He blinded me with science!
Never a strong suit of mine in school, and normally I would stay away from any book that would remind me of that failing, but Will Carroll‘s latest book does have baseball in the title so…
Carroll has long been the go-to guy for all things injury-related (his Twitter handle is @injuryexpert), which he covered in Saving the Pitcher: Preventing Pitcher Injuries in Modern Baseball. He also wrote about PED in The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball’s Drug Problems. A deep dive into these issues could potentially lead to too much jargon, becoming unapproachable to the layperson, but Carroll manages to break down his subjects into relatable reading. For example, I find even the best broadcasters tend to rattle off terms like “back-door slider” et al without actually talking about what they do, expecting fans to have a full comprehension of pitchers’ repertoires, but as we discuss in the Conversation, I found Carroll’s explanation of all that to be best I’ve come across.
Other topics in The Science of Baseball: The Math, Technology, and Data Behind the Great American Pastime include the equipment, how data is mined by the front office, the role of scouting, and the future of umpiring, among others.
Carroll will also publish The Science of Football: The Math, Technology, and Data Behind America’s Game in the fall. But we won’t hold that against him.
is available on Amazon.com,
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