A few years ago, I read an interview with Zack Britton, who as the Orioles’ closer in 2016 had one of the greatest seasons by a reliever ever. Traded to the Yankees by a rebuilding Baltimore in 2018, Britton was reportedly amazed at everything a data-loving analytics team could teach him. I hated that interview. It wasn’t just garden-variety “my ex has found happiness with someone else” bitterness. It was also the reminder that Baltimore was “numbers-averse,” which probably explained their longtime ineptitude at developing pitchers.
Well, times change.