Spotlight on Women & Baseball: Veronica Alvarez, Tess Taruskin, Sarah Thompson

The SIS Baseball Podcast

In our second annual Women & Baseball episode, Mark Simon is joined by A’s minor league catching coach Veronica Alvarez (@veronicaoalvarez), FanGraphs prospects writer Tess Taruskin (@tesstass), and SIS research analyst Sarah Thompson (@sarah_stats).

Veronica talks about her work with the A’s and as head coach for Team USA in women’s baseball. She explains how she works with prospects and what she values when it comes to different areas of catching. She also speaks to the rise of women coaches in MLB and the minor leagues (0:35).

Tess talks prospects – from Bobby Witt and Julio Rodriguez to the many catchers whom FanGraphs rates highly. She also talks about the challenges of projecting a player’s defensive performance and offers advice on breaking into prospect writing (16:10).

Sarah discusses her recent presentation at the SABR Analytics conference, a study of third base coach aggressiveness and effectiveness. She cites specific examples of teams and players who stood out in those regards (35:01).

March is Women’s History Month and we’re happy to put a spotlight on women doing good work in the sport. Thank you for listening as always.