who at a team can benefit?

·         Coaching, training, and advanced scouting: What does today’s umpire strike zone actually look like? Can our batters predict pitching patterns of today’s starter? What’s the starter’s game plan – how does he mix pitches, is his delivery deceptive, does he double-up on pitches?

·         Managerial: What is today’s game plan to win? Understand guides to difficult questions: How should I play and position my defense? My batting order? Who should I bring in to relief and when? What pitch count does my starter become ineffective? What are the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses?

·         Front office: Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your staff – and that of your competition. Through the most advanced techniques that are not publicly available, you can evaluate talent like never before. How would a player perform if switched to your team? Is he performing above or below what is expected?

·        Player development and Minor League operations: All of the advanced techniques are available for AAA (and AA starting 2008). Spray charts of almost 2,000 minor leaguers presented in photo-imaged, easy to understand fashion

I also bring with me the best practices I have encountered through working with a dozen MLB organizations that I can immediately put to use:

1) Use almost 100 of the industry’s best and unique reports to inform you what’s important. This is for all MLB and all AAA players – something never before available this in-depth! Help sift through millions of pitch-by-pitch data for information that can help you today.

Example 1:

Example 2: hundreds of reports for thousands of players – MLB and AAA!

2) The most advanced SprayCharts solution (see www.spraycharts.com)

 

Benefits over other solutions include:

  • Over 1,300 MLB players and over 136,000 at-bats are included. This saves teams significant money and time from hiring or using staff to record and collect Spray Charts for every MLB game.
  • For the first time, AAA Spray Charts are available. Over 1,700 AAA players and over 160,000 at-bats are included. Organizations typically do not record AAA Spray Charts and it would be cost prohibitive to hire staff to do so.
    • Understand the tendencies of a AAA prospect before making trade decisions
    • How did a batter or pitcher perform at Pawtucket or any other AAA stadium?
  • Analyze player tendencies for better coaching. Focus on pitching or batting tendencies to identify competitive advantages and areas of coaching improvements.
  • Satellite images are overlaid with mathematically rendered hit locations. Regular Spray Charts don’t even show where the outfield walls are located.
  • Interactively and easily comb through billions of possibilities for information that is important to you.
    • Did a particular opponent adjust to pitchers in the past few weeks, or are they still pulling the ball and need to adjust?
    • Does a pitcher allow balls to the outfield early in the game or late in the game?
    • How do different stadiums affect pop-fouls?
    • Can a fielder consistently get to balls hit in the gap or is he able to track them down for outs?

 

3) Below is an additional report example from the above analytics best-practices solution:

  See below for additional information

Best regards,

-Ari Kaplan

kaplanari@hotmail.com

312-399-0079

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

Executive Summary

Ari Kaplan is a leading figure in the new generation of analytical minds helping shape the future of baseball in America today. Educated at the elite California Institute of Technology, he is a recipient of the university’s “Alumni of the Decade” award for pioneering groundbreaking sabermetrics used to evaluate pitcher talent. Over the past eighteen seasons, Ari has worked full-time and consulted for twelve MLB organizations working directly with General Managers, Presidents, and Scouting Directors to dramatically improve business operations and strategic analytical capabilities. He comes from a scouting background (even sharing a condo with a former Red Sox manager) and is also one of the few long-term baseball leaders who has a proven track record of successfully running several high-profile companies as CEO.

Ari is highly skilled at combining computers, technology, statistical analysis and business acumen for a fresh look at evaluating players for maximum return on a baseball club’s investment. His use of analytical insights and technology greatly improves the effective evaluation of players and provides a competitive edge over other Clubs. Ari improves scouting at every level, working closely with upper management to maximize drafts, trades, and salary arbitration opportunities. Organizational business objectives are met and exceeded by aligning and implementing technology to assist scouting and player development.

Baseball Summary

Ari Kaplan is known throughout the Major Leagues for revolutionizing and modernizing player assessment. Over the past 18 years, he has brought innovative analysis and technology to baseball. While employed by the Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres, and Montreal Expos, he designed and developed scouting and player development database systems from the ground up. Throughout the 1990s, he was a senior consultant with eight additional organizations to cross-supply scouting reports, depth charts, and additional information. In the late 1980s, while still an undergraduate at Caltech, Ari gained national attention by popularizing the inherited runner statistic and creating new pitching evaluation techniques including the Save Value, Reliever Effectiveness, and Expected ERA. Baseball highlights include:

v     Worked with several teams and under many GMs and managers including Kevin Kennedy, Frank Robinson, Roland Hemond, Joe McIlvaine, Fred Claire, Jim Beattie, Bill Stoneman, David Littlefield, Larry Lucchino, Doug Melvin, Dan Duquette, Kevin Malone, and others.

v     Received Caltech’s Alumni of the Decade award for his ability to analyze player performance and trends with new techniques and technology.

v     Profiled on the covers of ComputerWorld, (Oct. 99), Data Management Review (Aug. 02) and Contract Professional (Oct. 99). Also featured in Baseball America, on CNN, and the “Today Show”.

v     Played NCAA Baseball at Caltech 1988-1992

For a business summary, view www.arikaplan.com/resume.html

Baseball Experience

Consultant for multiple MLB teams and scouts, 1993 - present

Provided strategic quantitative analysis, scouting, player development and/or advanced scouting solutions for several MLB teams (Astros, Cubs, Padres, Expos, Cardinals, Rockies, Twins, Marlins, Braves, Mariners, Tigers, Reds, Phillies). Worked with senior scouts (Bill Harford, Gordon Lakey) converting reports to several team’s proprietary formats.

Houston Astros Baseball Club, consultant.

Developed new information systems applications for quantitative analytics, advanced scouting, and managerial / coaching tools. Worked with team President, GM, manager, and field coaches on multiple projects for evaluating players and game-day strategy.

Chicago Cubs Baseball Club, consultant.

Developed new information systems applications for quantitative analytics. Worked with team President and GM on multiple projects for evaluating players.

Consultant for multiple MLB teams and scouts, 1993 - present

Provided strategic direction and analysis, technical advice, design, development, and assistance for several MLB teams (Cardinals, Rockies, Cubs, Twins, Marlins, Braves, Mariners, Expos, Phillies). Worked with senior scouts (Bill Harford, Gordon Lakey) converting reports to each team’s proprietary formats. Established Scouting and Player Development systems for the Expos and Marlins.

Montreal Expos Baseball Club, 1992, full-time, consultant for several additional seasons. Lantana, FL and Montreal, Quebec

Developed new information systems applications for improving operations, allowing for streamlined data sharing among scouts and front-office management. Was in charge of the entire lifecycle development of a comprehensive relational Scouting Database. The Expos Scouting Project provides front-end interfaces to retrieve Major League and Minor League data for scouts, managers, and players, and assists in the drafting process as well as the entire scouting and player development departments.

Interviewed the client for analysis, purchased the appropriate software and hardware, contracted for network specialists, converted current data from DBASE IV and Major League Baseball formats, established the server and dozens of portable computers for remote use, and programmed the entire project. Trained and deployed to scouts, managers, Major and Minor League staff.

San Diego Padres Baseball Club, 1991, San Diego, CA

Developed new information systems applications for improving operations, allowing for streamlined data sharing among scouts and front-office management. The Padres Computer Project provides front-end screens to retrieve data for scouts, managers, and players, and assists the entire scouting and player development departments. Participated in the design and development of the relational Scouting Database, and a Group Sales Database. Programmed the majority of the project, converted existing data from DBASE IV, and interviewed the client for analysis. Trained and deployed to scouts, managers, Major and Minor League staff.

Baltimore Orioles Baseball Club, 1990, Baltimore, MD

The Orioles Computer System and Earl Weaver Statistics Program provide Major League and Minor League player information. Developed new information systems applications for improving operations, allowing for streamlined data sharing among scouts and front-office management. Assisted with the design and implementation of the two databases. Debugged and developed several screens and reports, as well as a customized search the intelligently converted the user's search criteria from a pick-and-choose screen into complex program statements. Trained and deployed to scouts, managers, Major and Minor League staff.

California Institute of Technology, 1989, Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Los Angeles, CA

Conducted groundbreaking research that led to the establishment of new systems for rating baseball players, and determined that conventional pitching statistics are invalid. New analytical methodologies include the famous Reliever Effectiveness, Expected Earned Run Average, Worst-Case Earned Run Average, and Best-Case Earned Run Average. The project also analyzed the history on baseball from a mathematical perspective, and the validity of sabermetrics. The results led to the development of new statistics that many teams and players have used and accepted.

 

See the Contract Professional cover story

DM Review: Executive Interview

See the CNN/Fn transcript of Ari Kaplan's interview .

See the Today Show interview transcript of Ari's Baseball Research .

See an LA Times Article on Ari's Baseball Research .

See a Baseball America Article on Ari's Baseball Research .

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

See a 1991 Trenton Times Article on Ari's Baseball Research .

Send Ari an email on this page!

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