The SIS Baseball Podcast

Two weeks ago, we did an episode on women working in baseball analytics - Emily Curtis and Kiri Oler. This week, we turn our attention to people of color working in this field. Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) talked to 3 of them - Javier Duren ( @JD_Fresh20 ) of the Cardinals, Spencer Weisberg of the Mariners, and Karim Kassam ( @professormullet ) of the Twins. Javier, in his third year with the Ca...

On this edition of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by ESPN and Sirius XM’s Eduardo Perez ( @PerezEd ) to talk about the meaningful names and numbers from the season’s first few weeks. Eduardo gives his take on low batting averages and pitcher injuries and with the latter explains why a change of scenery was good for Dylan Bundy (0:49). He also t...

When we planned out Season 2 of our podcast, our goal was to make the show more thoughtful and more diverse. We continue to work towards that with this episode, which spotlights two women working in baseball analytics who recently spoke at a Women in Baseball event – Emily Curtis ( @emweecurt ) with the Mariners and Kiri Oler ( @glitter_corpse ) with the Phillies. Emily details her path to basebal...

On this edition of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by two beat writers to discuss the 2020 season outlooks for their respective teams. Mark first talks to Derrick Goold ( @dgoold ), Cardinals beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the host of “The Best Podcast in Baseball.” Derrick explains how odd it has been to cover the team (1:04),...

On this episode of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by his former ESPN colleagues, the Sunday Night Baseball radio broadcast team of Jon Sciambi ( @BoogSciambi ) and Chris Singleton ( @Singytweets ) to preview the 2020 season. Jon and Chris seek to make their broadcasts smart, interesting, and fun and their listeners better baseball people, which...

On this episode of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by longtime Angels broadcaster José Mota ( @JoseMota05 ) to preview the upcoming season. Mota provides perspective on what to watch for from several Angels key players, giving insight on how Mike Trout works at-bats (1:30), explaining what Anthony Rendon will bring (4:36), sharing what Andrelton...

On this edition of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) asks the question – how can we measure catchers beyond pitch blocking, pitch framing, and caught stealing? Longtime former MLB catcher Bengie Molina ( @BengieMolina1 ), now a Spanish-language radio broadcaster for the Cardinals, tries to help us out. Bengie talks about the different factors that come into...

On this episode, Mark Simon talks to Brandon Guyer ( @BrandonGuyer ), who just retired after an 8-year, 500+-game MLB career in which he was known for his ability to hit left-handed pitching and his penchant for being hit by a pitch. Guyer (with the help of his wife) has just written an 80-page book, The Fully Equipped Athlete and started a new business to mentor aspiring athletes ( fullyequippeda...

On this episode of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by Thomas Harding ( @harding_at_mlb ), Rockies beat writer for MLB.com, Alex Speier ( @alexspeier ), who covers the Red Sox and MLB for the Boston Globe and Alex Coffey ( @byalexcoffey ), who covers the Athletics for The Athletic . Almost every other episode of this podcast deals with statistica...

On this episode of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by KT Wiz outfielder Mel Rojas Jr. ( @melrojasjr ), arguably the best hitter in the KBO and the league’s leader in hard-hit rate. If Mel’s name sounds familiar, it should – his father pitched 10 seasons in the majors including a strong run as the closer for the Expos. Mel talks about his family’...

On this special edition episode, Mark Simon is joined by Sports Info Solutions Director of Basketball, Jake Loos. SIS recently announced that it would be entering the basketball business. Jake, the former director of basketball analytics and technology for the Phoenix Suns will head up our operation. Jake talks about his background, which includes an MBA from MIT and what he loves about basketball...

We know that MLB is back and we’ll talk about that plenty in the next few weeks. This week on the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by Japanese baseball writer, statistician and historian Jim Allen ( @JballAllen ) of JballAllen.com to talk about Nippon Professional Baseball (the NPB). Jim explains his background and talks about how Japan was able to w...

On this episode of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by Baseball America writer Carlos Collazo ( @CarlosACollazo ) to talk about last week’s MLB Draft and how different players rate from a defensive perspective. First, they discuss the preparation heading into the draft and the challenges of trying to evaluate a player’s defense at the amateur lev...

On this episode of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by Coastal Carolina ( @CoastalBaseball ) outfielder Parker Chavers ( @pchavers14 ). Parker was a preseason All-American and a two-time All-Sun Belt conference selection who missed the start of 2020 due to a shoulder injury. Prior to the injury he was ranked among college baseball’s top outfielde...

On this episode of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) talks with college baseball infielder Dai Dai Otaka ( @dai_squared ) about studying defensive excellence using a combination of video and in-depth statistical analysis (what we like to do!). Dai Dai first fills us in on his interests and his successful time as a starter at second base and shortstop at Yal...

On this episode, Mark Simon ( @markasimonsays ) is joined by Dirk Lammers ( @ddlammers ), author of Baseball’s No-Hit Wonders and an expert on the history of no-hitters for a conversation on all the different factors that go into throwing one. Dirk explains the origins of his research, how much research he’s done, and his favorite (2:18). They then discuss the most prominent defensive plays in no-...

On this episode of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by Yonhap News reporter Jeeho Yoo ( @Jeeho_1 ). Jeeho is based in Seoul, South Korea and covers the KBO on a daily basis. He explains fan reaction to the return of baseball (2:27) and what it’s like to cover baseball in the age of Coronavirus (4:46). He also gives his impressions of the season s...

On this episode of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by softball star A.J. Andrews ( @aj_andrews_ ) to talk about what goes into being an outstanding defensive outfielder. A.J. was the first softball player to be awarded a Rawlings Gold Glove, and she breaks down three catches: the first being one along the right field line in which she explained...

On this edition of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by Washington Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver ( @DeanO_Lytics ), a pioneer in basketball analytics, to discuss some of the challenges of measuring defense in his sport. Dean talks about the differences in basketball analysis contrasting 25 years ago to now (2:18), the parallels between track...

On this episode of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by Braves third base coach Ron Washington who has an incredible amount of wisdom to share from his home in New Orleans. Wash explains what defensive excellence means to him (2:19), his first defensive mentor in baseball, Chico Fernandez (2:57), how hard it is to be a good defensive player (4:02)...

On this edition of the Sports Info Solution Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by Tampa Bay Rays Platinum-Glove winning center fielder Kevin Kiermaier ( @KKiermaier39 ) for a comprehensive explanation of what goes into playing defense. Kiermaier explains what he is doing to keep busy with his wife and toddler son in Tampa and the commonalities between bow-fishing and trying...

On this edition of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by Dr. Aaron Gray ( @MizzouSportsDoc ), a Youth & Adult Sports Medicine Physician at the University of Missouri, and SIS Injury Coordinator John Verros ( @VerrosJohn ). Dr. Gray gives his advice on sifting through the overwhelming amount of information (and misinformation) related to Coronav...

On this episode of the SIS Baseball Podcast, senior research analyst Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) talks with two current MLB coaches who have an expertise in playing multiple positions – Don Kelly (Pirates bench coach) and Joe McEwing (White Sox bench coach). Don Kelly talked about what it took to become “Zobristian” – a player who could play any position on the field (2:23), how many gloves he...

On this edition of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, senior research analyst Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) takes the show in a different direction. Mark is joined by science writer and stand-up comedienne Kasha Patel ( @KashaPatel ). Kasha, whose day job is as a science writer and social media manager for NASA, has opened for notable names such as Jen Kirkman and Vir Das in her comedy w...

On this episode of the Sports Info Solutions, senior research analyst Mark Simon ( @MarkASimonSays ) is joined by Giants bench coach Kai Correa ( @ThatGuy_Kai ). He talked about #CoachesvsCOVID , a series of coaching clinics aimed at raising money for The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, which is doing Covid-related research (1:56). Kai also talked about the instructional videos available o...