How Data Science Revolutionized Sports
The introduction of advanced analytics has changed sports around the world. Entire companies are devoted to analyzing players, teams, and coaches so as to give fans and teams an edge. We’ve seen it in basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, and many others.
GPS Tracking and Athletic Testing
Through GPS tracking and body monitors, data scientists can help players become more efficient in their body movements and their use of energy. Building models to predict a young player’s future prospects has helped optimize clubs’ budgets and allow them to focus on the players with the highest potential.
Grading performances in training can be difficult, but companies such as STATSports use GPS tracking and statistical models to analyze and grade players' performances in training sessions.
Being able to look at where, when, and how often a player is sprinting at full speed can aid coaches in seeing which players are coasting and which ones are playing at max effort. The use of substitutes is an advantage, and knowing the exact limits of a player and being able to replace them before they’re a negative on the field has helped increase teams' chances of sustaining a lead or starting a comeback.
Even in GAA, an amateur sport, the presence of GPS trackers on the back of jerseys has become more commonplace. Replacing the need for video analysis, coaches can rely on models that take tactics as inputs to quantify players’ tactical awareness.
Optimizing Body Movements
In recent years, golf has embraced advanced analytics. Data scientists have been able to identify which factors contribute to generating the greatest distance off the tee, allowing players like Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson to gain huge advantages over opponents.
Smash factor, spin rate, club head, launch angle, and ball speed are common terms used in golf. Using pre-built models and taking advantage of reports, players are able to adjust their swing to optimize their distance.
Baseball players have taken launch angles to another level. By changing their swings to hit upon a baseball, they can launch balls further and more consistently than ever.
Game Plans and Tactics
A major reason why baseball players are so keen to gain distance is due to research done by data scientists and sports statisticians alike. The reward of a home-run outweighs the cost of striking out. For years, players were taught to focus on getting contact on the ball so as to get on base. Now, after embracing advanced analytics, teams are scoring more than ever.
Moneyball is a great movie that shows how utilizing data can help you identify value where nobody else does. Whilst other teams focused on how pretty people swung, their personality, and what their body looked like, the Oakland Athletics under Billy Beane targeted cheaper players that got into scoring positions. They ignored the superficial aspects of players and used data to optimize their lineup.
Another sport that was transformed by data analytics is basketball. Under Daryl Morey, the Houston Rockets took the league by storm. By playing the percentages, they prioritized three-point shooting and layups. Other teams have followed their success, and the number of three-point attempts per game has nearly doubled in less than ten years.
Grading Players Performances
Using historical data, companies like ProFootball Focus have been able to identify when and by how much a player contributes to a team winning in an NFL game. By accounting for location, situation, and time, they can assess a player's performance.
Major League Baseball has its own category of advanced analytics called Sabermetrics that can quantify a player's performance in every aspect of the game. Wins Above Replacement (WAR) evaluates a player's performance overall when compared to a replacement-level player, someone not in the league.
On Base Plus Slugging Plus (OPS+) combines external factors such as which stadium a player has played in with their hitting ability. It’s then standardized so one can say “X is 50-percent better at hitting than the league average”.
In golf, strokes gained putting and driving quantifies how a player's performance in either category gives them an advantage. By comparing their performance to historical data, statisticians can illustrate who is gaining the biggest advantage in each area.
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