Baseball, Business, and Analytics

Before 2002, baseball owners, GMs, managers, and coaches acquired, traded, released, and determined the playing time of players based on a gut feeling or their self-proclaimed subject matter expertise through years of experience in the game. In reality, they were “flying by the seat of their pants”; they just didn’t know it.

Then something out of the norm occurred: the Oakland Athletics GM, Billy Beane, decided to try a different approach and hired a young analytics guru with a degree in economics from Harvard University.

With the lowest team payroll in the major leagues and a perennial loser, Beane decided to go out on a limb and replace the Major League Baseball “flying by the seat of the pants” standard that had been in existence for over 100 years and used performance-based analytics to manage his organization.

In one year, with still the lowest payroll in Major League Baseball, the Oakland Athletics went from worst to first in their division and set an American League record of 20 straight wins!

How did this happen? What did Billy Beane do?

The answer: Data Analytics

Beane conducted intensive sports analytics by data mining and studying detailed data about the performance of his players. Things like on-base percentage, the value of a base on balls, why trying to steal a base is counterproductive, and the advantage or disadvantage of the ball–strike count when at bat. Everything was focused on scoring runs, winning games, and beating the competition.

Are you flying by the seat of your pants in your business??

If you are not using data analytics, you certainly are not as productive as you should be.

At ProcureVue, we have developed the procurement industry’s leading-edge AI technology analytics and algorithms that can take your company to new heights.

Want to join the winner’s circle? Click to contact us.