Coach Joe Carbone on use of statistics in recruiting: "Stats mean nothing in recruiting. Most guys are playing against poor pitching and poor competition. They're going to look like their hitting .600. They’ve got a small ballpark and they've got 15 home runs. You have to watch the guy play and see if he’s got a good swing, if he can run and if he can throw and if he has a chance to get better. All the stats we get are inflated."
On use of stats when scouting opponents: "We will look at whether the guy throws strike or not. We will look at stolen bases, who runs and who doesn’t run. Who has power and who doesn’t. The biggest thing we look at is what they did against us the previous year."
Ohio University History of Baseball professor Matthew Gladman on the use of sabermetrics: "You have to find more ways to qualify people’s performances. There are things that go beyond ERA, such as if you’re playing behind a team that commits a lot of errors. The big one today is the WHIP (Walks plus hits per innings pitched). Statisticians, owners, players and media are always looking for new ways to quantify baseball statistics. RBI did not become an official stat until 1920. Saves were not an official stat until 1969."
On why these stats are used: "If you can’t afford the sluggers, you should look into these stats to find the guys that can help you. They say home run hitters drive Cadillacs and singles hitters drive Fords. You have to find a new formula to make your team competitive if you cannot afford the home run hitters."
On Bill James, the father of sabermetrics: "For quite a few years he was looked at as an outsider in baseball, but now you have a lot of teams using it. Some teams are really buying into it."
On why they are not used at the collegiate level: "Money could be an issue. At the collegiate level, the only way you’re going to use them is if someone within the coaching staff or department would be interested in it. Older generations think it’s too complex and no way to look at baseball to run a baseball team. But obviously with the success of the A’s and Red Sox, you have to at least look at it. But at the collegiate level it may not be feasible. It’s just not financially viable at some schools. But maybe it's more prominent at bigger baseball schools like USC or Texas."
