I tweeted a tweet that wasn’t met with the love I thought it would be, so I’m going to write about it.
My simple social media post:
The "stat-cast era" is the worst era.
— Karl Magenhofer (@KarlMagenhofer) April 5, 2017
The comment was panned a bit by the folks here at ESR, despite the fact they already knew I am a 90-year-old man when it comes to baseball. I despise SABRmetrics and the novelty of “Statcast” hasn’t worn off for me because it never wore on.
Wouldn't go that far. There's very cool stuff there, but presenting it is an art. Don't make normal fans roll eyes. https://t.co/m3X41BfSV7
— Eutaw Street Report (@EutawStReport) April 5, 2017
That being said ESR had a point when they said that it’s all about presentation. Unfortunately, because it’s new, the content is being overused and has become tedious at times. Perhaps, just perhaps, I don’t mind the stuff as much as I think I do.
Broadcasters these days already struggle to help fans understand why/how certain stats matter. Adding MORE of them seems like a bad idea.
I really like Gary Thorne, but I thought he was off his game in the opener. He was spouting off every stat he had in front of him. Everybody preps for games and you have a myriad of stuff at your fingertips for a broadcast, but from experience I can tell you that you may never (and probably shouldn’t) mention two thirds of it.
Fans don’t need to know and don’t care that Joey Rickard once got licked in the face by a wayward dog while playing in Australia, unless a wayward animal gets on the field at Camden Yards. Similarly, show me the route efficiency of an outfielder on a fantastic catch or on a ball that seems like it should have been caught, but wasn’t. You’d find out if an outfielder is simply slow or if he doesn’t track the ball very well. Great info. However, I don’t need to see a guy catch a can of corn and the TV broadcast tell me there was a 99.4% probability that the ball would be caught.
I hate the way exit velocity is being used right now. It’s interesting, but for crying out loud it is not a statistic. If I hear “it’s the 14th hardest hit ball in the Statcast era,” I’m going to pull an Elvis and shoot my TV.
That being said, it CAN be used properly. Great info in a game last year when a player hit a home run and Statcast revealed that no ball hit with that low an exit velocity and trajectory had ever made it over the fence at that ballpark.
What a great time to declare Oriole Magic!
So, the folks at ESR are sorta right. The Statcast and metrics stuff comes down to presentation, but it also needs to add perspective. The MASN booth suddenly has a boatload more data to fill broadcast time with, and I fear that, at least for a while, they’ll misuse it and have the majority of their viewers – not just the “90-year-old” curmudgeons like me – rolling their eyes.
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