Ben Lindbergh is a staff writer for The Ringer and hosts the Effectively Wild podcast for FanGraphs. The coauthor of New York Times bestseller The Only Rule Is It Has to Work, he lives in New York, NY.
Travis Sawchik is a staff writer for FiveThirtyEight. The author of New York Times bestseller Big Data Baseball, he lives in Bay Village, OH.
"The MVP Machine is an eye-opening dispatch from the leading edge
of the sport."--TheAtlantic
"The MVP Machine (Basic Books), out now, tells how a series of new
tools, advanced statistics and technology are changing the game of
baseball, led by innovators"--NewYork Post
"The MVP Machine isn't just the purest distillation yet of
baseball's information era and how it came to be. It's a seminal
road map for the game today and treasure map to find -- and
understand -- the gems baseball soon will offer."--Jeff Passan, MLB
insider, ESPN
"A lot of books have claimed to be Moneyball 2.0, but this book
actually delivers. It chronicles the changes that are transforming
the game of baseball at a fundamental level and shifting power back
into the hands of players and coaches."--Mike Fast, Special
Assistant to the General Manager, Atlanta Braves and former
Director of Research and Development, Houston Astros
"As the game of baseball, and more specifically the teaching
methods within, continue to evolve, The MVP Machine paints a
real-time portrait of player development. Players and coaches are
in a constant search for advantages that will push their personal
limits on the field in order to maximize their abilities. Ben and
Travis provide fascinating details of how individual players pushed
the boundaries of innovative coaching, self-reflection, and a
willingness to make even the smallest of adjustments in order to
reach new heights as players. This book is a very accurate
portrayal of modern-day player development and the ongoing pursuit
of individual greatness."--Mike Hazen, Executive Vice President &
General Manager, Arizona Diamondbacks
"Even MBAs who don't know what an ERA ... will grasp the book's
essential message: next-generation technologies and analytics
radically transform top-tier talent development and
technique."--HarvardBusiness Review
"For too long, stat geeks like me ignored the 'development' side of
'scouting and development.' The MVP Machine is the book that's
going to change that. Travis Sawchik and Ben Lindbergh persuasively
and entertainingly demonstrate that a baseball player's success is
less about God-given talent and more about innovation, hard work,
and the willingness to take a more scientific approach to the game.
Read it, and you won't think about baseball in quite the same way
again."--Nate Silver, founder and editor-in-chief of
FiveThirtyEight
"High-speed cameras and radar-tracking devices have revolutionized
training and are now giving baseball pitchers accurate, detailed
and actionable feedback during practice. This captivating book
details step-by-step how merely good major league pitchers have
recently been able to transform themselves into great ones and
reach previously unattainable levels of mastery by purposeful and
deliberate practice."--K. Anders Ericsson, Conradi Eminent Scholar
of Psychology, Florida State University, and author of Peak:
Secrets from the New Science of Expertise
"I wish this book spent more time on the Red Sox winning four times
as many titles as the Yankees this century, but The MVP Machine is
a great and informative deep dive on the challenges of unlocking
talent and building winning teams in the age of analytics."--Bill
Simmons, founder and CEO, The Ringer
"In The MVP Machine, Lindbergh and Sawchik make a convincing, and
faith-restoring, case that genuine, unadulterated miracles can
happen in baseball."--WashingtonPost
"In today's game, players and teams are doing more than ever behind
the scenes to change and improve. The work they do is absolutely
critical to success but nearly invisible to the public -- until
now. Any fan seeking a fresh look at how teams win in modern
baseball should read this book."--Chaim Bloom, Senior Vice
President, Baseball Operations, Tampa Bay Rays
"This is the book baseball needed, the definitive document on how
the best players in the world are using new ideas to become even
better. Until now, no one had delivered an authoritative,
comprehensive look at the revolution that is transforming the sport
and offering lessons that extend even beyond the field. If you want
to understand the inner workings of the modern game, you must read
The MVP Machine."--Ken Rosenthal, baseball reporter for The
Athletic, Fox Sports, and MLB Network
"Travis Sawchik and Ben Lindbergh are always at the forefront of
the analytics revolution. The MVP Machine brings us the newly
emerging competitive advantage whereby players are joining the
intellectual advancement of the game and utilizing the new tools
available to build a better Major League Player. Make no mistake,
this is how games, divisions, and World Series titles are now being
won."--Brian Kenny, MLB Network
"Travis Sawchik and Ben Lindbergh brilliantly capture the next
frontier of major-league teams' 'evolve or die' mindset: the
league-wide movement of using data, technology, and science to
revolutionize the way players are developed. Baseball has seen a
rapid influx of high-curiosity, growth-mindset players and coaches,
creating the perfect environment for innovation and rethinking
convention. The MVP Machine provides tremendous insight into
baseball's latest transformation."--Billy Eppler, General Manager,
Los Angeles Angels
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