Gathering, using data

Nick Ruppert is the baseball operations fellow assigned to the Captains to operate TrackMan and Edgertronic SC1 during home and away games.

He also generates analysis of the data and interacts

with Carlin and his coaching staff to interpret the data for presentation to players.

A 25-year-old native of San Diego, Calif., Ruppert was a standout baseball player in high school and at Dartmouth College.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree is government, he played professionally for one year in Australia and France before landing a baseball operations internship with the San Diego Padres in 2018.

Earlier this year, he was hired by the Indians and assigned to the Captains.

“It’s been awesome joining this organization and getting this experience at the grass-roots level,” Ruppert said.

“I wear many hats in this role, but I am part of the staff and serve as a bridge between the data and the manager and coaches,” Ruppert added. “They know how players need to move to succeed at elite levels and are professionals at communicating that.

“Using objective data helps that communication. That’s where I come in, giving them tools to add to their tool belt.”

Carlin said the young players he works with in Lake County grew up with computers and cell phones and are tech-savvy. Using data to augment human instruction helps managers, coaches, coordinators and special instructors establish credibility with players.

“Here are the judgments

a player makes with us in these jobs,” Carlin said. “Can I trust you?. Are you competent?. Can you help me get better? Having that data to back up what you’re telling them gets those questions answered.”

Captains infield Jesse Berardi said he and his teammates are sold on the value of the data made available to them.

“It helps make us better players,” Berardi said. “This is the way the game is going. If you’re not using data, you’re losing an edge.”

Major league teams have an agreement to share much of the data they gather with other teams. That gives Carlin and fellow minor-league managers and coaches access to an opponent’s tendencies that wasn’t available even a few years ago.

“There is no lack of information. It’s how to use it, when to use it and how much to use,” Carlin said.

Morton said the Indians are not de-valuing the human elements of scouting and instruction even as they swim ever deeper in the waters of data collection.

“Collecting and analyzing data is part of gathering the information we need to make solid decisions about players and player development,” Morton said. “We incorporate everything the managers, coaches and coordinators are telling us and use it in addition to what TrackMan is telling us.”