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Endicott Football Player Determined to Make Music Passion a Career

Zach DeNike is an Endicott senior from Old Tappan, New Jersey. He played football at Endicott all four years of his college career as a wide receiver and punt returner. DeNike amassed 117 catches across 37 games in his college career, scoring eight touchdowns. Standing at 5’8’’ and weighing in at 175 pounds, it’s easy to understand who he looks up to on the gridiron.

DeNike, a liberal studies major, is far more than just a football player. He’s had a passion for music his whole life, and has started pursuing it as a career in college. DeNike has his own YouTube page, which contains two music videos that he’s starred in within the past year.

DeNike is a determined individual. He has battled through injuries to continue playing the game he loves, and his decision to skip a traditional rite of passage event back in high school to suit up one last time shows he is committed to carving out his own path.

Music is a competitive industry, but DeNike is driven to chase his dream of working in the field, whether it’s as a recording artist or something else. We talked about a valuable internship opportunity that he experienced in NYC, and how he endeavors to create similar chances for himself in the future to create a bigger name for himself.

Why was Endicott the choice for you? What other schools recruited you?

The recruiting process was kind of stressful for me. I ended up getting some D1 offers (Wagner) towards the end, right before signing day, (but) it just didn’t feel right when I went on the visit there. When I came here, something kept bringing me back. (It felt) like a family atmosphere and I loved the campus, everything about it, the academics. Everyone about the team was really cool when I went on my visit. The coaching staff was pretty relatable; they’re all young guys. Everyone was open when I came. The guy I stayed with offered to let me sleep on his bed. I went to a few classes and I pictured myself coming here more than any other school. I don’t regret (the decision of going D3 at Endicott) at all, I love everyone on my team, the coaching staff and the school. I live on the beach this year, waking up and looking out my window seeing the ocean and hearing the ocean before I go to bed, it’s awesome. Not many kids can say that.

What is the most memorable play, game or accomplishment in your football career so far?

In HS I had the opportunity to play at MetLife stadium in my state championship game; that was a dream come true. This year we had that comeback against Bridgewater State; it was unreal. It’s like the Patriots, you can’t ever give up until the clock hits zero. That HS team went 12-0 and a bunch of us got asked to play in the Bergen County All-Star game, which is the North vs. South Jersey football game. I ended up winning MVP of that game for the offense. I was the only member of my team that ended up playing in that game because it was on prom (night). Most of them wanted to be with their girlfriend, but I wanted to play one more HS game.

Is there a professional football player you look up to or perhaps model your game after?

Julian Edelman for sure. I’m a NY fan, but Edelman is my idol. Short, versatile.

I noticed on your bio that you’re a Liberal Studies major. What type of career aspirations do you have?

I made my own major through that, it’s music performance and songwriting. I did my internship at Premier Studios this summer, got to work with DJ Khaled, Steve Aoki, Young Thug, Nick Cannon, all these big names. I recorded with Kesha’s producer and wrote a song with her. Awesome experience. My mom was really good friends with someone well known in the industry; she made a few phone calls for me and set it up. It’s pretty difficult to get an internship at a recording studio. I hope to be a singer-songwriter one day. I’m writing my own album right now. It’s going pretty well. It’s tough to balance it with football and school right now. Whenever I have free time I’m always coming up with ideas and playing music and collaborating with people. Someone on our team last year, Jesse Bonner, he’s good at producing music and making beats. I’m working with him. My brother has been helping me out a lot; he’s good with the software (GarageBand).

Punt returner and slot receiver is a particularly dangerous position given the many hard hits they take over the middle of the field. Have you ever been seriously injured playing football?

No serious injuries, knock on wood. I’ve missed the last two games with a concussion. I’m feeling good, ready to go, this week is gonna be my first game back. I had two (concussions) in HS. They weren’t too serious. Once you get the concussion, you have to wait until all your symptoms are at zero. Once that happens, you can start going back to class and start exercising again. You need seven days of exercising with no symptoms and no setbacks, and then you’re ready to go.

What are your thoughts on the reports of concussion severity and CTE among professional football players? Is it something you’re worried about for your own health?

It’s in my head a little bit, I’m definitely thinking about it a little bit but I try not to think about it too much and just try to focus on the game and what’s in friend of me right then. My family, they just want me to be safe, make sure I’m not going out there to just play a game and not worry about my head. I gotta worry about the years to come, the next 40-50 years of my life.

Does your talent for music relate to your football career at all? Maybe I’m reaching here, but is reading a defense as a punt returner and slot receiver at all similar to reading a sheet of music?

I would say yeah in certain aspects of the game. When I’m returning punts, I kind of relate it because you need to get in a rhythm. If one thing’s off then the return is not gonna be too great. When you’re playing music it becomes frustrating when you don’t get into that rhythm, or if you’re writing a song, if you don’t have that rhythm going then you can get writer’s block.

On your bio it says you play seven instruments, can you list those for me? Which one are you best at and which is your favorite instrument?

Guitar, piano, mandolin, ukelele, drums and I sing so I guess six if you include singing. My favorite is guitar, it comes easy to me. I have a good ear for music. I never really read music up until college; I’m learning right now. I’m learning about music theory and stuff. Usually when I hear a song I can figure it out and play it right away. (I started playing guitar in) fourth grade.

I’m particularly curious about your internship at Premier Recording Studio in NYC. What was that like?

I was around a lot of big names, got a lot of awesome contacts. The producer that I worked with on the last few days of my internship, he put me in contact with somebody named Steve Migliore who has put a bunch of different artists on the BillBoard Top 100. I’ve sent him some of my songs, a few covers I’ve done since I haven’t copyrighted any of the original music that I’ve done yet so I don’t want to send it out and have it get stolen or anything. The music industry, you don’t know who you can really trust. Once I finish album and get it copyrighted, I’m gonna send it to him. He really likes my voice, what I can do. I know as far as the producer that I worked with, he loved me. I literally sat down and wrote a song with him and this Australian girl that he was working with. I wrote all the lyrics for her and they featured me in the song too. I normally write about what’s going on in my life at the time whether it’s girl issues or family issues. My favorite song I wrote down by the beach last year about the waves. It’s about how life goes up and down sometimes but you just gotta keep pushing through. I’m not really sure when I’m going release the whole album. Hopefully I’ll release one of the songs as a single within the next two months. (Without this internship) I’d probably do it like most artists get started, just go on YouTube, throw up some covers and maybe just put stuff on SoundCloud. Now that I have all these connections, it’s a quicker way for me to get into the industry. The hours were crazy. I would work from like 9AM-730PM, get a day off and then work 730PM-9AM. Overnight, into the morning. Sometimes they would need me to stay longer. I started out cleaning the studio and then going out on runs, getting pizza for all the artists. In my free time I would start singing, and then people would hear me and were impressed. I started to sit in on different sessions, help out the sound engineers by setting up the microphones. I learned a lot about the different softwares and pro tools that they used. I took a class last semester called Intro to Studio Production; without that class I would have been lost in the studio. At Endicott, they have a recording studio with the same exact sound boards, and I already had an intro with how to use it.

I plan to work at another recording studio in the future to get some more experience and meet some more people, maybe out in California.

What musicians do you look up to?

I love John Mayer, Maroon 5, Adam Levine is one of my favorite singers. I love Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead, the Beatles. I love every genre of music, I’m open to everything. It helps me as a performer.

I see that you worked with the Open Hearts Open Homes Project in the past. What is that group about and what did your involvement consist of?

We sponsored an Israeli child whose life had been affected by terrorism. He stayed with us for three weeks in the summer when I was pretty young. I might’ve been like eight years old. We fell in love with him, he’s our family. He and his grandpa were going into a market when he saw his friend, and he went to meet up with him. Then, his grandpa ended up getting killed by a suicide bomber. Originally, it was only supposed to be a three-week thing where they would go to a camp during the day and do some overnights at Great Adventure. Fun stuff for the summer. But a war broke out, and my family (myself, mom, brother) said we can’t let these kids go back after they’ve had all this fun so we raised all this money very quickly and it gave them the opportunity to stay another three weeks. Ever since he’s been coming back every year, he’s like a brother to me. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Music runs in my family. My mom told me that my grandpa could sit down and play any instrument, didn’t read music kinda like me and if he heard something he’d be able to play it, write a song in like ten minutes. My dad is a good singer, it’s always been a part of my family and a huge part of my life.

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Jacob Beaudoin, a Coach and a Role Model

Jacob Beaudoin has always wanted to work with young people. Initially, he envisioned himself as a high school history or English teacher. As he says, “When I enrolled in Merrimack College I decided to pursue a degree in secondary education with a concentration in history.” Soon after, Beaudoin switched to English, but a year later, he realized teaching wasn’t right for him. As he explains, “I thought about what I enjoyed the most, helping people, and the age in which I work with when coaching (13-18) and decided to pursue a career as a guidance counselor.” Currently, as a junior at Merrimack, Beaudoin is a double major in Human Development and Psychology. “I think more of an impact could be made as a guidance counselor than as a teacher,” he said. Beaudoin has had a passion for sports since an early age. He remembers, “growing up in North Andover, playing baseball, soccer, football and basketball. I was never really good at any of them, but I found interest in game management … I developed a strong passion for understanding how the whole game works rather than just ‘how to play it.’” With his youth sports career coming to an end in high school, coaching provided the perfect match between his passion for sports and humanitarianism. As he recalls, “I started coaching the summer going into my junior year of high school. I was offered to coach an 11-year old team, and I also coached a 13-15-year-old team, with two players who were only a year younger than me.” In a youth sports coaching landscape dominated by parents attempting to relive their athletic glory days vicariously through their children, Beaudoin’s influence is a refreshing departure from the norm. He is still just a few years removed from playing the same sports in the same town as his players, which provides a valuable perspective for them. According to Beaudoin, “I think younger people should offer to coach or teach something they are passionate about. It teaches you more about yourself and helps you figure out what your passion might be.” In fact, he has recruited a few of his friends to coach alongside him. Part of the reason that he stands out among his peers is the time commitment involved in manning the sidelines. Beaudoin must balance the challenge of being a full-time college student with the coaching that demands many hours each week. As he explains, “the reward of making an impact on kids who might need some type of male role model in their life is rewarding in and of itself.” It’s easy to observe that Beaudoin has a special connection with the town he was born and raised in, North Andover. The 21-year old junior has never been outside the northeast; he has set down deep roots in his hometown. Beaudoin is currently coaching a 6th grade basketball team, who plays its home games in the same North Andover middle school gym he once did. As he describes, “I like making a difference in the town and community that has given me a lot of opportunity.” His 6th grade team practices twice a week, and mainly focuses on skill development, emphasizing the fundamentals of basketball that will be tested in gameplay. As the season has progressed, Beaudoin has included more specific practice, such as tactics to break through a defensive press. Win or lose, the young coach tells his players after every game that “we can always strive to get better.” Beaudoin expressed significant gratitude towards a few role models and mentors who have guided him along the way. According to him, the frankness of these relationships has been the most beneficial aspect. “What I find is that the people I look up to or seek advice from are the ones who are the most honest and don’t tell me what I want to hear,” he said. “It is important for me to hear what could be better, or when I make a mistake and I try to pass this onto the kids I am lucky enough to mentor or be a role model for.” Beaudoin seeks to be a positive influence on his players, instilling the value of completing their school work first and foremost. To do this effectively, he tries to lead by example, “I try to follow what I preach to my players. I always make sure that I have work done before going to a practice or game, or completing administrative stuff for the leagues I run. Most weeks it requires me to work from about 6 a.m. – 10 p.m. every day. There isn’t much I would rather be doing.”

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Gillette Stadium: Where I Fell in Love with the Patriots

The quaint New England town of Foxborough, MA, nestled halfway between Providence and Boston, is hardly what you’d expect for the location of Gillette Stadium, home base for the world’s seventh most valuable sports franchise, the NFL’s New England Patriots. Foxborough is home to 17,535 residents, which ranks just 111th of all cities in Massachusetts. Yet on Sundays in the fall, it never fails to triple that number, as Gillette Stadium has boasted a sellout streak dating back to its official opening in 2002. Cold days in November, December and January call for extreme preparation. I learned this lesson the hard way in November 2013, when I was drastically unprepared for the sub-freezing weather that was compounded by frequent gusts of wind. With only a single layer of sweatpants covering my legs, they were numb for most of the evening. The 24-0 halftime score in favor of Peyton Manning’s visiting Denver Broncos tempted an early exit, but my father and I were rewarded for braving the frigid elements with one of New England’s historic second-half rallies that led to a four-hour overtime win. There’s only one road in and out of “The Razor,” US Route 1, which makes for hectic traffic jams hours before and after games. Despite the fact that Gillette is only about 53 miles away from my house in North Andover, I find it necessary to leave about five hours before game time. The most direct route from there, I-95 south, will usually be an easy ride until one reaches Exit 9, the landing area for all stadium traffic arriving from the north. The next three miles on Route I will range anywhere from 30 to 120 minutes, depending on how close you intend to park. Homeowners and local businesses alike open up their lot space along this road for ticketholders to park on game days, which will cost at least $40, even as far as three miles away from the stadium. The traffic jams, exorbitant parking fees and potentially long walks along the concrete jungle of Route I will certainly not be the highlight of a trip to Gillette, but they will prove to be a worthy expense once inside. Tailgating is certainly an option, as thousands of jersey-clad fans can be found grilling hot dogs and burgers, tossing footballs around and playing cornhole in parking lots for miles. For visitors who are not interested in the tailgate scene, such as myself, Gillette Stadium has plenty of other options. Far more than just a site for sporting events, Gillette Stadium is also home to Patriot Place, a sprawling 1.3 million square foot commercial metropolis that offers dozens of restaurants, shops and even a bowling alley, that are open year-round.  Getting a table on a game day is a tough ask, as there is plenty of competition to grab a front row seat for the many other NFL games being shown on flat screen TVs all throughout the dining establishments. There is often a 2-hour wait time, even for a group of two, as early as four hours before kickoff. Once seated, guests are limited to 90 minutes at a table in order to cycle customers through. Walking around the grounds of Patriot Place is a good way to kill some time waiting for the stadium gates to open. On an afternoon in October 2017, I was lucky enough to run into Super Bowl XLIX hero Malcolm Butler, at whom I mustered an awkward wave as he walked towards the player’s entrance. I was struck by his diminutive presence as he responded, “What’s up, fellas?” Absent a table at a restaurant, the best bet might be snaking your way through a crowd to land a drink from a frazzled bartender and trying to avoid hustling waitresses zigzagging their way through a maze of tables and bar congregations. Those who are uncomfortable in crowds will undoubtedly grow frustrated during this pre-game purgatory period, but for me, it builds excitement for what is to come. Gates will finally open about 90 minutes before kickoff, where fans will be whisked through a mock airport security station. My personal favorite part of the gameday experience is reaching my seats for the first time, and taking in the view that I will have for the next three and a half hours. I’m not a season ticketholder, so I’ve experienced several stadium perspectives accessed on the secondary market. The best seats I’ve ever had came in October 2014, close to the 50-yard line near the main stadium concourse. This elevated view allowed an ideal vantage point of every blade of grass, where I was fortunate enough to bear witness to vintage Rob Gronkowski thoroughly dismantling the Bears with three touchdowns. There’s nothing like the anticipation of watching Tom Brady enter the stadium to Jay Z’s “Public Service Announcement”. Jogging down the home sideline with a look unmatched intensity on his face, Brady “reintroduces himself” to his adoring fans. The legendary QB pumps his fist angrily and emits a scream fit for a warrior ready to do battle. It’s time for the real fun to start.   Once the game starts, I am glued to the action from whistle to whistle. I’ve grown accustomed to various stadium traditions, such as the third down foghorn when the Patriots are on defense, the stadium-wide “first down!” chant when the team moves the chains on offense, and especially the Patriots End Zone militia firing off their muskets following a Patriots touchdown. Camaraderie with fellow New England supporters nearby is another unforgettable part of the experience. After an impactful play, gleeful fans will raise their arms in hopes of high-fiving anyone and everyone within reach. You probably won’t be able to see the first-down on a run between the tackles as clearly as you would back in your living room, but there’s nothing like feeling the electricity of a passionate crowd that lives and dies on every play. For me, nothing will ever surpass my first playoff game in January 2015, in which my favorite version of the modern Patriots, the 2014 iteration, overcame a pair of 14-point deficits. I can still vividly picture the moment when Julian Edelman uncorked a deep pass down the left sideline on the famous “double pass” play. Time seemingly froze for an instant when the ball floated through the air, and pandemonium ensued when it landed in the fingertips of Danny Amendola for a game-tying touchdown. The Gillette Stadium experience has been an annual tradition of mine with my father; we’ve been to at least one game every season since 2011. Serving as the site of some of my most cherished memories, I’m grateful to have witnessed the most successful era in NFL history firsthand. Legendary players and teams don’t last forever, but the moments they provide do in the hearts of their faithful followers.

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Baseball Analytics Savant Is “Wired to Look at the Numbers”

Nicholas Fichtner is an Endicott senior whose goal is to work in an MLB front office. Fichtner grew up as a huge sports fan who was instantly fascinated with the numerical and statistical aspects of games. He developed an interest in analytics as he’s reached young adulthood.

Given that sports analytics is a relatively new field, there are very few ways to formally study it as a major. That hasn’t stopped Fichtner, however, who has embraced blazing a unique path for himself on the way to fulfilling his dreams. In this vein, he has designed several independent studies for himself to supplement the Endicott curriculum with skills he has identified as important.

Fichtner stands out as a free-thinker, and he is proud of it. He knows what is best for him and doesn’t care that his approach is uncommon. Fichtner has strong opinions on everything from a pitcher’s arm slot on a curveball to coding in advanced programming languages. His blend of old-school scouting knowledge coupled with a hunger for new-school sabermetrics is a strong foundation for a promising future.

Fichtner owns his own blog, Launch Angle, and is very active on Twitter, commenting on all things baseball. He has recently blogged about historical Hall-of Fame snubs, using copious statistics to make his case. His determination is evident by the steps he has taken to advocate for himself, and the significant thought he puts into what it will take to have a prosperous and enjoyable career.

What is your academic background?

I’m a finance major, minoring in economics. I switched my major twice. I was sports management my first semester freshman year, and it wasn’t for me. I went to accounting the second semester of my freshman year into the start of my sophomore year. It was good, but I wanted something a bit more challenging quantitatively, so I decided to switch into finance with a minor in applied math. I realized I wouldn’t be able to finish those minor requirements in time to graduate. I really wanted to graduate with a minor, so I switched my minor to economics because I had already taken some economics courses, so I’d have enough time to complete it. I’ve done five independent studies around coding, economics, data analytics…

What about sports management attracted you in the first place? What developments led you to conclude that it wasn’t for you?

I’m big on data analytics in sports, I love sports in general. When I first applied to Endicott, I said to myself, “I want to work in sports one day.” When they put me in the “bucket” of sports management. It wasn’t for me because I didn’t feel like it was challenging enough. I needed to expand my quantitative skills if I want to get to where I want to be in my professional career. I took financial accounting my freshman year, it was one of my core classes for sport management. I did really well in that class, and the professor was great. I told Dean Page I wanted to switch to accounting, and that was the end of that. Accounting is great, but it’s designed for preparation for the CPA Exam and to work for a “Big 4” accounting firm, which isn’t my career aspiration. It’s a great career aspiration, but it wasn’t mine. I thought about something that would challenge me even more quantitatively. Refinement, right? That’s why I switched into finance mid-sophomore year.

When did you first realize you had a passion for sports and wanted to pursue it as a career?

When I was a kid around my teens I loved football, loved looking at the numbers associated with football. Growing up in New England, you gravitate towards the Patriots. I just like looking at the numbers, I don’t know why. Looking at them, playing around with them. That’s just how I’m wired, have always loved to look at numbers. This is what got the ball rolling in terms of my interest in analytics with sports. At that same timeframe, I got into hockey analytics, too. Spent a lot of time researching that. Baseball of course, Moneyball was already well established. Basketball was on its way. Hockey had kind of taken in the analytics movement as to how teams evaluate players. It was mid-2010s, they started doing that. By the time I got to college, I was directed into baseball because I had emailed the sports information director here, Sean Medeiros, about being an analyst for the baseball team here. He said that if you’re looking to do advanced analytics for the team, no problem. I’ve been doing that for the last 3-4 years. I was an analyst for the first 3 years of my collegiate career, now I’m the student director of analytics for the team. That’s where my path now lies, in baseball, I’ve done a few internships in baseball analytics.

When did baseball take over as your chief interest? When I got to Endicott. The reason why I reached out to Sean my freshman year is because I wanted to get involved with campus. I thought that becoming a baseball analyst would be a good way to do it, especially given how light my resume was in that regard. Baseball, to me, seemed like the more logical choice [of sports to pick]. What evolved from there was meeting the coaching staff, Bryan Haley, met Coach Oringer a little bit later on. Working with them has been a great experience.

On his internship search

I was looking for an internship where it was geared towards what I wanted to do, not so much what was traditional within my school of study. I wanted to look more towards baseball. Coach Haley told me about the Cape Cod baseball league. I emailed every single GM and coach you could possibly imagine in that league. The GM for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks called me and said, ‘hey, you want an interview?’ I said, ‘yeah of course’. I got that interview and then got the internship.

What was the internship experience like?

It was great. That’s the number one developmental league in the country for Division I collegiate ballplayers. Of course, when you have all that talent, teams are gonna flock to see it. Scouts, player evaluators, executives, they’re all there. Meeting them, talking with them, interacting with that coaching staff was all part of it. I actually used analytics to build some lineups for them, which were pretty successful.

There were two assistant GM positions, me and another assistant GM intern, she was from Chicago. And another MLB scout liaison, he was from Maryland. We formed our own player development analytics department, just the three of us. We learned how to scout players, how to evaluate players with numbers. The coaching staff was very open with that, so we were successful and it was a great internship. It was a growth experience, personally and professionally.

What specifics did you learn about scouting?

When we were looking at hitters, we look at their approach. Whether they take a two-strike approach, whether they had the bat position on their shoulder. What are they looking for, their pitch recognition, can they identify a changeup from a slider? A curveball from a changeup? A two-seam vs. a cutter? All those things are important. From a pitcher’s standpoint, how are they gripping the ball? Do they have good command and control with their changeup, their curveball? Can they locate the zone and not be wild with it? Their release, their wrist flick is important, especially with the curveball. Is it down here, is it up here, how’s their kinetic chain? Is their kinetic chain perfect in the sense that their follow-through is good, clean and crisp? If it’s not, how are they going along with their process to resolve that? How is their foot landing when they deliver the pitch? All those little things to look at, watching, and talking to scouts. They provided little insights, interacting with the interns. Gave tips and tricks for how to evaluate players from an eye test standpoint?

Have you used software throughout your time with baseball analytics?

Yeah. This was before my junior year, the summer of 2018. I used a lot of Excel. As I mentioned before, the independent studies. They were centered around learning how to use the R programming language, how to use SQL, database management systems. Tableau. Key foundational database management software that I can use for baseball-oriented projects and data. I’m using SQL right now to manage the Endicott baseball team data right now. Microsoft is the bridge to that, but I’m learning those things right now and have mastered some of those skills, R in particular. After the [Cape Cod internship], I needed to learn data platforms more, beyond Excel. That’s where the IS’s came in.

How did the independent studies come into play? Identifying skills that you wanted to achieve that weren’t part of the Endicott curriculum?

Yeah, no doubt. SQL and Tableau, specifically, everyone should learn, whether you’re going into baseball or not. SQL for any data-related career is a Pre-Req for a lot of those internships and positions. You need to learn how to build databases and SQL is a foundational tool for that. It was a matter of: ‘how am I going to market myself in the world of baseball, in the industry? But also, how can I better my understanding of data analysis technology?’ That’s where the IS’s came I, but they had a baseball flavor to them, of course?

Knowing what you know now about your passion for sports analytics, if you were an incoming freshman, would you still choose to come to Endicott?

I think that there are a lot of people who major in something but then go into a career that doesn’t reflect their major directly. Being a well-rounded person in academia is something that I value a lot and I’ve learned that over my four years here. With all the major switching and minor flipping that I’ve done, and the cultivating my own creativity into my own degree, I wanted to feel like it was my own degree. I don’t think I would go anywhere else outside of Endicott because of all the great professors I’ve had here. I don’t know if I would’ve gotten the same type of support at a bigger school. I would run the risk of getting lost in the shuffle of students, in a big lecture hall. The direct relationships with professors that I’ve made has been instrumental here; they’ve given me a lot of support and advice on how to carry myself, how to be a professional, how to think differently, how to grow personally and professionally. I wouldn’t go anywhere else.

Where do you envision yourself in five years?

Hopefully working for a MLB organization, in some capacity as an analyst. Right now, I’m a writer. I was actually brought on to write for EVT News. They’re an outlet based out in San Diego, they cover the Padres, they’re credentialed in baseball and minor league baseball. They get a lot of viewership, a lot of exposure to those pieces. Two pieces that I’ve written for them so far have been picked up by Bleacher Report, which is pretty exciting. And I’ve started my own baseball analytics blog called the Launch Angle. That’s where I publish a lot of my stuff and the shell website where I can analyze players using advanced analytics and player development data a little bit more. I’ve built a little bit of a following on social media, which is fun. That’s where I’m at right now.

You’d rather work with a team than keep going with this media career?

I like the media piece of it only because it gets my work out there. I self-published my thesis on the Launch Angle. Having the exposure for EVT News was huge. I had published an article on my own site about the Padres, and a guy on Twitter reached out to me from EVT. That’s how I got that connection rolling. I enjoy writing about baseball from an analytics, economics, player development perspective. For the sake of exposure, getting my name out there organically. Working for a team is the endgoal.

Do you have any fear given that sports is a competitive industry to break into?

I think every industry is hard to break into. Baseball, yes, it’s competitive. Sports in general are competitive because so many people enjoy them, they want to work in something they enjoy. It’s one thing to work in something you enjoy, it’s another thing entirely if you think that you can but you don’t have the experience to back it up. I’ve learned this the hard way, you need to have several experiences, internships, projects surrounding the industry you want to work in. Beyond sports, at a 50,000-foot view, no matter what industry you go into you need to have projects and experiences tailored around that. If you’re going into accounting, you need to have projected and internships centered around what’s going on in accounting in the modern day. In marketing, same thing. Like most industries it’s about network building in general. Network building is huge. I’ve done a good to great job of building my network within MLB in terms of coaches. Those are people that I can lean on and talk to. The support I’ve gotten has been huge. If you don’t have a strong network, coupled with everything I’ve talked about, your chances of being successful are going to be slim. Even if you enter into an industry after you graduate with your undergraduate degree, you may not like it after two or three years. You just burn out, and you’re not passionate about it. The reason why I’m so dedicated to the sports industry and baseball in particular is because I’m passionate about it. I want to be happy in what I’m doing, and not just think of it as a 9-5 job where you just get a paycheck every two weeks and call it a day. That’s not my DNA, that’s not what I’m about. I like to do things with a purpose.

You mentioned you learned the “hard way” that you need to have strong experience. Was there a time where you didn’t have the necessary experience and met a dead end?

From the start of my junior year until present day has been about cultivating and creating experiences where I can be impactful in baseball. I realized that Cape Cod shouldn’t be the centerpiece; it should be a huge component to show experience. For example, my semester-long internship took place at Northeastern as a senior. They weren’t necessarily looking for my position as a quantitative analyst. I cold-emailed all the major Division I teams in the state of MA and Northeastern got back to me. I sat down with that coaching staff January of my junior year, and the head coach was very open to integrating analytics into the program for that year. Sometimes you will hear the word no in internship searches. Other times, if you get that internship and you struggle, and you fall flat on your face, that’s part of learning. You’re gonna fail. I’ve experienced these first-hand. At Northeastern, there were some times where my strategies or player evaluation techniques from a strict data perspective didn’t match what the coach was seeing. We talked about it, it was a nice conversation because he learned from me and I learned from him. I email him every two weeks or so, still. As an intern who wants to work in baseball, it needs to be challenge by fire. You’re gonna get burned, it’s gonna happen, you’re gonna fail. It is what it is. But at the same time, you’re gonna learn from it. I think a lot of people forget that. They look for that perfect internship where they can stretch their creativity and say ‘this is gonna work no matter what.’ It’s not always gonna work, and I learned that at both my internships. It’s all about trial by fire, learning from your mistakes and your failures, and rising above that.

Have you completed specific studies related to baseball?

I build a model that can predict baseball player salaries based on their statistics and it’s rather accurate. For example, Stephen Strasburg, my model predicted that he would make 32M with the Nationals this season, he will make 35M. That is pretty close, the residual on his 2020 estimated salary is 3M. For a highly-priced free agent, that’s pretty good. The model can predict players really low, or really high, excessively. Models can always be refined and developed to become more accurate. Taking that model and having an answer for behavior in the marketplace in the context of free agency in baseball. Of course, there’s no salary cap in baseball, except a luxury tax. That gives teams a license to spend a lot of team, depending on who the team is. Sometimes teams spend a lot of money on a player that they shouldn’t. I’ve noticed that a lot in baseball, where the money is like Monopoly money.

How did you build this model?

A lot of statistics and economic variables associated with that, looking at trends of free agency from the past. I did a separate study on the starting pitcher’s market, that there was a bubble in 2015. From 2011-2015, there’s a steady increase in total value of SP contracts handed out in free agency. The bubble popped after 2015. When people think of a bubble in economic terms, they think of the housing market and how that popped when housing was so overvalued that people couldn’t afford it, which caused the demise of the housing market. With starting pitchers, they have been such a valued commodity over time. We’re now seeing a trend where that 2015 bubble may be surpassed with the Gerrit Cole contract, the Strasburg contract, the Wheeler contract. Even supplementary contracts for SP that are not the nine-figure range, but are still a lot of money. I look at each of these and say, were these rational uses of capital? It can depend on team situation.

Where does the field of baseball analytics go from here? Has it been saturated?

I read a book over the summer called MVP Machine. That book has been a huge key stable in where data is heading next in the sport. In the beginning of that book, it talks about how teams use analytics departments ever since 2002 with the Moneyball Oakland A’s. Player development now has evolved to: what data can we gather from a player’s swing, from a pitcher’s curveball, to make them better? MVP Machine talks about Driveline baseball. Kyle Boddy founded that company, and they look at biomechanics. They use edgertronic cameras, rapsodo to gather data to make players better with sensor technology. It’s all about the launch angle revolution in baseball, which is if you can drive your bat up, you can create more fly balls. Obviously the more fly balls you hit, you increase your probability of a home run. Using video and data there can help a player hit more home runs. Of course, we’ve seen a huge spike in home runs over the last 4 years in pro ball. With pitcher’s it’s about developing a pitch arsenal. In MVP Machine, they talk about Trevor Bauer heavily. He credits edgertronic cameras and Driveline baseball with becoming a Cy Young candidate with the Indians at one point in his career. That’s where the game is heading to next, and player development departments are heading in that way to integrate data to make players better. Not so much in terms of evaluating players and saying, ‘oh this player’s BABIP is this, why are we paying him x dollars?’ That conversation is still relevant of course, but it’s now shifted to less evaluation and more development. They go hand in hand. If you’re a hitter at Driveline and they see your kinetic chain of hitting, they’ll look at the video and the data associated with that, and they’ll say if you just change your leg kick from this to that, the landing point for your foot, and you change your bat motion a little bit, your launch angle will improve. If you do this, you’ll hit more fly balls and you’ll drive the ball farther. Given that HR hitting is hyper valued in the current market, you’ll get paid more as a free agent. Player development to improve players, whether they’re in the minors or a current roster. Coaches are a big variable to that equation, but that’s where the game is going right now, and that’s exciting.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of working with baseball analytics?

I’m wired to look at numbers and be fascinated by them. Using analytics to cut through irrational thinking using rational logic is something that means a lot to me. I’m a big proponent of using rational, logical thought processes instead of irrational clichés. There’s this field of behavioral economics which is something that I read a lot about, which goes back and forth between the economics of rational vs. irrational thinking for a consumer in the marketplace. Data brings a lot of black and white answers. Using that skillset to generate conclusions, to support hypotheses. Using analytics in general practice brings me a lot of joy, because it’s actually something conclusive that I can use in support.