This New Yorker piece is sort of a mini and more modern version of Moneyball. I've been away from baseball for a while now and am just getting back into it. I had no idea some of these changes took place while I was gone.
The Brewers are one of those small-market teams whose success has depended on its front office's ability to pinpoint market inefficiencies and on its use of new player-development data to turn its draft picks into stars. They are, in the era of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the sort of team that's not supposed to exist anymore. They are not swollen with talent. They don't hit a lot of home runs. Instead, their batters make good contact. They don't swing and miss. They're fast on the base paths. They have a manager who emphasizes trust. They have a bona-fide star—a comet who might someday burn up. Let him light up the sky, I say. We need it all—the decisions grounded in data, and the shooting stars.