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sfitzger10's review against another edition
5.0
This is a very dense book but gives insight into the outsiders of the baseball world. Kyle Boddy and driveline have changed baseball. This book tells there story.
tofugitive's review against another edition
informative
4.0
If you've read Moneyball and/or you're familiar with the ideas and concepts behind it when it comes to how it revolutionized baseball, you should read this to understand what actual modern day baseball "analytics" looks like today. This is the modern revolutionary change to how the best and most successful organizations find and develop talent.
If you're paying closer attention to baseball and organizational development, it's impossible to not have heard of Driveline and other baseball development labs. This book is heavy on the pitcher side of player development when it comes to modern day stuff, but there's also a lot of cool history related to systemic approaches to finding talent in the past and how it evolved.
Given that the book was published in 2019, it's already outdated in many ways. I'm not in the baseball industry nor am I close enough to it professionally or personally to know the newest advancements and approaches to player development, so I can't comment on that specifically. However, it is *very* Trevor Bauer heavy. Very. He is important to the story, however, so it makes sense. But he's as insufferable as his public persona is, and knowing the monster he is actually, it's frustrating that he's always around.
It's probably a little longer than it needs to be and there isn't necessarily a direct narrative or anything, but if you're like me and have spent thousands and thousands of hours playing Out of the Park Baseball and have poured over the annual Baseball Prospectus books for at least a decade, this is a must read.
If you're paying closer attention to baseball and organizational development, it's impossible to not have heard of Driveline and other baseball development labs. This book is heavy on the pitcher side of player development when it comes to modern day stuff, but there's also a lot of cool history related to systemic approaches to finding talent in the past and how it evolved.
Given that the book was published in 2019, it's already outdated in many ways. I'm not in the baseball industry nor am I close enough to it professionally or personally to know the newest advancements and approaches to player development, so I can't comment on that specifically. However, it is *very* Trevor Bauer heavy. Very. He is important to the story, however, so it makes sense. But he's as insufferable as his public persona is, and knowing the monster he is actually, it's frustrating that he's always around.
It's probably a little longer than it needs to be and there isn't necessarily a direct narrative or anything, but if you're like me and have spent thousands and thousands of hours playing Out of the Park Baseball and have poured over the annual Baseball Prospectus books for at least a decade, this is a must read.
orb12um's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent cutting sabermetric book.
Only thing that stopped it short of five stars can't even really be blamed on the book itself, just the waxing lyrical of Bauer, Clevinger and the 2017 Astros taints it slightly. I guess I can't blame Lindbergh for not being a psychic!
Very interesting overall read of the changing landscape.
Only thing that stopped it short of five stars can't even really be blamed on the book itself, just the waxing lyrical of Bauer, Clevinger and the 2017 Astros taints it slightly. I guess I can't blame Lindbergh for not being a psychic!
Very interesting overall read of the changing landscape.
tittypete's review against another edition
2.0
Felt really fucking long. Could have been an article. Unlike Moneyball, which this book sorta claims to be the successor of there's no real through story. It gets bogged down in endless detail. If I was more of a baseball stat nerd perhaps this would have made my dick harder. Basically, the current revolution in the MLB is data-driven player development. There are some interesting anecdotes about the origins of player development (the minors, training camps). There's an awesome bit about how the guy who founded Driveline applied for a bunch of jobs during an ambien blackout. Frequent mentions of Branch Rickey. But there's a lot about the Asshole Astros and Trump-Bottom Trevor Bauer. Both entities saw success from PD but were ultimately unlikeable subjects to continue reading about for so long. Interesting? Yes. Fun read? Meh.
compmanjx3's review against another edition
4.0
If you want a window into where baseball is headed, it's all right here. Well, it was all right here until Covid-19 threw a giant monkey wrench into everything. But the trends discussed in The MVP Machine will continue unabated, even if some other parts of baseball's future are terrifyingly unknown.
I've long intuited that some teams have been able to develop players and other (like my beloved KC Royals) have no clue. A lot of what's going on is laid bare in the pages of The MVP Machine. Indeed, it worse than I thought - some teams have figured out how to take a baseball player and make them better, and other teams don't even think that's possible. I read a lot about this kind of thing on Fangraphs, but I wasn't aware of the blinding speed at which the industry is improving in this respect. Hopefully the Royals' new ownership is on board.
As a book, it doesn't all work 100% of the time. The writing increasingly dragged as the anecdotes became more familiar. Some of the protagonists, like Trevor Bauer and the Houston Astros, are less than sympathetic. The afterword is a mess because a ridiculous amount of relevant things happened in the year between the hardcover and paperback releases. Even so, this is a must read for the thinking baseball fan.
And Royals fans, get excited: Brian Bannister himself is quoted extensively.
I've long intuited that some teams have been able to develop players and other (like my beloved KC Royals) have no clue. A lot of what's going on is laid bare in the pages of The MVP Machine. Indeed, it worse than I thought - some teams have figured out how to take a baseball player and make them better, and other teams don't even think that's possible. I read a lot about this kind of thing on Fangraphs, but I wasn't aware of the blinding speed at which the industry is improving in this respect. Hopefully the Royals' new ownership is on board.
As a book, it doesn't all work 100% of the time. The writing increasingly dragged as the anecdotes became more familiar. Some of the protagonists, like Trevor Bauer and the Houston Astros, are less than sympathetic. The afterword is a mess because a ridiculous amount of relevant things happened in the year between the hardcover and paperback releases. Even so, this is a must read for the thinking baseball fan.
And Royals fans, get excited: Brian Bannister himself is quoted extensively.
onofreshoots's review against another edition
4.0
A dry, but very interesting take on baseball analytics in player development. Perfectly timed by me to read this during the MLB playoffs when a lot of the players and organizations mentioned in the book happened to be involved. ;)
croaker's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic book. I have been a huge baseball fan for about 7 years now and this book has completely changed the way I see the sport.
This is a must read for any fan of baseball.
This is a must read for any fan of baseball.
sydodo13's review against another edition
4.0
Covers a lot of ground related to player development on both the analytical and mechanical sides, with many case studies of current MLB players who have drastically improved throughout their careers. Potentially too much Trevor Bauer content.