Ben Reiter

Really about a 2.5. It's a perfectly decent story, but utterly lacking in detail about what made the Astros the Astros. Does the whole thing come down to process-oriented decision-making over outcome-focused decisions? Eighty percent of the teams in the league were thinking that way by 2017, as Reiter even expressly says at one point.

There are two to four good anecdotes, and it's a quick read. The Hurricane Harvey section is almost a caricature of sportswriters clumsily making use of natural disasters to talk about sports, though.… (meer)

In my mind, this is a pretty compelling sports read. I think if you're coming in looking for Moneyball 2 you might be a little disappointed, as the style and aims of the book are fundamentally different. Whereas Moneyball is a book sure of it's thesis, sure that what Beane does is fundamental and provable, Astroball rests on a much more tenuous task of trying to integrate "data" and "human insight". Reading with an eye towards this tension, especially as it dovetails with surveillance, workplace dynamics, and organizational behavior was the reason it was so enjoyable to me. That being said, Reiter does miss the chance to dig into some fundamental questions of this text. Whether that's because (possibly?) lack of access/willingness for the Astros to answer questions, or because Reiter spends too much time sweeping the whole arc of the Astros existence -- maybe both. In other words, it asks, usually implicitly, more than it answers. Overall enjoyable, if a little confused about its own operation.… (meer)

The first half of this book is fascinating. We get an in-depth look at the decision making and analysis used to build a winning baseball from the ground up.

The second half drags as Reiter gives us a more traditional look at how people in the clubhouse interacted with one another.

By trying to serve both masters, Reiter doesn't totally please either. There isn't enough analysis of the Astros on field data driven techniques (probably a good thing since we found out about the possible sign stealing in the 2017 season). The discussion of the data driven elements of their approach may turn off the less analytically minded reader.

This is still better than most baseball books, so I still recommend it.… (meer)