Since “Moneyball” brought the use of data-driven baseball analytics into major league front offices, the projection systems for both the public and the ones that create internal forecasts for teams to use have benefited from one thing above all else: consistent data.
College players always had a certain number of plate appearances or innings pitched. The five-month minor league season provided similarly static baselines for prospects, and the 162-game major league season did the same at that level.
But all the changes to the 2020 baseball calendar at every level, plus the specter of more changes in 2021 as the coronavirus pandemic continues apace, have left teams trying to fill that data void that Orioles assistant general manager for analytics Sig Mejdal referred to as “the fuel to that projection engine” and tweak their models accordingly.