
The MVP Machine
How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players
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Narrated by:
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Josh Hurley
About this listen
Move over, Moneyball - a cutting-edge look at major league baseball's next revolution: the high-tech quest to build better players.
As best-selling authors Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik reveal in The MVP Machine, the Moneyball era is over. Fifteen years after Michael Lewis brought the Oakland Athletics' groundbreaking team-building strategies to light, every front office takes a data-driven approach to evaluating players, and the league's smarter teams no longer have a huge advantage in valuing past performance.
Lindbergh and Sawchik's behind-the-scenes reporting reveals:
- How the 2017 Astros and 2018 Red Sox used cutting-edge technology to win the World Series.
- How undersized afterthoughts José Altuve and Mookie Betts became big sluggers and MVPs.
- How polarizing pitcher Trevor Bauer made himself a Cy Young contender.
- How new analytical tools have overturned traditional pitching and hitting techniques.
- How a wave of young talent is making MLB both better than ever and arguably worse to watch.
Instead of out-drafting, out-signing, and out-trading their rivals, baseball's best minds have turned to out-developing opponents, gaining greater edges than ever by perfecting prospects and eking extra runs out of older athletes who were once written off. Lindbergh and Sawchik take us inside the transformation of former fringe hitters into home-run kings, show how washed-up pitchers have emerged as aces, and document how coaching and scouting are being turned upside down. The MVP Machine charts the future of a sport and offers a lesson that goes beyond baseball: Success stems not from focusing on finished products, but from making the most of untapped potential.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik (P)2019 Basic BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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The ensuing scandal rivaled that of the 1919 "Black Sox" and the more recent steroid era, and became one of the most significant that the game had ever seen. The fallout ensnared many other teams, either as victims, alleged cheaters or both. The Los Angeles Dodgers felt robbed of a World Series title, and fended off accusations about their organization. Same for the New York Yankees. The Boston Red Sox were soon under investigation themselves. The New York Mets lost a promising manager before he ever managed a game.
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Critic reviews
"I wish this book spent more time on the Red Sox winning four times as many titles as the Yankees this century, but The MVP Machine is a great and informative deep dive on the challenges of unlocking talent and building winning teams in the age of analytics." (Bill Simmons, founder and CEO, The Ringer)
"This is the book baseball needed, the definitive document on how the best players in the world are using new ideas to become even better. Until now, no one had delivered an authoritative, comprehensive look at the revolution that is transforming the sport and offering lessons that extend even beyond the field. If you want to understand the inner workings of the modern game, you must read The MVP Machine." (Ken Rosenthal, baseball reporter for The Athletic, Fox Sports, and MLB Network)
"A lot of books have claimed to be Moneyball 2.0, but this book actually delivers. It chronicles the changes that are transforming the game of baseball at a fundamental level and shifting power back into the hands of players and coaches." (Mike Fast, special assistant to the general manager, Atlanta Braves and former director of research and development, Houston Astros)
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Story
The ensuing scandal rivaled that of the 1919 "Black Sox" and the more recent steroid era, and became one of the most significant that the game had ever seen. The fallout ensnared many other teams, either as victims, alleged cheaters or both. The Los Angeles Dodgers felt robbed of a World Series title, and fended off accusations about their organization. Same for the New York Yankees. The Boston Red Sox were soon under investigation themselves. The New York Mets lost a promising manager before he ever managed a game.
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Take away the 2017 WS Trophy!!
- By Sonny on 07-10-21
By: Andy Martino
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Future Value
- The Battle for Baseball's Soul and How Teams Will Find the Next Superstar
- By: Eric Longenhagen, Kiley McDaniel, Keith Law - foreword
- Narrated by: Perry Daniels
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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For the modern major-league team, player evaluation is a complex, multipronged, high-tech pursuit. But far from becoming obsolete in this environment - as Michael Lewis' Moneyball once forecast - the role of the scout in today's game has evolved and even expanded. Rather than being the antithesis of a data-driven approach, scouting now represents an essential analytical component in a team's arsenal. Future Value is a thorough dive into the world of the contemporary scout - a world with its own language, methods, metrics, and madness.
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Fantastic material needing an accompanying PDF
- By Tyler Burch on 08-27-20
By: Eric Longenhagen, and others
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The Last of His Kind
- Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness
- By: Andy McCullough
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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More than any baseball player of his generation, Clayton Kershaw has embodied the burden of athletic greatness, the prizes and perils that await those who strive for it all. He is a three-time Cy Young award winner, the first pitcher to win National League MVP since Bob Gibson, and a surefire, first-ballot Hall of Famer. Many of his peers consider him the greatest pitcher to ever climb atop a big-league mound.
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Last of his kind is one of a kind
- By Anonymous User on 01-28-25
By: Andy McCullough
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Why We Love Baseball
- A History in 50 Moments
- By: Joe Posnanski
- Narrated by: Joe Posnanski, Ellen Adair
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball’s history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again. Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays’s catch, Babe Ruth’s called shot, and Kirk Gibson’s limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters.
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Narration
- By Peter on 01-10-24
By: Joe Posnanski
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Ball Four
- The Final Pitch
- By: Jim Bouton
- Narrated by: Jim Bouton
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a “social leper” for having violated the “sanctity of the clubhouse.” Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn’t true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn’t read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries. Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four.
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Three Ten Year Updates Give Bouton a 5th Star
- By Byron on 08-09-12
By: Jim Bouton
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The Only Rule Is It Has to Work
- Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team
- By: Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne, John Pruden
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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It's the ultimate in fantasy baseball: You get to pick the roster, set the lineup, and decide on strategies - with real players, in a real ballpark, in a real playoff race. That's what baseball analysts Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller got to do when an independent minor-league team in California, the Sonoma Stompers, offered them the chance to run its baseball operations according to the most advanced statistics.
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Narrarators have never watched baseball. Ever!
- By Anon on 06-02-16
By: Ben Lindbergh, and others
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Ballplayer
- By: Chipper Jones, Carroll Rogers Walton, Bobby Cox - foreword
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Before Chipper Jones became an eight-time All-Star who amassed Hall of Fame-worthy statistics during a 19-year career with the Atlanta Braves, he was just a country kid from small-town Pierson, Florida. A kid who grew up playing baseball in the backyard with his dad, dreaming that one day he'd be a major league ballplayer. With his trademark candor and astonishing recall, Chipper Jones tells the story of his rise to the MLB ranks and what it took to stay with one organization his entire career in an era of booming free agency.
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Affirmation
- By Todd e Eckman on 04-17-17
By: Chipper Jones, and others
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Moneyball
- The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Moneyball reveals a quest for something as elusive as the Holy Grail, something that money apparently can't buy: the secret of success in baseball. The logical places to look would be the giant offices of major league teams and the dugouts. But the real jackpot is a cache of numbers collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors.
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Excellent Book, Outstanding Narration, Sloppy Edit
- By Dirk Turgid on 03-05-12
By: Michael Lewis
What listeners say about The MVP Machine
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- FAIRFAX, VA
- 10-10-20
Interesting but more a stream of consciousness than a book
Lots of intriguing info, but kind of disjointed. More a collection of loosely connected stories.
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-06-20
Great for all baseball geeks
so much cool information about spin rates, high speed camera and use of science to make baseball an evolutionary game.
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- Ethanvox
- 01-31-20
Fantastic Baseball Book
Very well written, combines data science, player development, training concepts, and baseball drama seamlessly. Great read.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-07-19
My new favorite book
This book is a must read if your a real baseball fan, loved it !!
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- LB&MB
- 10-03-19
Next level baseball
This is the next level of baseball analytics. Very well done. If you haven't read Money Ball or Ahead of the Curve you may struggle to keep pace with the sabermetric acronyms. A must read for any baseball fanatic thirsty for what's going on in today's game. Ironic to see Bauer and Boody hooked up in Cincinnati.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Joseph
- 11-17-20
favorite book of quaritine
Trevor Bauer has changed the game forever, so much incredible information in this book. I loved it
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- Susan G.
- 11-01-20
Very good
I love baseball and this is an excellently worded book. I truly fun listen. Really enjoyed.
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- J P
- 06-14-19
Great Book. Horrible Narrator.
As the title says, this is a great book.
The narrator is horrible. He clearly has no grasp of the content he’s reading. He routinely demonstrates his baseball illiteracy throughout the book.
Sometimes, you have to know a bit about the game and how people communicate game data to be able to read it correctly off the page in a manner consistent with normal conversation.
I don’t know who picks narrators, but I’d say this choice is a “swing and a miss.”
In case the Narrator is reading this, “swing and a miss” is a metaphor referencing the game of baseball, an American sport where strong gentlemen swing sticks at balls.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Bryan Eisenberg
- 06-08-19
A wonderful glimpse into the next level of player development
If you thought MoneyBall changed the game of baseball, the MVP Machine is going to make that look like an afterthought. This is a must listen to if you have not been exposed to Trevor Bauer’s, Kyle Boddy’s and all the new tech breaking through the game. I have been using this kind of development for the last 4+ years with my now 14 year old son. I have been staying on top of the tech and trends and felt compelled to take notes while enjoying the book.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Dylan Rheault
- 06-21-19
Phenomenal piece of work
Lindbergh and Sawchik did an amazing job with this book. The amount of research and intelligence gathering is unmatched. They turned over every stone and I truly believe anyone who is involved in baseball NEEDS to read this
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