SABR's New Analytics Certification Course: What's Not To Love?
Today, one of our IBWAA directors unpacks the new analytics certification course from our friends at SABR and describes what it is, what it covers, and who it's for (hint: all of you!).
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Pregame Pepper
. . . If you’re interested in taking the SABR analytics certification course, you might also be interested in watching segments from SABR’s most recent Virtual Analytics Conference, which was held on March 17-20, 2022. It featured both research presentations and guest speakers from all across the landscape of baseball analytics, as well as career development sessions and networking opportunities for students and aspiring sports professionals alike. There were presentations on topics ranging from current and future baseball technology, to biomechanics in baseball, to sports science and player health. Here is one session led by MLB Network’s Brian Kenny and MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.
Leading Off
A Review of SABR’s Analytics Certification Course
By Daniel R. Epstein
It’s time for a confession: In my little corner of the baseball writing world, I have always felt like an imposter. My preferred subgenre of baseball content is analytics and I write for analytics-based outlets. Yet I have never felt particularly confident in my ability to use modern tools to analyze or make conclusions about baseball players, teams, and the game itself. There are just so many people who do the same work and are smarter and more talented than I am. Every time I turn in a piece to my editor, I’m half afraid I’ll be exposed as a fraud.
I have come to understand that imposter syndrome is common among writers -- we all feel this way sometimes -- and if I haven’t been fired yet, I can’t be all that bad. Nevertheless, there is a benefit to feeling like a small fish in a big pond. I always strive to learn more about analytics and deepen my understanding of the game.
When the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) announced its new analytics certification course, it was highly appealing to me. First of all, SABR is a blessing for all baseball fans. The organization is responsible, directly or indirectly, for just about everything we’ve learned collectively about baseball in the past 50 years. The IBWAA is proud to be partners with them.
Secondly, the analytics certification course itself was of high interest to me because of … well, all of the above. It’s a self-directed online course with 15 short video modules. All together, it takes about two hours. It costs $125 for SABR members and $180 for non-members. However, for the month of May, there is a discounted rate for IBWAA members. (To receive the promo code, email ibwaa2020@gmail.com.)
The instructor/host of the video modules is Jake Stone, the Director of Operations & Player Development at Penn State University. He also hosts the YouTube channel Simple Sabermetrics. After watching the videos, learners have the opportunity to develop a written player analysis to be reviewed by a staff writer at Baseball Prospectus, one of the leaders in baseball analytics over the past 25 years. (Remember how I said I write for analytics-based outlets where everyone else is super smart? Baseball Prospectus is one of them! While I contribute to the site, I am not a staff writer and do not review the player analyses for the course.)
The SABR analytics course description is, “An introductory exploration of baseball data and analytics, including historical eras of analytics, descriptive vs. predictive data, metrics vs. statistics, key hitting, pitching, and fielding terms and practical applications of each, and player comparisons.”
If that is their mission statement, they knocked it out of the park. Stone is an engaging, erudite instructor who combines aural and visual information to break down concepts for learners and makes them easy to understand. Even though I had some preexisting knowledge, I still learned a lot working through the modules.
Each module is about 5-10 minutes in length, making it easy to pace yourself and learn at your own leisure. The first four are an introduction and a history of analytics. They’re followed by an overview of data, basic terminology, and metrics. After that, there are two modules each devoted to hitting, pitching, and defense.
It’s important to note that this is an introductory course, meaning the information covered is dwarfed by the information not covered. There are myriad additional paths and directions this could go that are touched upon only briefly or not at all. There’s only so much that can be crammed into one course before it becomes overbearing, and the developers did an admirable job setting boundaries for the benefit of the learners. There are plans in the future to develop additional courses that dig even deeper: Base Level Baseball Data Science, Advanced Baseball Programming (SQL, R, Python), and Using Data Science to Create and Replicate Work.
The SABR Analytics Certification Course is a fantastic learning experience and opportunity for anyone interested in baseball, whether it’s to further a career in the game, enhance one’s understanding as a fan, or anything in between. I’m especially interested in subsequent courses so I can grow as a writer and an analyst, but just having taken this level one course already helped alleviate some of my imposter syndrome.
Daniel R. Epstein is the co-director of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. He writes for Baseball Prospectus, Off the Bench Baseball, and Bronx Pinstripes.
Extra Innings: Twitter Testimonials About SABR’s Analytics Certification Course
