As the new year has begun and the start of the 2020 baseball season is around the corner, I wanted to take the chance to introduce myself, explore areas of interest and list some goals of mine for the upcoming season! I have been slacking with the blogs as I was swamped last semester because of this I have decided to do a monthly blog. Hopefully, this will allow me time to explore areas in deep detail and put some of Central's data to use!
My name is Caleb Finnegan and I am currently a Junior at Central. I am double majoring in Actuarial Science and Management Information Systems while picking a minor up in Economics. I grew up in small-town Iowa where I spent most of my time on my family's farm. Although I didn't play baseball in high school it did not keep me off of the diamond. I spent my time in the summer umping little league for the local league. Throughout my time doing this, my eyes were opened up to exactly how everyone can make mistakes, even in a little league game. If you haven't ventured over to the Meet the Team tab I encourage you to! Here you will find out more about myself and Luke the Founder of the baseball analytics department.
One area of interest that I hope to explore during my time with the team is the production of runs. As an Actuary I like to believe that a mathematical model exists behind everything in life. Due to this, I hope to find a model that will help influence coaching decisions to maximize runs in a season for the team. At the end of the day, one can't win a baseball game without scoring at least one run! I began exploring this topic this past semester with data from the 2019 season and found some promising results. Currently, I am working on expanding this to include the past ten years' worth of data to hopefully find a better model.
As the team gets ready to start the season by making goals I figured it was only appropriate if I created some of my own. First, I would like to stay active on the blog by having my monthly posts consist of well-developed thoughts and ideas. In addition, I hope they will add value to the team and their progression throughout the season. Next, this fall I always wanted to make a Run Expectancy chart for DIII baseball and never had the time. I'm hoping this is a task I can tackle over the next couple of months. Having resources like this is crucial to making informed decisions in games. Lastly, I hope to leave a stepping stone for myself next fall. I hope to do my best this Spring while exploring areas that will be of excitement to implement in the fall!
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