By @MarkKnudson41
These Major League Baseball play-offs have been a revelation for those who long for the days of the stolen base and the opposite field single. Those who are sick of hearing about “launch angle” and “exit velocity.”
This post season has been back to the basics for many big time hitters, who have discovered that striking out really is a bad thing, and that swinging for the fence every time up isn’t always winning baseball after all.
What his post season has proven is that it takes a combination of analytical data and old school baseball savvy to win when it counts the most. And it’s no coincidence that the two teams that made it to the World Series are run by what most observers consider “old school” managers.
Old school managers aren’t for everyone. A lot of folks scoffed at the hiring of 77-year old Tony LaRussa in Chicago last off season. Whether or not you want to give him credit, the fact is that the White Sox won the American League Central title. LaRussa has won three World Series during his 33-year managerial career. His White Sox were knocked out of these play-offs by the Houston Astros, led by 72-year old Dusty Baker, who became the first manager to lead five different franchises to division titles and is in the World Series for the second time as a skipper.
His opponent is the Atlanta Braves, and Brian Snitker, a 66-year-old who favors gut instinct over analytics, too.
But at the same time theses two teams were prepping for the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals were hiring 35-year-old Oliver Marmol as their new manager, replacing Mike Schildt, known as an old school type. Marmol is presumed to be the type of analytics-focus skipper favored by many General Managers today, guys who want to essentially be managing the game from their luxury boxes. Don’t forget, the guy who will win the National League Manager of the Year award isn’t Snitker, it’s Gabe Kapler of the San Francisco Giants, who many view as a puppet for the Giants upper management.
As for the Colorado Rockies, they land somewhere in the middle in this debate. Through thick and thin, Rockies Manager Bud Black – 66-years old and the only former pitcher currently managing a big league club – has been steadfast. Black has been with Colorado for five seasons now, through the highs of two play-off appearances, to the lows of last place finishes and back to the overachieving season in 2021 that will likely earn him a handful of votes in that Manager of the Year race.
By all accounts, Black is a combination of old school, go with your gut instinct, while being open minded to the new analytical data made available to him. While the Rockies have lagged well behind their competition in terms of the use of advanced analytics, Black has embraced the idea of improvements in this area. He’s the kind of thoughtful and prepared leader who will be able to absorb all the data presented to him and use it to make sound on the field decisions. In other words, help improve his ability to go with his more educated gut instincts.
Those who trumpet the idea of getting rid of Black – and they are few and far between – have to pause and look at the alternatives. Could Colorado find a better manager to run this team…in this ballpark…with the challenges that are ever present? Someone that could adapt to the limitations of the front office? Someone who can related to pitchers who are tasked with trying to succeed in the most adverse conditions in baseball?
The answer to those questions is a firm ‘No.’ Bud Black is the perfect man for this job. And while others have had more success, no one is better suited to move the Colorado Rockies forward.
Be sure to catch “The Park Adjusted Rockies Podcast” with Mark Knudson and Manny Randhawa available where you find all your favorite podcasts.