Checking the analytics flow from front office to clubhouse

As the Orioles look to hire and finalize their coaching staff soon, the ability of those coaches to embrace analytics and pass the data on to the players in a useful manner will be a key. It may be the key factor in which coaches Orioles manager Brandon Hyde hires for his first staff.

During the recent Winter Meetings, I asked general manager Mike Elias about this. On that staff, are certain coaches more important in disseminating such information? It stands to reason the pitching coach and hitting coach would be pretty important for that, right?

"I think it depends on the makeup of your staff," Elias said. "But we seek coaches that are fluent in that information. And part of their job - a big part of their job - is to translate and distill that information, not just to every player, but to each particular player. Because they know those players well, they know their psychology. They know how they like to think during the game

"That is a huge part of the job now. The ability to traffic in that information and convey it in a useful way to a player is a key component to coaching - not just in the majors but also in the minors today."

Will Elias, then, seek to have more input into the hiring of coaches, to make sure the club gets the exact right people in place for a smooth flow of information from the front office to the clubhouse?

"The front office's input in a coaching staff is more advisory for consent purpose. Advisory purposes. That is really the way we like to approach a lot of hires," Elias said. "You know, get a lot of opinions from people that will be working closely with these folks. Put our heads together and share our notes. But you know, it's my philosophy that the manager is the person that will be working the closest with the coaches, and his opinion will be the most important one in this process."

Elias has referred to the players as the "customers" in this relationship and said the front office wants to "to cater that information to them, the way they think, the way they operate their needs. It's a cooperative, back-and-forth relationship and experience if you do it properly."

When it comes to analytics, it seems if you are going to be a part of the Orioles' organization moving forward, you better get on board with this or get out of the way.

But it's not Elias' way or the highway on this matter, he said. I asked him how he would feel if a player felt the use of analytics was not for him.

"Yeah. Like I said, the player is the customer," he said. "If something works better for them, or if a certain type of information or a certain amount of information works better for them, we adjust to their needs. The important thing, though, is that they understand where the information is coming from, what is behind it, what the science behind it is. So they know it's not something that is being created arbitrarily."