Washington Nationals and Bloomberg Sports Sign New Analytic Technology Solution Partnership

Washington Nationals and Bloomberg Sports Sign New Analytic Technology Solution Partnership. BSports is the world’s leader in sports analytic technology and will design a state of the art player evaluation system for the Nats baseball operations department. The Sports Techie blog Q & A with BSports President, Bill Squadron, touches on the uniqueness of this MLB deal, training of staff, and how their Solution improves the workflow of the Nats organization that aspires to take another step forward and win the World Series this season after winning the 2012 National League East Division Championship.

The Nationals new system will combine a number of diverse data sources on all professional players with customized and enhanced technology to assist the evaluation process. This new partnership is the latest step in analytic technology for Bloomberg Sports, which has been a leader in creating solutions for MLB teams, players and fans for the past four years.

“We have a need in our business today to manage data quickly and efficiently to make sure we are maximizing the performance of all our assets on and off the field. No one can help us manage all that data more effectively than Bloomberg Sports,” said Mike Rizzo, Nationals Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager. “We have a need to make sure everyone in our baseball operations department has access to the best tools to properly evaluate our players, from prospects to the players on our Major League roster. This partnership will make the evaluation process more robust for individuals at all levels of our organization, and will help give us the best chance to be successful not just today, but well into the future.”

The platform is being created with both laptop and mobile capability, and the two parties will begin implementation and development of the new system immediately.

Q & A with BSports Bill Squadron

1) How do the Nationals analytical technology wants and needs differ from other MLB teams?
Every team has some very specific things they are looking for and its reflective more of the way the organization is built and where there emphasis is. It is early in the process for the Nats, but we wouldn’t discuss specifics regardless.
2) How long will it take to train the IT department, coaching staff, scouts, and administrators, to use their customized Solution?
It is ongoing. The good news is that technology knowledge in general is way ahead of where it was when we started the process four years ago, so things like tablets and smart phones are not as foreign as they once were. It is more a case of fine tuning than starting from zero, and thats the case with most organizations.
3) How does implementing your new tool during in-season improve the Nats workflow?
The goal is to take all the data, linked to video and create an easy to use platform that saves hours per day. It is delivered in a format that is easy to use and outs all possible sources in one place. Whereas before there might be multiple places to search and it could take hours, we create solutions that can take minutes, and in the case of video linked to stats, can almost be in real time depending on what a coach or a scout or a player is looking for.

2013 SABR Analytics Conference

Bill and Jerry Dipoto of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim spoke at the 2013 SABR Analytics Conference on March 7, 2013, in Phoenix, Arizona. Embedded below is a new SABR Videos of that conference on YouTube. For complete coverage of the wonderful SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.

2013 SABR Analytics Conference: Bloomberg Sports with Jerry Dipoto

“We are delighted to partner with the Nats to bring our unparalleled technology and support to their goal of providing their organization with the best possible tools,” said Bill. “They had a great season last year and we are very pleased to provide a system for Mike and his team that can help give them the best opportunity to continue to be highly successful.”

About Bloomberg Sports

Named by Mashable as one of its “Five Most Innovative Sports Brands for 2012,” by The Sports Business Journal as a Finalist for “Best In Sports Technology” in 2012 and by Fast Company Magazine as one of the “Most Innovative Companies in Sports” in 2011, Bloomberg Sports takes the technology developed by Bloomberg, the leading global provider in data and analytics, and applies it to the vast data analysis opportunities in sports. Working with MLB.com and other partners since its launch in 2010, Bloomberg Sports fantasy products have given fans the most powerful, easy to use resources as they draft and manage their fantasy teams. Additionally, Bloomberg Sports provides a professional product that delivers Major League Baseball clubs with a secure, virtually unlimited set of analytical functions to assist them in personnel evaluation and game preparation. Bloomberg Sports has also created products customized for broad cast use, as well as professional tools for several professional baseball organizations in Latin America and Japan. The company also has a consumer soccer product available for European football, and recently launched  “Stats Insights,”  a comprehensive blog that contains original content and analysis for the five major European football leagues as well as the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA, drawing on the most advanced, data-driven predictive analytics.  BSports partners in soccer include Gala Coral and Norwich City Football Club. For more information go to bsports.com

Sports Techie, Thank you to Bill, BSports, the Washington Nationals, and Mike, for sharing this terrific information with our community.

Sports Technology might be a $200 billion dollar market when you consider all the different philosophies and products that are part of defining the market size. Sports analytics solutions and products are one of the main drivers right now of this fast growing global Industry. Sports tech is a difference maker and what BSports offers to MLB clubs is worth it’s price in gold, oil or Championship rings which is why the Nats decided to go in that direction.

Saving hours a day is significant for any Pro, College or amateur team. Linking data to video and creating an easy to use platform sounds easy but it’s not. During the 1997/98 NFL season, as the Director of Sales and Marketing for Sports 2000, it was also my job to install and maintain the Sports 2000 NFL Game Planning Expert System that ran on Windows 95. The GI2000 had video, statistics and analytics technology built into the Expert System and was really ahead of its time for the Seattle Seahawks, Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills, and coaches, Jim Zorn with the Detroit Lions, and Clarence Shelmon at the Dallas Cowboys. The Seahawks went through coaching and IT department turnover and welcomed a new owner in Paul Allen, so I know what it is like to face the integration tasks that BSports has with each team they work with.

Bill is spot on when he says all MLB franchises today are using smartphones and tablets but they may have 2, 5 or 10 systems all trying to do what BSports can do in one. Some Pro teams have owners that will spend top dollar in order to have proprietary technology that no one else has as a sports technology competitive edge. Most of the time however by spending a big amount of money, resources and time, you end up with a System that is not as scalable or cost effective as the Industry leaders’ wares.

We are living in an amazing Sports Techie time when you consider Bill said that BSports can, “create solutions that can take minutes, and in the case of video linked to stats, can almost be in real time depending on what a coach or a scout or a player is looking for.”

To be part of ground breaking sports analytics technology over the past 25 years is my privilege as THE Sports Techie. Let us know below in this blog or at any of our social media networks your experiences with sports analytics technology.

I will see ya when I see ya, THE Sports Techie – http://twitter.com/THESportsTechie

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