Final Blog Post

 Overall, Grant and I’s experience with the Guardians exceeded expectations completely. We learned so much about what goes on in the drafting department, what goes on behind the scenes for games, met players, and met some really awesome people. Having the chance to sit in on meetings with the general manager and listening to zoom calls with scouts about players we see everyday on TV was some of the most fun I’ve ever had. Going in each day really didn’t feel like work it just felt like another chance to learn and work for my favorite team in the world. We learned so much about how high schoolers stats are found, how to grade prospects, how different teams value different players in such a large draft, new information about the different leagues within the MLB such as the Arizona Fall League, the Dominican Winter League, and more. CZ and Pete, our bosses, were always open to answering questions and explaining different processes and how things worked around the Guardians. It was also really cool to get free Guardians tickets in very good seats when we wanted them just through our Hawken Project, it ended up being a pretty nice deal. Sometimes the work was repetitive and boring but it always felt worth it knowing who we were helping out and the impact we were making on the team. I think often a school senior project can feel like you’re intruding on a business or just kind of observing everything that’s going on so I am extremely grateful that I got to make a real impact on the office. We were even told on our last day that our swing tracking research saved the department over two million dollars in potential signing bonuses for potential draftees. The research that we did in three weeks would have been very annoying and time consuming for the department to collect on their own so we actually ended up giving the Guardians a big head start in their upcoming draft. I would seriously recommend this project to anyone who has a strong interest in baseball if the position is still available next year. It has made me see the baseball ops department and scouting in a whole new light when I can really consider knowing first hand how much work goes into each pick, each passing of a player, each trade, each lineup decision, etc.

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Blog Post 1

  What inspired you to create this project? Are you doing something that you have always been involved in but on a different level? Are you broadening your horizons and doing something completely outside of the box? Tell us who you are and what you hope your project will be. Include your essential question(s) and any pertinent information about what/where you will be during project.  This is a "PREVIEW" to sell your Project Blog to the community . What inspired me to work with the Cleveland Guardians was my love for the team and sport. I love baseball and the team so I thought it would be very fun, interesting, and exciting to work with the team. I have also been interested in working within the sports world and the analytics side so I thought it would be a perfect project. I hope working with the Guardians and learning about the analytics business will give me new perspective on the sport I love so much and provide me with insight to a possible future in the business. I am a...
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Blog 2

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 My first week working with the Guardians has been very fun and interesting. I have learned a ton from the scouts we are working and truly feel like I am doing important and impactful work for the team in preparation for the upcoming draft. One thing that surprised me has been how much work goes into scouting high school players. I have spent most of my days logging each pitch that the high school prospects have seen and what their approaches are. It has been very cool to learn and collect so much information that is largely unavailable to the public. The scouts at the Guardians quickly welcomed Grant and I into the team and it has truly been an incredible first week. Everyone with the Guardians has been super cool to learn with in the office and fun to talk to outside of the stadium when we get lunch together. I’ve never met people that were so fun to talk sports with whether it be baseball, soccer, or any other sport. They seem like they know everything there is to know about ros...
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Blog 3

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