The SF Giants are leaning on a smaller analytics operation than most of baseball, and that choice says plenty about how the organization is trying to win.
According to Zack Scott of Four Rings Consulting, the Giants have 21 people in their analytics department. That places them in the bottom third of MLB and well below the league average of 29.
Scott’s numbers are based on public media guides, so the exact makeup can be a little fuzzy from team to team. A front office might classify someone as analytics, player development, or something else entirely.
Even with that caveat, the picture is clear enough: the Giants are lighter in that area than many of their peers.
The Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays sit on the other end of the spectrum with some of the larger analytics staffs in the game. That lines up with how both clubs are viewed - forward-thinking, detail-oriented, and built to find an edge where others might not be looking. They’ll meet in the World Series, a matchup that also highlights two small-market teams doing things their own way.
That kind of investment is part of how clubs without the spending power of the Los Angeles Dodgers or New York Mets try to keep up. If they can’t outspend everyone, they have to outthink them. For the Brewers and Rays, that means putting real resources into the front office and trusting that a better process can translate on the field.
Milwaukee has built an offense that works at-bats and gets on base. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, puts the ball in play more than any other team.
Neither trait screams cutting-edge analytics at first glance, but both clubs have made a habit of zigging while others zag. They’ve also developed strong reputations for pitching development and acquisition.
The Giants, under Buster Posey as team president of baseball operations, have gone back toward a more traditional feel. The emphasis has shifted toward what can be seen rather than what can be measured.
That doesn’t mean analytics have disappeared. It does mean they may not sit at the center of the operation the way they do for some other teams. The Giants still use them, just not with the same level of commitment reflected by the bigger departments around the league.
Given that they’ve spent more per win than most teams in baseball, there’s a clear argument for finding a different kind of advantage. Expanding the analytics department could be one way to do it.
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It is the kind of detail that rarely matters in the standings but tends to resonate afterward, when rings are handed out and old affiliations come back into focus. Some of those ex-Giants have logged meaningful innings and plate appearances this year, while others have stayed more on the fringes of the roster, but either way their paths now run through a championship setting that could leave them eligible for a piece of the reward. [Read more 🡒]