Posts in In the Media
Playing styles of MLS conference finalists
Playing styles of MLS conference finalists

For Sports Illustrated, our Paul Carr analyzes the four MLS conference finalists and their vastly different playing styles.

Measuring playing style by where a team begins possession and how long a team maintains possession, the quartet could not have been much more different this season.

New York and Sporting Kansas City began the most possessions in the attacking third. Sporting Kansas City and Atlanta had longer possessions than any other teams. Atlanta and Portland rarely gained possession in the attacking third. Portland and (especially) New York had some of the shortest average possessions in the league.

Full article: Sports Illustrated

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Falcons defensive issues favor Redskins

In his Week 9 picks, The Washington Post’s Neil Greenberg takes the Redskins to cover against the Falcons, in part because Atlanta’s defensive issues.

“Atlanta is allowing 12 more points per game than expected after taking into account the down, distance and field position of each defensive play, per TruMedia. The Oakland Raiders are the next worst team with eight points allowed more per game than expected.”

Full article: Washington Post

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In the MediaRafe AndersonWashington Post, nflComment
Can the Dolphins keep waiting on Tannehill?

ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe wonders how long the Dolphins can wait on Ryan Tannehill.

“The numbers bear out his yo-yo résumé. Tannehill is 40-42 as a starter. He has made the playoffs once -- in 2016, when he was injured in December, and Matt Moore steered the ship to shore. Since Tannehill was drafted in 2012, he ranks 19th among NFL quarterbacks in completion percentage, 25th in passer rating, 26th in touchdown-to-interception ratio, 28th in yards per attempt, 30th in Total QBR and 36th in QB win percentage, according to TruMedia.”

Full article: ESPN.com

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DEAN OLIVER ON NEW iPHONE APP

TruMedia’s Dean Oliver talks to ABC News about HomeCourt, an iPhone app that analyzes jump shots.

“The concept that consumers can do large-scale data collection is one that is important in the AI/computer vision world. Doing this beyond [a] basic fitness app is something whose time has come.

But note that it is just 'data' collection, not analysis, not instruction. It uses complex analysis to collect data for users, but will it really make players better? That's to be determined. But getting consumers the data is a big step towards those applications."

Full article: ABC News

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Albert Wilson is NFL's "best YAC receiver"

ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe uses TruMedia data to write about Dolphins wide receiver Albert Wilson, who says, “I’m the best YAC (yards after catch) receiver in the league.”

“Wilson was second in the NFL with an average of five yards after catch per reception last season, trailing just the Lions' Golden Tate. This season, Wilson is averaging 14.57 yards after catch per reception so far, per TruMedia. That's by far the most in the NFL. In fact, 335 of his 359 receiving yards have been YAC.”

Full article: ESPN.com

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HOW U.S. CAN FILL PULISIC-SHAPED HOLE
HOW U.S. CAN FILL PULISIC-SHAPED HOLE

TruMedia’s Paul Carr uses ProVision to explore how Julian Green and Jonathan Amon might be able to fill the void left by Christian Pulisic’s absence from the United States attack.

“Pulisic won’t participate in the two October friendlies because of a torn calf muscle, meaning he'll have gone more than a calendar year playing just 89 minutes for the national team. The U.S. will miss him most in the center of the midfield, where he has no obvious replacement as a chief attacker and playmaker. In his absence, a Pulisic-shaped hole has appeared in numerous U.S. touch maps, including the team’s year-long heat map.”

Full article: Sports Illustrated

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ANALYZING CANADIAN STAR ALPHONSO DAVIES AS HE HEADS TO BAYERN
ANALYZING CANADIAN STAR ALPHONSO DAVIES AS HE HEADS TO BAYERN

As 17-year-old Canadian winger Alphonso Davies heads to Bayern Munich after this MLS season, TruMedia’s Paul Carr used ProVision to compare him with his MLS peers and other young stars in Europe.

“Should his progression continue, Davies will be the first Canadian international to play in the Bundesliga for Bayern. The eye test, past and present stats, and Bayern’s transfer fee all suggest Davies has a ceiling unmatched by an MLS academy product.”

Full article: OptaPro blog

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RED SOX LAUNCH WALLY'S MATH ACADEMY
RED SOX LAUNCH WALLY'S MATH ACADEMY

The Boston Red Sox have launched Wally’s Math Academy, a program that engages elementary and middle-school students by combining their passion for baseball with the math skills they are learning in school. Developed by TruMedia Networks, this powerful application allows educators to quickly generate classroom exercises and take-home worksheets that feature real-time sports content.

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How Khalil Mack Helps The Bears

The Washington Post explains one way that Khalil Mack can help the Bears defense:

"Adding a fearsome pass rusher like Mack could turn Chicago’s fortunes around in a hurry. According to data from TruMedia, teams scored almost two points per drive in 2017 when the offensive line didn’t give up a sack. That dropped to less than a point per drive when yielding one sack or more, making it easy to see how much of a momentum killer a sack can be. And with Mack, the Bears should be getting plenty more of them."

Full article: The Washington Post

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Forsythe Doesn't Chase Breaking Balls

Twins Daily, part of ESPN's blog network, uses TruMedia's product to analyze Logan Forsythe's approach...

"Forsythe rarely chases breaking balls out of the zone. According to ESPN/TruMedia’s data, since 2017 he’s reached on just 14.3 percent of breaking balls outside of the zone whereas the average hitter has done so on just over 30 percent. For comparison’s sake, Joe Mauer has even chased after 23 percent of breaking balls in that time. Forsythe will swing through some (8 percent, same as Mauer) and the results aren’t great when he does make contact (a .588 OPS vs .657 MLB average) but with baseball’s increasing reliance on nasty breaking balls, being able to wait back and keep from chasing after those pitches is rare skill set."

Full article: Twins Daily

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How Player Tracking Data Affects the NFL

TruMedia's Dean Oliver talks to ESPN about how player-tracking data will affect the NFL's use of analytics:

"Of course, in order for player tracking data to have a positive impact on any given team, that franchise has to have a desire to use it.

"I think there's interest, but there's always some healthy and some unhealthy skepticism about what it can do," said Dean Oliver, vice president of data science at TruMedia Networks."

Full Article: ESPN.com

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Put Ertz, Newton, Hurns on your draft lists
Put Ertz, Newton, Hurns on your draft lists

Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post uses TruMedia to show why Zach Ertz, Cam Newton and Allen Hurns might be good fantasy football picks this season:

Round 4: Philadelphia Eagles tight end Zach Ertz ranked fourth in targets (110) and target share (20 percent) last season per data from TruMedia with a higher share of targets (23 percent) in the red zone.

Full article: Washington Post

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Circumstantial evidence for Jose Urena not great

ESPN.com's Bradford Doolittle writes that the circumstantial evidence for Jose Urena's innocence is not great, regarding his beaning of Ronald Acuna:

"Urena's 25 hit batters since last season are tied for the most in the majors with Cole Hamels and Charlie Morton. According to TruMedia research, his 17 hit batsmen since 2016 on fastballs are tied for the most in baseball."

Full article: ESPN.com

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In the MediaRafe Andersonespn, mlbComment
The Perfect Fantasy Football Draft

What might the perfect fantasy football draft look like? Neil Greenberg uses TruMedia data to figure it out:

"For example, LeSean McCoy is the No. 1 back in Buffalo, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of opportunities for his primary backup, Chris Ivory, to get carries. Last season McCoy’s backups accounted for 25 percent of all carries but also 49 percent of the team’s carries in goal-to-go situations, per data from TruMedia."

Full article: Washington Post

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In the MediaRafe AndersonWashington Post, nfl, Fantasy FootballComment
Juan Soto's Historic Year

Neil Greenberg uses TruMedia data and heat maps to show how good teenager Juan Soto has been this season:

"When Soto isn’t taking a free pass to first, he’s crushing balls: Soto is batting .367 with a 1.215 OPS against four-seam fastballs, sinkers and cutters, the highest OPS among batters who have seen at least 650 fastballs in 2018, per data from TruMedia. It doesn’t matter if the pitch is inside, outside, high or low — Soto finds a way to muscle it out of the park."

Full article: Washington Post

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In the MediaRafe AndersonWashington Post, mlbComment
Trout's pitches with runners on

For ESPN.com, Bradford Doolittle looks at Mike Trout's low RBI total and whether or not the pitches he sees are a factor...

"According to TruMedia, since the beginning of the 2016 season, 46.7 percent of the pitches Trout has seen with runners on base have been in the strike zone. That's lower than the league average (47.6 percent) but not shockingly low. There have been 103 hitters to see an even lower frequency of strikes in those spots."

Full article: ESPN.com

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Ramos' framing helps Phillies
Ramos' framing helps Phillies

For the Washington Post's Fancy Stats blog, Neil Greenberg used TruMedia's heat maps to show the extra strike calls that Wilson Ramos' framing provides:

"Ramos also gives the Phillies another catcher who can frame pitches. With Knapp behind the plate, Philadelphia’s pitchers get a called strike on pitches out of the zone 5.4 percent of the time, per TruMedia; Ramos has a 7.2 percent called-strike rate on those pitches, just slightly lower than Alfaro (7.8 percent). The league average is 7.2 percent."

Full article: Washington Post

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J.D. Martinez’s defense? What the numbers really say

TruMedia CTO Jeff Stern discusses defensive metrics with the Boston Red Sox' J.D. Martinez and The Boston Globe.

“The 40-minute conversation between Martinez and Stern was illuminating in trying to assess Martinez’s defense on an individual level and in understanding the evolution of modern defensive statistics — and whether those numbers seen by the public are the same as those used by teams or analysts such as the TruMedia team.”

Full article: The Boston Globe

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Numbers Behind Kante, Modric's World Cup Dominance

This SI.com article goes beyond the box score to examine how France's N'Golo Kante and Croatia's Luka Modric powered their teams to the World Cup final.

"[Modric] does defensive work, as he’s tied with Kante for most recoveries at this World Cup (48), and no player has won possession more times in the middle third of the field (31).

Modric is also the offensive talisman, with 16 chances created, double the total of any teammate."

Full article: SI.com (by Paul Carr, TruMedia Director of Content Development)

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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)

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