Lance Brozdowski is a Player Development Analyst at Marquee Sports Network, the regional sports network for the Chicago Cubs. He brings an analytical insight and makes it more digestible for baseball fans. In this episode, he discusses… Methods he utilizes to evaluate and breakdown MLB players and prospects What a player development analyst does fo…

Tom Bliss is a Senior Manager of Football Operations Data Scientist for the NFL. He and his team work to improve the game for fans, players, and organizations through data analysis. They are constantly researching new ways to make the game more entertaining and safer. In this episode, he discusses… NFL rule changes including the expectations around…

Dr. Curtis Goss is a Performance Support Specialist for USA Swimming where he is currently prepping for the Olympic trials and the 2024 Summer Olympics. He was a collegiate swimmer at Indiana University where he also completed his PhD in Human Performance. In this episode, he discusses… The current landscape of data and tech within the sport of swi…

Tim Gibbons is TruMedia’s baseball professional services lead, dealing with players, agencies and facilities. He previously worked as a minor-league hitting coach in the Orioles system. In this episode, Tim talks about… - His career path to becoming a hitting coach - What a minor-league hitting coach does - Data available to minor-league teams - Ho…

Allison Loucks is the Director of Business Development and Innovation at ESPN, where she oversees ESPN’s Analytics group. Her team has created ESPN metrics including their Total QBR, Basketball Power Index and pass rush win rate. In this conversation, Allison talks about… - What she does as a director of the analytics group and what a typical day l…

Matt Chang and his team won the 2024 NFL Big Data Bowl, an analytics competition with a $25,000 first prize. In this episode, Matt will discuss… - His team’s submission, entitled Uncovering Missed Tackle Opportunities - What the Big Data Bowl is and how he and his team became interested - The data and question provided by the NFL - Attacking that q…

Ben Zauzmer is an assistant general manager with the New York Mets, and he’s better known publicly for his book Oscarmetrics and his Twitter account @BensOscarMath, where he uses data to project winners of the Academy Awards. With this year’s Oscars ceremony coming on March 10, Ben joins Expected Value to talk about… - How he got into the Oscars pr…

Bobby Bandelow is the coordinator of advance scouting for the world champion Texas Rangers. During his decade-long career, he’s worked with the Astros, the then-Indians and the Rangers, in roles ranging from video intern to major-league analyst. In this conversation, Bobby talks about… - Winning the 2023 World Series - What an advance scout does fo…

Wes Johnson was named Head Baseball Coach for the University of Georgia on June 5th. Prior to taking the job in Athens, Wes served as the Pitching Coach for LSU, where he won a national championship earlier this year. He also has MLB experience, having served as the Pitching Coach for the Minnesota Twins from 2019-2022. His previous stops at Missis…

Brandon Ally is the Co-Founder of S2 Cognition, a performance evaluation company that is revolutionizing the way professional teams asses prospective players. He is also S2 Cognition’s Chief Business Development Officer and Director of Football. His educational background stands up again the brightest minds in sports. He has a Bachelor’s in Psychol…

Alison Lukan is an On-Air Analyst & Writer for the Seattle Kraken. In her role, she provides analysis for the Seattle Kraken’s local broadcasts on Root Sports Northwest, with her team winning a Regional Sports Emmy for their coverage this season. She holds a degree in Leadership Studies from the University of Richmond and has previously worked as a…

John Taormina is TruMedia’s Director of Football Strategy, overseeing TruMedia’s football related business. Prior to joining us at TruMedia, John spent time with the Atlanta Falcons. He started as a Football Analyst before becoming Manager of Football Analytics. His final role with the Falcons was Director of Football Data & Analytics. He holds a B…

Amelia Probst is a Data Scientist & Writer for Pro Football Focus (PFF). Despite being just 22 years old, the Cornell graduate has already worked in football, baseball, and lacrosse, including internships with the New York Mets and the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). In this conversation, Amelia talks about… How she became interested in sports analy…

Paul Hembekides, aka Hembo, is a Content Producer for ESPN and got his start in the Stats & Information department, working with Expected Value host Paul Carr in the ESPN research room. Currently, Hembo works on Get Up and #Greeny, Mike Greenberg’s daily ESPN Radio show. He also partnered with Greenberg to co-author “Got Your Number”, a New York Ti…

Cory Jez is the Founder of Tour IQ, a golf analytics platform dedicated to providing PGA Tour players an the resources they need for the first time in golf history. He also has a unique resume, having worked for FanDuel, the Utah Jazz, Austin FC, and an an on-air analyst for the Portland Trailblazers. In this conversation, Cory talks about… His tim…

Tegan Ashby is the Assistant Director of Software Engineering for the Philadelphia Phillies. Before that, she worked in the NBA as a Senior Developer of Basketball Systems for the Brooklyn Nets, and as a Developer of Research & Development for the Philadelphia 76ers.. She holds a BA in Linguistics from Penn, and took classes at Cal Berkeley’s Ancie…

Carlos Muñoz is a former bullpen catcher who spent nine years with the Houston Astros (2009-2017) and, most recently, served as a bullpen catcher and coach for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. He has also spent time as a scout and instructor throughout his career. In this conversation, Carlos talks about… His Team USA & World Baseball Classi…

Hassan Inayatali is a rising senior at the University of Toronto and part of the 2023 Big Data Bowl winning team, along with his partners Aaron White and Daniel Hocevar. Their project, “Between the Lines: How Do We Measure Pressure?” bested over 300 submissions to win the competition. In this conversation, Hassan talks about… What data they had acc…

Matt Doyle is a Senior Writer for MLSsoccer.com and has been covering the league for over a decade. His ‘Armchair Analyst’ column is considered required reading for MLS fans around the globe. He also appears on ‘Extratime’, an MLSsoccer.com podcast that covers the league in depth twice a week. In this conversation, Matt talks about… The 2023 MLS se…

Rodrick David is the founder of Right Step Advising, a company dedicated to helping agents, athletes and schools figure out the next right step for them and their football careers. Before that, he was a scout for the Atlanta Falcons. In this conversation, Rodrik talks about… His reaction to Super Bowl LVII & how he watched the game through a scout’…

Kalyn Kahler is a senior NFL writer for The Athletic, covering the league from a national perspective. She has a traditional journalism background and also likes to use numbers in her stories. She is a graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and has previously worked for Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, and Defector Media. Her wo…

Joe Hultzen recently joined TruMedia as our MLB Team Lead. His decade-long experience in MLB allows him to provide clients with the services they need to maximize TruMedia’s product. He has held roles in the Baseball Operations, Advance Video Scouting, and Player Valuation departments. In this conversation, Joe talks about… The best thing about wor…

This week, we’re doing things a bit differently on Expected Value. Producer Sergio De La Espriella has taken over Expected Value and conducted an interview in Spanish, as a way of expanding accessibility to data and analytics information to the Spanish-speaking public. Our Spanish-speaking guest is Cristian Perez. Cristian is coming off a four year…

Lauren Poe is part of ESPN’s sports analytics team, which is responsible for metrics like Total QBR, Power Indices for Basketball, Football, and Soccer, and Strength of Record for college football. She has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma, spent time as a math teacher, and got her ESPN in the Stats and Analysis department. In…

This week, we’re doing things a bit differently on Expected Value. Producer Sergio De La Espriella has taken over Expected Value and conducted an interview in Spanish, as a way of expanding accessibility to data and analytics information to the Spanish-speaking public. Our first Spanish-speaking guest is Julio Costa, data scientist for Fulham F.C. …

Sarah Rudd is one of the early pioneers of modern soccer analytics, being heavily involved in the evolution of soccer analytics over the last 10-15 years. Rudd recently joined Blue Crow Sports Group after spending time with Arsenal in the Premier League. Sarah is half of the “First Family” of soccer analytics, being married to Ravi Ramineni, anothe…

Chris Cleary is fresh off winning a national championship in his 4th season with the Ole Miss program, the 2nd national championship in Ole Miss athletics history. The Rebels were 7-14 in conference play at one point and turned their season around en route to a national championship. Chris joined the Rebels in August of 2018 as the Coordinator of O…

Robin Lund just wrapped up his fourth season with the Iowa Hawkeyes and his third season as the pitching coach. Iowa pitchers finished the season top-five in the country in ERA, K%, and opponents batting average, among other stats. Before he joined the Iowa staff, Robin spent over 15 years as an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology …

Seth Partnow was formerly the Director of Basketball Research for the Milwaukee Bucks, and he now writes for The Athletic and is the Director of Basketball for the data company StatsBomb. Last November he released a book titled: The Midrange Theory, Basketball’s Evolution in the Age of Analytics. In this conversation, Seth talks about… His book The…

Fernando Palomo has worked at ESPN since 2000 as an anchor and soccer play-by-play commentator, both in English and Spanish. Fernando has covered multiple major soccer events including World Cups, Euros, and the UEFA Champions League. He has been one of the more receptive soccer people to using data and advanced stats on TV and frequently uses anal…

Robyn Ritchie, a PhD student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, is part of the team that won the NFL’s Big Data Bowl this year. This was the fourth annual Big Data Bowl, put on by Mike Lopez and the league’s analytics staff, and the topic this year was special teams, with each team given a set of tracking data and asked to come up with analys…

Mike Tannenbaum started working in the NFL as an intern with the Saints back in 1994, and he worked his way up with the Browns, Saints and Jets, becoming the Jets general manager in 2006, then the Dolphins executive vice president of football operations in 2015. Mike is now the founder of The 33rd Team, a football think tank and media platform. In …

Chip Hale won a national title as a player with Arizona back in 1986, played seven years in the major leagues, then spent 15 years as a major-league coach and manger. He won a World Series as the Nationals bench coach in 2019, and then took over the Arizona baseball program last summer. In this conversation, Chip talks about… The evolution of data …

Jill Reiner and Ella Summer won the college division of this year’s NFL Big Data Bowl, which asked participants to “evaluate defensive performance on passing plays.” In these conversations, Jill and Ella will talk about…. - What they’re studying in school - How they got interested in the Big Data Bowl and decided to join the competition - Their app…

Robbie Robinson is a Complex Manager and Catching Instructor for the New York Mets. In this conversation, Robbie talks about… - His baseball career path - What he does for the Mets in his current role - The evolution of available data over the past decade - Using data to both know yourself and know others - Keys to communicating data and the import…

Alex Vigderman is a Lead Research Analyst at Sports Info Solutions, and he talks about… - What Sports Info Solutions does - What he does as Lead Research Analyst - Compiling the SIS Football Rookie Handbook and takeaways from its statistical analysis - Analyzing strengths and weaknesses of Florida QB Kyle Trask - The draft prospect that numbers sug…

John Tobias is a professor of sports statistics and analytics at UNC-Charlotte, and he also works as a TV statistician for a variety of sports. In this conversation, John talks about… - His unconventional path to working in both TV and the academic world - What a statistician does during a broadcast - How to choose what stats are given to talent - …

Mike Petriello is a writer and analyst for MLB.com, host of the Ballpark Dimensions podcast, and analyst on ESPN’s Statcast broadcasts. In this conversation, Mike talks about… - The Rays pulling Blake Snell in the sixth inning of Game 6, and the fallout of that move - How he decides what to write about - His process for diving into the data - His a…

Justin Ray is the Head of Content for 15th Club, and he was previously a Senior Researcher at The Golf Channel and ESPN. Among the topics covered… - How 15th Club works with golfers and media - How golf data has evolved over the past 20 years - What Strokes Gained is and how it can be used - How players use data on and off the course - Bryson DeCha…

Alok Pattani is a Data Science Developer Advocate for Google Cloud, which partners with sports organizations including Major League Baseball and the NCAA. He is also a consultant for the Dallas Cowboys, and he was previously a founding member of ESPN’s sports analytics department. In this conversation, Alok will talk about… - What Google Cloud is a…

Keith Goldner is the Vice President of Data Science at FanDuel, where he oversees the company’s sports modeling and innovation. He’s also the Chief Analyst for numberFire, the sports projection company he helped start straight out of college about a decade ago. In this episode, Keith talks about… - What he does for FanDuel and numberFire - Working …

Brian Burke has been at the forefront of football analytics over over a decade, since creating AdvancedNFLStats.com in the mid-2000s. He’s now a Senior Analytics Specialist at ESPN, where he and the analytics team recently unveiled new metrics for Run Block Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate. In this episode, Brian will discuss… - Previous metrics he’s…

Currently an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards, Dean Oliver is one of the godfathers of basketball analytics. In 2003, he wrote Basketball on Paper, one of the first and best books published in the field. Since then, he’s worked for four NBA teams plus ESPN and TruMedia. In this episode, he talks about… What he learned in his first season…

Namita Nandakumar is a senior quantitative analyst for the expansion Seattle Kraken, which begin NHL play in the 2021-22 season. Namita came to Seattle from the Philadelphia Eagles, and she talks about… - The excitement around the Seattle Kraken franchise - Building a hockey team and an analytics team from scratch - The state of hockey data in the …

Tyler Heaps is U.S. Soccer’s director of sporting analytics, and in this episode he’ll talk about… - Working with national teams from the senior level through the youth ranks - How they’re handling work during the pandemic - Thoughts on what Gregg Berhalter said in the previous episode - Factoring league quality into analysis - Dealing with small s…

Gregg Berhalter has been the head coach of the United States men’s national soccer team since December 2018, following a playing career that spanned 18 years and four countries (Netherlands, England, Germany, U.S.). He then managed Swedish club Hammarby and the Columbus Crew before taking the USMNT job. In this conversation, Berhalter discusses… - …

Corrie van Zyl is a Cricket South Africa consultant who previously served as CSA’s general manager and the head coach of the South Africa national team, and he played for South Africa in the early 1990s. He talks about… - How cricket data has evolved and what tracking data is now available - How teams use data in player selection, match prep, batti…

Ben Mackriell is the Head of Team Performance Product Strategy at Stats Perform, which owns the data-tracking company Opta. In our conversation, Ben discusses… - What teams are doing with data while leagues are shut down - How he got into sports analytics - His first club job with Everton - Working at Everton, Fulham, Reading, Norwich City & Burnle…

Steve Fenn is a data visualization architect who specializes in Tableau. In our conversation, he’ll talk about… - The importance and usefulness of data visualization - What Tableau is, how it’s used to create data viz, and why it’s popular - Principles of good data viz - Common mistakes he sees - Good visualizations he’s created and mistakes he’s m…

Cynthia Frelund is a data scientist for the NFL Network, where she brings analytical insight to all aspects of the network’s coverage, including this week’s NFL Draft. In this episode, Cynthia talks about… - Her analytics-based mock draft and how it differs from traditional mocks and big boards - What prospect jumps out to her from a data perspecti…