This week, we’re doing things a bit differently on Expected Value. Producer Sergio De La Espriella has taken over Expected Value and conducted an interview in Spanish, as a way of expanding accessibility to data and analytics information to the Spanish-speaking public. Our Spanish-speaking guest is Cristian Perez. Cristian is coming off a four year stint with the Cincinnati Reds where he served as an Assistant Bullpen & Advances Scouting Coach. He also played college baseball at Duke...

Lauren Poe is part of ESPN’s sports analytics team, which is responsible for metrics like Total QBR, Power Indices for Basketball, Football, and Soccer, and Strength of Record for college football. She has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma, spent time as a math teacher, and got her ESPN in the Stats and Analysis department. In this conversation, Lauren talks about… Her career path from math teacher to ESPN Her early years in the ESPN Stats & Analysis group The...

This week, we’re doing things a bit differently on Expected Value. Producer Sergio De La Espriella has taken over Expected Value and conducted an interview in Spanish, as a way of expanding accessibility to data and analytics information to the Spanish-speaking public. Our first Spanish-speaking guest is Julio Costa, data scientist for Fulham F.C. in the Premier League. Julio has an unorthodox background that includes studying in the United States, running his own analytics blog, and a...

Sarah Rudd is one of the early pioneers of modern soccer analytics, being heavily involved in the evolution of soccer analytics over the last 10-15 years. Rudd recently joined Blue Crow Sports Group after spending time with Arsenal in the Premier League. Sarah is half of the “First Family” of soccer analytics, being married to Ravi Ramineni, another top soccer analytics mind who previously worked as the Director of Analytics for the Seattle Sounders. Ravi was on Expected Value a couple of...

Chris Cleary is fresh off winning a national championship in his 4th season with the Ole Miss program, the 2nd national championship in Ole Miss athletics history. The Rebels were 7-14 in conference play at one point and turned their season around en route to a national championship. Chris joined the Rebels in August of 2018 as the Coordinator of Operations before being promoted to his current role in July of 2020. In this conversation, Chris talks about… The College World Series experience...

Robin Lund just wrapped up his fourth season with the Iowa Hawkeyes and his third season as the pitching coach. Iowa pitchers finished the season top-five in the country in ERA, K%, and opponents batting average, among other stats. Before he joined the Iowa staff, Robin spent over 15 years as an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology as UNI. In this conversation, Robin talks about… His journey to becoming the Iowa Hawkeyes pitching coach His work as a kinesiology professor and...

Seth Partnow was formerly the Director of Basketball Research for the Milwaukee Bucks, and he now writes for The Athletic and is the Director of Basketball for the data company StatsBomb. Last November he released a book titled: The Midrange Theory, Basketball’s Evolution in the Age of Analytics. In this conversation, Seth talks about… His book The Midrange Theory, Basketball’s Evolution in the Age of Analytics The first two games of the 2022 NBA Finals How he watches games and looks at data...

Fernando Palomo has worked at ESPN since 2000 as an anchor and soccer play-by-play commentator, both in English and Spanish. Fernando has covered multiple major soccer events including World Cups, Euros, and the UEFA Champions League. He has been one of the more receptive soccer people to using data and advanced stats on TV and frequently uses analytics in his broadcasts. In this conversation, Fernando talks about… The upcoming Liverpool-Real Madrid Champions League final What he looks for in...

Robyn Ritchie, a PhD student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, is part of the team that won the NFL’s Big Data Bowl this year. This was the fourth annual Big Data Bowl, put on by Mike Lopez and the league’s analytics staff, and the topic this year was special teams, with each team given a set of tracking data and asked to come up with analysis and strategies based on that data. Robyn and her teammates (Brendan Kumagai, Ryker Moreau, Elijah Cavan) bested over 200 contestants with their...

Chip Hale won a national title as a player with Arizona back in 1986, played seven years in the major leagues, then spent 15 years as a major-league coach and manger. He won a World Series as the Nationals bench coach in 2019, and then took over the Arizona baseball program last summer. In this conversation, Chip talks about… * The evolution of data availability over the course of his playing and coaching career * What information college teams have access to * What...

Jill Reiner and Ella Summer won the college division of this year’s NFL Big Data Bowl, which asked participants to “evaluate defensive performance on passing plays.” In these conversations, Jill and Ella will talk about…. - What they’re studying in school - How they got interested in the Big Data Bowl and decided to join the competition - Their approaches and methodologies in evaluating pass defense performance - What surprised them as they dove into the data - What next steps they’d...

Robbie Robinson is a Complex Manager and Catching Instructor for the New York Mets. In this conversation, Robbie talks about… - His baseball career path - What he does for the Mets in his current role - The evolution of available data over the past decade - Using data to both know yourself and know others - Keys to communicating data and the importance of relationships - What data helps in evaluating the catching process - Catcher framing data and applying that to catching technique -...

Alex Vigderman is a Lead Research Analyst at Sports Info Solutions, and he talks about… - What Sports Info Solutions does - What he does as Lead Research Analyst - Compiling the SIS Football Rookie Handbook and takeaways from its statistical analysis - Analyzing strengths and weaknesses of Florida QB Kyle Trask - The draft prospect that numbers suggest is undervalued - Sports Info Solutions’ Total Points model, which measures individual contribution in football - Creating metrics without...

John Tobias is a professor of sports statistics and analytics at UNC-Charlotte, and he also works as a TV statistician for a variety of sports. In this conversation, John talks about… - His unconventional path to working in both TV and the academic world - What a statistician does during a broadcast - How to choose what stats are given to talent - Challenges to live TV - How advanced stats factor into TV - Communicating stats concisely in broadcasts - Components that go into teaching...

Mike Petriello is a writer and analyst for MLB.com, host of the Ballpark Dimensions podcast, and analyst on ESPN’s Statcast broadcasts. In this conversation, Mike talks about… - The Rays pulling Blake Snell in the sixth inning of Game 6, and the fallout of that move - How he decides what to write about - His process for diving into the data - His articles on Cody Bellinger’s fielding prowess and the different arm angles of the Rays pitching staff - How to communicate complex ideas in...

Justin Ray is the Head of Content for 15th Club, and he was previously a Senior Researcher at The Golf Channel and ESPN. Among the topics covered… - How 15th Club works with golfers and media - How golf data has evolved over the past 20 years - What Strokes Gained is and how it can be used - How players use data on and off the course - Bryson DeChambeau’s unique approach to the game - What’s next in golf analytics and how they trickle down to recreational golfers - How to get started in...

Alok Pattani is a Data Science Developer Advocate for Google Cloud, which partners with sports organizations including Major League Baseball and the NCAA. He is also a consultant for the Dallas Cowboys, and he was previously a founding member of ESPN’s sports analytics department. In this conversation, Alok will talk about… - What Google Cloud is and what he does for them - How Google works with MLB and the NCAA - BigQuery and how he uses it - How the volume of sports data has changed in...

Keith Goldner is the Vice President of Data Science at FanDuel, where he oversees the company’s sports modeling and innovation. He’s also the Chief Analyst for numberFire, the sports projection company he helped start straight out of college about a decade ago. In this episode, Keith talks about… - What he does for FanDuel and numberFire - Working with NBA teams, both now and a decade ago - The most important thing in communicating data - How to break into the sports analytics field -...

Brian Burke has been at the forefront of football analytics over over a decade, since creating AdvancedNFLStats.com in the mid-2000s. He’s now a Senior Analytics Specialist at ESPN, where he and the analytics team recently unveiled new metrics for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate. In this episode, Brian will discuss… - Previous metrics he’s developed at ESPN - The process of building the models for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate - Challenges he and the team faced in...

Brian Burke has been at the forefront of football analytics over over a decade, since creating AdvancedNFLStats.com in the mid-2000s. He’s now a Senior Analytics Specialist at ESPN, where he and the analytics team recently unveiled new metrics for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate. In this episode, Brian will discuss… - Previous metrics he’s developed at ESPN - The process of building the models for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate - Challenges he and the team faced in...

Brian Burke has been at the forefront of football analytics over over a decade, since creating AdvancedNFLStats.com in the mid-2000s. He’s now a Senior Analytics Specialist at ESPN, where he and the analytics team recently unveiled new metrics for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate. In this episode, Brian will discuss… - Previous metrics he’s developed at ESPN - The process of building the models for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate - Challenges he and the team faced in...

Brian Burke has been at the forefront of football analytics over over a decade, since creating AdvancedNFLStats.com in the mid-2000s. He’s now a Senior Analytics Specialist at ESPN, where he and the analytics team recently unveiled new metrics for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate. In this episode, Brian will discuss… - Previous metrics he’s developed at ESPN - The process of building the models for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate - Challenges he and the team faced in...

Brian Burke has been at the forefront of football analytics over over a decade, since creating AdvancedNFLStats.com in the mid-2000s. He’s now a Senior Analytics Specialist at ESPN, where he and the analytics team recently unveiled new metrics for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate. In this episode, Brian will discuss… - Previous metrics he’s developed at ESPN - The process of building the models for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate - Challenges he and the team faced in...

Brian Burke has been at the forefront of football analytics over over a decade, since creating AdvancedNFLStats.com in the mid-2000s. He’s now a Senior Analytics Specialist at ESPN, where he and the analytics team recently unveiled new metrics for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate. In this episode, Brian will discuss… - Previous metrics he’s developed at ESPN - The process of building the models for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate - Challenges he and the team faced in...