In the News — TruMedia

The effect of delays on penalty conversion

For FiveThirtyEight, TruMedia's Albert Larcada analyzed how waiting time affects penalty conversion, revealing that longer delay appear to increase the likelihood of a miss.

"The success rate of penalties with a wait time of less than 150 seconds is 76 percent, while the success rate of penalties with a wait time of greater than 150 seconds is 73 percent. With the relatively large sample of penalties we have, the difference is statistically significant."

Full article: FiveThirtyEight (by Albert Larcada, Director of Analytics)

In the MediaRafe AndersonJuly 11, 2018soccer, FiveThirtyEightComment

Could data save the bunt?

The Washington Post's Neil Greenberg wonders if the time has come to bring back the bunt.

"According to data from TruMedia, there were 232 bunt singles last year from March to June, the lowest since 2008, the first year data is available. This season there were 226.

But it might be time to bring the bunt back, especially with more and more teams employing the shift to neutralize the league's most-predictable hitters."

Full article: ChicagoTribune.com (via Washington Post)

In the MediaRafe AndersonJuly 10, 2018mlb, Washington Post, Chicago TribuneComment

Possession doesn't equal World Cup success

"Possession hasn’t necessarily been helpful here in Russia. According to TruMedia Networks, the top six teams in average possession at this World Cup already have gone home. Interestingly, Croatia, England, France and Belgium rank 7th through 10th, respectively. Uruguay, the CONMEBOL side that held the ball the least, still stands 19th overall. Four years ago, Germany finished second in the possession standings at 60%, but none of the other semifinalists were in the top eight."

Full article: Sports Illustrated

In the MediaRafe AndersonJuly 8, 2018soccer, sports illustratedComment

Likelihood of Benjamin Pavard's wonder goal

TruMedia provided data to The Washington Post for this article and visualization on Benjamin Pavard's stunning strike against Argentina.

"...the shot had an “expected goals” of just 0.03, meaning it would be expected to produce a goal three percent of the time. This figure is calculated from 10 different variables, but the two most significant for this particular shot are pretty straightforward. It was taken from 22 meters away from the goal line – pretty far out. And it was taken from 15 meters off the center line – a very bad angle."

Full article: Washington Post

In the MediaRafe AndersonJuly 7, 2018soccer, Washington PostComment

World Cup quarterfinalists by the numbers

TruMedia's Paul Carr wrote a Sports Illustrated piece with a stat and graphic for each of the World Cup quarterfinalists. The article highlighted contributions by Romelu Lukaku, Neymar and Luka Modric, along with potential issues for Russia and England.

"Despite playing four games, England ranks 22nd in the tournament with 23 shots from open play and 17th with 2.22 expected goals from open play. Only three of those shots were worth at least 0.2 xG each, which is about double the average shot quality."

Full article: Sports Illustrated (by Paul Carr, Director of Content Development)

In the MediaRafe AndersonJuly 4, 2018soccer, sports illustratedComment

Mexico's young World Cup stars

For the Washington Post, Albert Larcada wrote on how Mexico's young stars shined in the first two group games.

"Perhaps the biggest name of Mexico’s under-23 contingent, [Hirving] Lozano put in a performance against Germany that ranks among the best in recent World Cups. Here is the full list of players over the past six World Cups with a goal, an assist and a pass-completion rate of better than 90 percent in their team’s first two matches: Lionel Messi (2006) and Lozano. That’s it."

Full article: Washington Post (by Albert Larcada, Director of Analytics)

In the MediaRafe AndersonJune 27, 2018soccer, Washington PostComment

Scherzer uses TruMedia as part of exhaustive prep

Three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer relies on TruMedia's baseball analytics platform as part of his exhaustive preparation process.

"...instead of watching film of opposing hitters like pitchers tend to do, [Scherzer] pulled up an analytically driven website called TruMedia. He proceeded to pore over a series of numbers and heat maps, comparing the 2018 version of himself to the 2017 version who won a second straight Cy Young award."

Full article: ESPN.com

In the MediaRafe AndersonJune 20, 2018mlb, espnComment

Trout's season compares to Babe Ruth

The Washington Post's Neil Greenberg uses TruMedia's baseball platform as he says Mike Trout's season is comparable to Ruth, Mays, Williams and Mantle.

"Trout has always been productive at the plate — his career OPS heading into this season was .976 — but improved plate discipline has helped him find another level of efficiency. He is chasing a career-low 18 percent of pitches out of the strike zone while making contact on a career-high 90 percent of pitches in the strike zone. ...

Trout mashes off-speed pitches, too. According to data from TruMedia, he is hitting .414 with a 1.554 OPS against change-ups and splitters with five of his 23 home runs coming off those offerings. Curveballs have been an issue in terms of power, but that, too, is relative. His .600 slugging percentage against that pitch is strong despite having just one home run against curves this year."

Full article: Washington Post

In the MediaRafe AndersonJune 13, 2018mlb, Washington PostComment

Inside World Cup numbers of Messi & Ronaldo

For Sports Illustrated, Paul Carr examines how Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo fared at previous World Cups.

"At the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldo was far more active in the midfield, both offensively and defensively. He went one-on-one 37 times and had 36 recoveries of the ball in 484 minutes. Four years later, he had 21 one-on-ones and 11 recoveries in 360 minutes. In 2014, those numbers dipped to 12 one-on-ones and four recoveries in 270 minutes.

This is because Ronaldo has evolved into more of a true forward than a winger. He sent in 21 crosses in 2006, and a total of 14 in 2010 and 2014. In Brazil, 35 percent of his touches were in the center third of the field (as opposed to the left or right thirds), up from 28 percent in 2010 and 18 percent in 2006."

Full article: Sports Illustrated (by Paul Carr, Director of Content Development)

In the MediaRafe AndersonJune 12, 2018soccer, sports illustratedComment

Scouting for the Premier League

Writing for the OptaPro blog, Paul Carr uses TruMedia's ProVision tool (developed in partnership with Opta) to show how a newly-promoted Premier League club might use data while searching for a left-sided attacker.

"To narrow the pool of candidates, the search is limited to the just-completed European league seasons for players:

- From the Dutch Eredivisie, Belgium’s Jupiler League, Ligue 2, 2. Bundesliga and England’s Championship
- Who played as a left midfielder, left attacking midfielder, left winger or left wing back
- With at least 900 minutes this season
- Currently age 30 or younger
- Who are right-footed or use both feet equally well

That leaves 73 players on our target list, with the four selected statistics (expected goals, expected assists, defensive actions in each half of the field) scaled on a per-90-minute basis."

Full article: OptaPro blog (by Paul Carr, Director of Content Development)

Sports Analytics ProductsRafe AndersonJune 6, 2018soccer, OptaProComment

Scherzer is MLB's best pitcher

The Washington Post's Neil Greenberg uses TruMedia's baseball platform to support his claim that Max Scherzer is the best pitcher in baseball.

"According to data from TruMedia, Scherzer averages 92.7 mph with his fastball and, when he throws it in the upper third of the plate, opposing batters swing and miss a career-high 39 percent of the time. Overall, hitters are putting the pitch in play less than a quarter of the time it is thrown (24 percent), making it difficult for batters to get good wood on the ball.

His slider, used almost exclusively against right-handed batters, is thrown in the strike zone 57 percent of the time yet is a called strike half the time. In other words, the pitch is completely baffling hitters."

Full article: Washington Post

In the MediaRafe AndersonMay 31, 2018mlb, Washington PostComment

Is Scott Kingery snapping out of it?

Phillies prospect Scott Kingery may be snapping out of his slump, as SB Nation blog The Good Phight explains, using TruMedia imagery…

“First, let’s set the baseline. For the first three weeks in May, Kingery continued to struggle to put a good bat on the ball. Just look at the spray chart.

There is exactly ONE ball that made it into left field for three weeks, and that came on May 19 against St. Louis, near the tail end of that stretch. Every single other ball on the left side of the infield was a grounder, save for one pop-up just to the left of second base. There was just no good contact whatsoever.

In the last six games, however, Kingery has already had five line drives off the bat; one more than he had in the previous three weeks.

Not swinging and missing at pitches over the plate has helped. He’s probably still leaking and reaching over the plate a bit too much, but at least the empty flails haven’t been as prevalent.”

Full article: SB Nation

In the MediaRafe AndersonMay 28, 2018mlb, SB NationComment

Tommy Hunter making Phillies fans nervous

The struggles of Phillies pitcher Tommy Hunter stem in part from more hittable pitches, as his heatmaps show in this SB Nation article…

“Take a look at the heat maps for Hunter from 2017 and 2018. You can see that in 2018, there is a noticeable amount of pitches that are located in more hittable places the hitting zone than there were last year. In 2017, you see that the red is showing up more often below the belt and down against righties, whereas this year, there is more in the middle and up. Seeing pitches in those places helps jive with the numbers that hitters are producing against Hunter.”

Full article: SB Nation

In the MediaRafe AndersonMay 24, 2018mlb, SB NationComment

Rhys Hoskins struggles versus changeup

On SB Nation's Phillies blog, Paul Boyé looks at Rhys Hoskins' struggles against the changeup.

"Entering Saturday afternoon’s game, Hoskins had seen exactly 100 changeups in all counts, according to TruMedia. ...

In 2-1 counts, Hoskins is being baited. He’s waiting for a fastball, and instead he’s getting the string pulled on him fairly frequently. And when that string gets pulled, well, you see what’s been happening.

Now, that’s not an AB-ender. A 2-1 whiff gives you another shot, and Hoskins has been more than capable of handling himself in two-strike counts. Lately, though, the changeup has been used with incredible effectiveness against him in those two-strike counts."

Full article: SB Nation

In the MediaRafe AndersonMay 19, 2018mlb, SB NationComment

Gerrit Cole's changing strategy

Gerrit Cole's changing strategy

ESPN's David Schoenfeld uses TruMedia imagery to show how Gerrit Cole's fastball location has changed this season.

"Cole was solid across the board in 2017, with a high home run rate leading to a 4.26 ERA. The increase in strikeout rate and swing-and-miss rate is phenomenal -- and note that his ground ball rate has plummeted.

As you might expect, and as others have reported, it’s a change in philosophy. The Pirates like two-seamers and ground balls; the Astros like four-seamers and strikeouts. You can see the difference in Cole's fastball location."

Full article: ESPN.com

In the MediaRafe AndersonMay 10, 2018mlb, espnComment

TruMedia wins Best Elite Performance Technology

TruMedia wins Best Elite Performance Technology

TruMedia Networks and OptaPro, through the analytical platform ProVision, won Best Elite Performance Technology at the 2018 Yahoo! Sports Technology Awards on May 3 in London.

"Developed by OptaPro in partnership with TruMedia Networks, ProVision is the cutting-edge tool that helps teams make more informed decisions across global recruitment and performance analysis.

Since launching in 2017, professional clubs and federations from around the world have been using ProVision to support their analysis process.

Albert Larcada, TruMedia's Director of Analytics, added: 'Lots of hard work and ingenuity from dozens of people at both TruMedia and OptaPro went into making this product, which makes winning this award very gratifying. The collaboration between our two companies resulting in this product that directly improves team decision-making and processes has been amazing to see firsthand.'"

Full press release

Press Release, Sports Analytics ProductsRafe AndersonMay 8, 2018OptaPro, soccerComment

Strikeouts continue to rise

Strikeouts continue to rise

The Washington Post's Neil Greenberg uses TruMedia's platform and imagery to explore how and why MLB's strikeout rate continues to rise.

"A decade ago, the first year data is available, less than 75 percent of pitches in the strike zone were called strikes, but that has since improved to 85 percent in 2017 and more than 86 percent this season. Plus, pitchers are inducing more swinging strikes (10.7 percent vs. 8.7 percent in 2008) than ever before."

Full article: Washington Post

In the MediaRafe AndersonMay 4, 2018mlb, Washington PostComment

Scouting defenders in Ligue 2

Scouting defenders in Ligue 2

On the OptaPro blog, TruMedia's Paul Carr uses ProVision to analyze Ligue 2 defenders who could be possible recruitment targets this summer.

"Laporte has now jumped out from the numbers twice, so let’s examine his passing in greater detail. He’s not just nudging the ball to a midfielder to carry up the pitch, he’s getting the ball into the attack effectively. Per 90 minutes, Laporte averages 6.6 passes into the attacking third this season, third-most out of these 23 defenders.

Getting more granular, Laporte has also completed the most passes from the defensive third to the attacking half, both on a total (56) and per-90 (2.2) basis this season. He’s also completing those passes at a higher rate (59%) than any of the others, as his passing map shows."

Full article: OptaPro (by Paul Carr, Director of Content Development)

Sports Analytics ProductsRafe AndersonApril 30, 2018soccer, OptaProComment

Nola Pitching to (Bad) Contact

Nola Pitching to (Bad) Contact

On SB Nation's Phillies blog, Paul Boyé uses TruMedia's platform and graphics to show how Aaron Nola is succeeding by pitching to bad contact.

"Let’s start with the recently resurgent changeup, which Nola threw a career-high-matching 28 times Friday. He’s thrown 104 of them on the year now, and given up exactly five hits.

The above TruMedia heatmaps represent Nola’s changeup locations and SLG allowed, respectively. He’s locating it exceptionally well, and hitters are doing squat with it. The spots are in line with how he’s normally located the pitch, but he’s hung fewer over the heart of the plate and, as a result, been victimized less. That’s usually a pretty good recipe for success, and the contact rates bear that out so far."

Full article: SB Nation

In the MediaRafe AndersonApril 28, 2018mlb, SB NationComment

Tony Kahn at CAA World Congress of Sports

Tony Kahn at CAA World Congress of Sports

At the CAA World Congress of Sports, TruMedia Networks owner Tony Kahn talked sports and analytics.

"Tony, who also owns and operates data firm TruMedia Networks, noted analytics has become a big part of Fulham, particularly as it looks to return to the EPL. Tony: 'We really turned things around by going to a more analytics-heavy approach. Basically, we weigh analytics 50% in every decision we make.'"

Full article: SportsBusiness Daily

In the MediaRafe AndersonApril 18, 2018Comment