Expected Value

Steve Fenn is a data visualization architect who specializes in Tableau. In our conversation, he’ll talk about… - Importance and usefulness of data visualization - What Tableau is, how it’s used to create data viz, and why it’s popular - Principles of good data viz - Common mistakes he sees - Good visualizations he’s created and mistakes he’s made - His Tableau Development Academy Show links - Ste...

Cynthia Frelund is a data scientist for the NFL Network, where she brings analytical insight to all aspects of the network’s coverage, including this week’s NFL Draft. In this episode, Cynthia talks about… - Her analytics-based mock draft and how it differs from traditional mocks and big boards - What prospect jumps out to her from a data perspective - How she uses predictive analytics during the...

Eric Thibault is the associate head coach of the reigning WNBA champion Washington Mystics. He’s been with the Mystics since 2013, and he has his hands in most every aspect of coaching the team. In this conversation, he talks about… - What he does as an associate head coach - Using data in advance scouting, player development, draft prep and more - How available data has changed in the past decade...

The second guest in Expected Value’s Champions series is Jonathan Tosches, Manager of Advance Scouting for the reigning World Series champion Washington Nationals. In this episode, we talk about… - What MLB advance scouts do - Data he uses and what he produces - Communicating and building relationships with players and coaches - Working in the replay room during games - How he saved the Nationals...

To kick off our Champions series on Expected Value, our first guest is Ravi Ramineni, director of soccer analytics for the reigning MLS Cup champion Seattle Sounders. Ravi talks about… - His role, which covers on-field strategy, player recruitment & salary cap - What he does on a matchday - How his job has evolved in seven years with Seattle - Descriptive, predictive & prescriptive analytics - His...

The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia mixes journalism and data as well as anyone covering the NFL. At last month’s NFL combine, he talked about… - His career path to ESPN and The Athletic - How he started manually tracking data - Using numbers in journalism - Evolution of NFL data during his reporting career - How teams are using analytics better - Advice for aspiring sports journalists Show Links- Twitte...

Dmitry Gordeev and Philipp Singer won the NFL’s second Big Data Bowl, which asked competitors the question: When an NFL ball carrier takes a handoff, how many yards should we expect the play to gain? Expected Value spoke with the winners at the NFL Combine, covering topics including… - How two Europeans with minimal NFL knowledge won the Big Data Bowl - Keys to developing their model - What separa...

Tom Worville is a newly-minted football (soccer) analytics writer for The Athletic, and he was previously a senior data analyst for the data and analytics company Opta. In this episode, he talks about… - His Opta Pro Forum presentation on long and short goal kicks - His career path from Analytics FC to Opta to The Athletic - Why he’s joining The Athletic and what he’ll do there - Communicating thr...

This episode features conversations with four presenters from last week’s Opta Pro Forum, a soccer analytics conference held in London. - Karun Singh, a software engineer who used tracking data to identify recurring match situations - David Perdomo Meza, a data scientist at Twenty3 who looked at how different playing styles worked against each other - Will Gürpinar-Morgan, a Stats Perform data sci...

Aaron Schatz is the founder and editor-in-chief of Football Outsiders, the first prominent football analytics web site. On this episode, we’ll talk about… - Why the Chiefs are a 57% Super Bowl favorite, per DVOA - How the Chiefs and 49ers match up on both sides of the ball - Origins of Football Outsiders and DVOA - Where football analytics is going - How much easier getting into football analytics...

Eric Eager is a senior data scientist at Pro Football Focus, and he co-hosts the PFF Forecast Podcast. In this episode, we’ll discuss… - Takeaways from the AFC and NFC title games - What makes the Chiefs so difficult to defend - How good the Chiefs and 49ers defenses are - Super Bowl bets that look appealing - What PFF does and what he does there - How teams use PFF data - The rise of analytics in...

Mike Sando is a senior NFL writer at The Athletic, and he’s one of the most open-minded and analytically-minded national NFL writers, as well as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s election committee. In this episode, we talk about… - The Divisional Round and conference championship games - Mike’s career path from Whitworth to ESPN to The Athletic - How football data has changed over the p...

Paul Sabin is a Senior Sports Analytics Specialist at ESPN, where he works on various metrics as part of ESPN’s Sports Analytics group. In this episode, Paul will discuss… - What his job entails at ESPN - The college football title game, through the lens of metrics like Total QBR and Football Power Index - Creating the Player Impact Rating - Challenges of capturing a human element in ESPN’s Colleg...

James Tippett is the author of The Expected Goals Philosophy: A Game-Changing Way of Analysing Football. Among the topics discussed in this episode: - His initial exposure to expected goals - What prompted him to write this book - An overview of the expected goals statistic and how it’s calculated - Using expected goals both descriptively and predictively - Reaction to Brentford’s rise as an analy...

Spencer Anderson is the Director of Basketball Analytics for the Indiana Pacers, and he’s one of few sports analytics people with both a master’s degree and a law degree. Among the topics covered: - His career path to his current job - What he does with the Pacers - State of analytics in the NBA - Keys to communicating data - Load management in the NBA - Where to eat in Iowa City Show links - Foll...

A Senior Research Analyst at Sports Info Solutions, Mark Simon is as passionate and knowledgeable about baseball as anyone you will meet, and he is one of 12 voters for the Fielding Bible Awards. Among the topics covered: - Mark’s career path to ESPN and Sports Info Solutions - Communicating data to former players - Advice for people looking to advance in the sports media and analytics industries...

Mike Goodman is a soccer writer and managing editor of StatsBomb.com, and last week he wrote a good piece entitled, “A case study on using data to prepare to administer the eye test,” reacting to an MLS playoff game in which data and the eye test seemed to differ. Mike is one of the better writers at bringing together data and a tactical eye, and then producing easy-to-understand articles that app...

Asmae Toumi is the editor-in-chief of Hockey-Graphs, a site that analyzes and visualizes the NHL, and she’s a prominent member of the online hockey analytics community. Among the topics discussed: - How to get started in the field - Challenges of hockey analytics - What puck- and player-tracking data might do for the sport - Hockey-Graphs’ mentorship program - Her love of both R and Brad Marchand...

Taylor Twellman has been ESPN’s lead soccer analyst for nearly a decade, and he provides perspective on using data in television and communicating with non-analytics types. Among the topics discussed… - The objective information he looked for as a player - His prep process for broadcasting a game - What makes a stat good and useful for him - Challenges of working information into a soccer broadcas...

Jeff Bennett oversees ESPN’s Stats & Information Group, which produces statistics and analytics that power all of ESPN’s platforms. Having been at ESPN for 25 years, Jeff’s career parallels the rise in sports data and analytics, and he is one of the most influential people in mainstream sports stats over the last quarter century. In this podcast, he discusses… - What ESPN’s Stats & Informa...

This episode features two soccer-related presenters from last weekend’s NESSIS conference in Boston: Laurie Shaw and Sam Gregory. Both guests talk about their presentations and research, which use player-tracking data. Harvard’s Laurie Shaw (@EightyFivePoint) presented on using player-tracking data to classify and analyze team strategy, by identifying formations in different situations. Laurie has...

This episode features two NFL-related presenters from last weekend’s NESSIS conference in Boston: Ron Yurko (@Stat_Ron) and Dani Chu (@chuurveg). Both guests talk about their presentations and research, which use NFL player-tracking data. Ron Yurko’s presentation focused on in-play valuation, which can lead to live models for expected points and win probability, instead of the traditional pre- and...

Jared Hughes has been pitching in the majors since 2011, and the new wave of data is crucial to his preparation process. Among the topics covered: - How he uses analytics to prepare and review - Pitching during the launch-angle revolution - Statcast numbers he finds interesting - What he wishes could be quantified - Communicating analytics to players

Michael Lopez has been the NFL’s Director of Football Data & Analytics for over a year, and he’s also a statistics professor at Skidmore College. He brings a strong academic background and a coaching perspective to his NFL job. Among the topics covered: - What he does in his role for the league - State of analytics in the NFL - The league’s relatively new NGS player-tracking data - Working wit...

Lucy Rushton is the Head of Technical Recruitment and Analysis for Atlanta United, which has won three trophies in its first three MLS seasons, including last year’s MLS Cup. Before joining Atlanta in 2015, Lucy was Head of Technical Scouting at English club Reading, and prior to that, she was a Player Recruitment Analyst for Watford. She also grew up playing the sport and won the English Champion...