Books on Baseball Analytics

[pacman 7497]

Looking for recommendations for books on baseball analytics or at least insights into some of the new approaches. I have already read Moneyball and most things Bill James.

 

I was looking at the Astroball book but heard that was more of seasonal recap than any true insight/deep dive into Astros methodology. That makes sense to me as I doubt they are looking to give anything away while they have a competitive advantage.

I have seen Keith Law's Smart Baseball and Rob Neyer's Power Ball are well reviewed but I assume they are writing about others work. I saw Big Data Baseball from Travis Sawchick, who I have seen on fangraphs and now 538.

Extra points if it is on Audible. TIA

[TheFlagship 466]

The Book by Tom Tango is the holy grail of baseball analytics imo. Gets pretty math intensive at times fyi.

[Jameslaw121 4486]

Keith Law's books is great if you're kinda new to analytics. It's great for explaining why WAR, WHIP and OPS are better than ERA, W-L, and BA. But for more advanced that that. Mathletics is good. The Flagship mentioned  The Book, which is great, but really math heavy. 

The best for me is just picking up one or two things a day and reading the glossary on FG's then trying to figure it out. 

[Hank Chinaski 6346]

12 minutes ago, TheFlagship said:

The Book by Tom Tango is the holy grail of baseball analytics imo. Gets pretty math intensive at times fyi.

Yup, this is the best one I've read. 

[henrygandorf 29223]

26 minutes ago, pacman said:

I was looking at the Astroball book but heard that was more of seasonal recap than any true insight/deep dive into Astros methodology. That makes sense to me as I doubt they are looking to give anything away while they have a competitive advantage.

while there is some general recap, there is a lot of philosophy behind it, even if it doesn't delve into statistical specifics.  it basically explains how the front office took the idea of moneyball, and tweaked it based on their own experiences, and thus created their own version moving forward.  it then goes player by player to explain how that philosophy was involved.

astroball as a book is split into people (front office, scouts, players), not into points of the season.  if you were on the moon for the entire 2017 season, this would not be a good book to fill you in on the events.  i recommend it unless you totally hate the astros.

rob neyer wrote a book called "powerball" about one specific game between oakland and houston.  i haven't read it, but i heard him on espn/mlbn and it sounded interesting, especially if you're into in-game trends and realtime application of analytics.  maybe someone else can chime in on whether it's any good.

[Hank Chinaski 6346]

33 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

while there is some general recap, there is a lot of philosophy behind it, even if it doesn't delve into statistical specifics.  it basically explains how the front office took the idea of moneyball, and tweaked it based on their own experiences, and thus created their own version moving forward.  it then goes player by player to explain how that philosophy was involved.

astroball as a book is split into people (front office, scouts, players), not into points of the season.  if you were on the moon for the entire 2017 season, this would not be a good book to fill you in on the events.  i recommend it unless you totally hate the astros.

Agree with this. While it is entertaining enough, Astroball really doesn't get much into specific methods or analytical philosophies that set the Astros apart (which makes sense, because so much of that stuff is proprietary) outside of hiring "baseball outsiders" to run things. It reads like a really long SI article, which stands to reason because the guy who wrote it is an SI reporter. 

Edited March 8, 2019 by Hank Chinaski

[Capn81 396]

I would start with Keith Law’s book and go on from there. For a somewhat different approach, Ron Shandlers baseball forecaster is a good read if you can get through things with a fantasy baseball approach. It can get pretty deep at times.

[pacman 7497]

Thanks folk. I just took all of your suggestions. Started in on Astroball while I wait for the others to be delivered.

[Jameslaw121 4486]

Found what I was talking about. I would read a little bit of these articles everyday. Some I dismissed as a little bit too much. But alot of them led me down a rabbit hole for hours at a time:

 

http://library.fangraphs.com/

Edited March 14, 2019 by Jameslaw121

[Capn81 396]

Found what I was talking about. I would read a little bit of these articles everyday. Some I dismissed as a little bit too much. But alot of them led me down a rabbit hole for hours at a time:
 
[/url][url=]http://library.fangraphs.com/

I agree that fangraphs can be great! Some of their items are a bit too much at times.