Expected Value

Matt Doyle is a Senior Writer for MLSsoccer.com and has been covering the league for over a decade. His ‘Armchair Analyst’ column is considered required reading for MLS fans around the globe. He also appears on ‘Extratime’, an MLSsoccer.com podcast that covers the league in depth twice a week. In this conversation, Matt talks about…

The 2023 MLS season

MLS’s new Apple TV deal and what his role will look like

How he got into soccer & soccer writing

How he uses data in his writing and analysis

What to do when the numbers don’t match the ‘eye test’

Soccer stats he’s not fond of

Advice for using numbers in writing

His favorite episode of ‘Firefly’

Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Matt.

Show Links

Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattDoyle76

To check out ‘Armchair Analyst’ and the rest of Matt’s writing, click here.

To check out ‘Extratime’, click here.

Follow ‘Extratime’ on Twitter: @Extratime

Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.

Rodrick David is the founder of Right Step Advising, a company dedicated to helping agents, athletes and schools figure out the next right step for them and their football careers. Before that, he was a scout for the Atlanta Falcons. In this conversation, Rodrik talks about…

His reaction to Super Bowl LVII & how he watched the game through a scout’s lens

His career path from college to being an NFL scout

How data is used in the college scouting process

What information teams gather at events like the Senior Bowl, NFL Combine, and Pro Days

What part of a scout’s job is aided by data

How agents & players are using data in relation to NIL

What he would do with the No. 1 pick if he was Chicago

Standouts and sleepers in the 2023 NFL Draft

Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Rodrik.

Show Links

Follow Rodrik on Twitter: @RodrikDavid

To check out Rodrik on LinkedIn, click here.

To check out Right Step Advising, click here.

Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.

Kalyn Kahler is a senior NFL writer for The Athletic, covering the league from a national perspective. She has a traditional journalism background and also likes to use numbers in her stories. She is a graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and has previously worked for Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, and Defector Media. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Colorado Springs Gazette, among other publications. In this conversation, Kalyn talks about…

Her path from Medill to The Athletic

Her general approach to using stats in stories

What she took away from working with Peter King

The evolution of data in journalism

How coaches and players react when she brings up stats to them

Advice for someone looking to break into the sports media field

Why she’s not a fan of even numbers

Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Kalyn.

Show Links

Follow Kalyn on Twitter: @kalynkahler

To see Kalyn’s work at The Athletic, click here.

To check out Kalyn’s website, click here.

To read her piece on how the Eagles used the QB rush to their advantage, click here.

To read her piece on why NFL coaches call for shotgun at the goal line, click here.

To read her piece on how a cow becomes a football, click here.

Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.

Joe Hultzen recently joined TruMedia as our MLB Team Lead. His decade-long experience in MLB allows him to provide clients with the services they need to maximize TruMedia’s product. He has held roles in the Baseball Operations, Advance Video Scouting, and Player Valuation departments. In this conversation, Joe talks about…

The best thing about working for a MLB team

The challenges of working for a MLB team

The biggest surprise about working for a MLB team

How the use of data evolved over the course of his decade with MLB teams

The key to communicating data well

His approach to communicating with front offices compared to players

What skills to develop when searching for a job with a MLB team

His favorite “how-did-I-get-here” moment

Where to eat when in Pittsburgh

Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Joe.

Show Links

Follow Joe on Twitter: @JoeHultzen

Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.

This week, we’re doing things a bit differently on Expected Value. Producer Sergio De La Espriella has taken over Expected Value and conducted an interview in Spanish, as a way of expanding accessibility to data and analytics information to the Spanish-speaking public. Our Spanish-speaking guest is Cristian Perez. Cristian is coming off a four year stint with the Cincinnati Reds where he served as an Assistant Bullpen & Advances Scouting Coach. He also played college baseball at Duke University & the University of Southern California. In this conversation, Julio talks about…

How he ended up getting into baseball

His earliest experience with baseball analytics

Why forming relationships is such an important part of coaching

How much access Latin American players have to analytics

What can be done to make analytics more digestable to Latin American players

His favorite moments from his playing career and his time as a MLB coach

His favorite place to eat in South Florida

Show Links

Follow Cristian on Twitter: @Cris_Perez18

Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.

Lauren Poe is part of ESPN’s sports analytics team, which is responsible for metrics like Total QBR, Power Indices for Basketball, Football, and Soccer, and Strength of Record for college football. She has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma, spent time as a math teacher, and got her ESPN in the Stats and Analysis department. In this conversation, Lauren talks about…

Her career path from math teacher to ESPN

Her early years in the ESPN Stats & Analysis group

The challenges and importance of data cleaning

Steps she took to join ESPN’s analytics team

What she does as a sports analytics developer

Creating and maintaining ESPN’s metrics

Her favorite college football metrics

Communicating data well in writie

How she watches games, especially Oklahoma football

Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Lauren.

Show Links

Follow Lauren on Twitter: @laurenpoe.

Follow the Women in Sports Data on Twitter: @WinSportsData.

To check out the Women in Sports Data website, click here.

To check out ESPN’s 2022 College Football Playoff predictor, click here.

To check great article explaining ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI), click here.

Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.

This week, we’re doing things a bit differently on Expected Value. Producer Sergio De La Espriella has taken over Expected Value and conducted an interview in Spanish, as a way of expanding accessibility to data and analytics information to the Spanish-speaking public. Our first Spanish-speaking guest is Julio Costa, data scientist for Fulham F.C. in the Premier League. Julio has an unorthodox background that includes studying in the United States, running his own analytics blog, and a history of coaching. In this conversation, Julio talks about…

His day to day duties as a data scientist.

His interaction with the players and coaching staff.

How data is prioritized at Fulham vs at other places he has been.

His journey to arriving at Fulham.

What he learned from his time at the University of Texas at Austin.

The Analysts Eye and how that impacted his career.

What he looks for when watching a match.

Tips for those looking to become a soccer data scientist.

His soccer fandom history coming from Portugal.

His favorite place to eat in London.

Show Links

Follow Julio on Twitter: @juliocosta_lisb.

Follow The Analyst Eye on Twitter: @theanalysteye.

To check out The Analyst Eye, click here.

Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.

Sarah Rudd is one of the early pioneers of modern soccer analytics, being heavily involved in the evolution of soccer analytics over the last 10-15 years. Rudd recently joined Blue Crow Sports Group after spending time with Arsenal in the Premier League. Sarah is half of the “First Family” of soccer analytics, being married to Ravi Ramineni, another top soccer analytics mind who previously worked as the Director of Analytics for the Seattle Sounders. Ravi was on Expected Value a couple of years ago, making them the first wife-and-husband combo to appear on the podcast. In this conversation, Sarah talks about…

Her academic background and early professional path before transitioning into soccer

The 2011 presentation that put her on the soccer analytics map

What she did at StatDNA (the company Arsenal bought to be their in-house analytics group)

How the acceptance of analytics changed during her decade with Arsenal

Bridging the stereotypical gap between scouting and analytics

Working on the private side of soccer analytics

Advantages and disadvantages of a club doing everything in-house

Her new company Blue Crow Sport Group and what they’re up to

How she and her husband Ravi watch soccer games

What she’s done to track her excitement level during World Cup matches

Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Sarah.

Show Links

Follow Sarah on Twitter: @srudd_ok.

To check out Sarah on LinkedIn, click here.

To check out Sarah’s 2011 NESSIS presentation, click here.

To take a look at a Guardian piece on StatDNA being bought by Arsenal, click here.

To check out a NY Times article on Arsenal and soccer analytics, click here.

For more on Blue Crow Sports Group, click here.

For more on Blue Crow Sports Group’s recent purchase of C.D. Leganes, click here.

Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.

Chris Cleary is fresh off winning a national championship in his 4th season with the Ole Miss program, the 2nd national championship in Ole Miss athletics history. The Rebels were 7-14 in conference play at one point and turned their season around en route to a national championship. Chris joined the Rebels in August of 2018 as the Coordinator of Operations before being promoted to his current role in July of 2020. In this conversation, Chris talks about…

The College World Series experience and Ole Miss’ bounce back

Why the state of Mississippi has had so much college baseball success recently

What he does with the team and how analytics in incorporated into his process

How he uses data to help Ole Miss in the field, at the plate, and on the mound

The art of communicating that data to players

How data has evolved in college baseball over the past decade

Where to eat in Oxford

Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Chris.

Show Links

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ccleary05.

To check out Chris’ biography, click here.

To take a look at Ole Miss baseball’s facilities tour, click here.

To check out Chris’ case study on the Cubs infield outs from 2019, click here.

Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.

Robin Lund just wrapped up his fourth season with the Iowa Hawkeyes and his third season as the pitching coach. Iowa pitchers finished the season top-five in the country in ERA, K%, and opponents batting average, among other stats. Before he joined the Iowa staff, Robin spent over 15 years as an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology as UNI. In this conversation, Robin talks about…

His journey to becoming the Iowa Hawkeyes pitching coach

His work as a kinesiology professor and how that applies to coaching

How he got into traditional baseball analytics

His approach to baseball data as someone who came from the sports science side

Working with Iowa’s highly-regarded student manager program

Advice for data-minded people working with baseball people

Balancing individual pitcher plans with team-wide goals and approaches

Where to eat in Iowa City

Then, TruMedia’s Sergio De La Espriella joins the show to discuss Paul’s conversation with Robin.

Show Links

Follow Robin on Twitter: @Lunderton.

To check out Robin’s biography, click here.

For more on Robin’s path to Iowa, click here.

For more on Robin’s passion for cooking, click here.

For more on Iowa’s student manager program, click here.

Follow @TruMediaSports on Twitter.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn.