Astroball Quotes

“Whether you sell insurance or you’re a school teacher, obviously the people you work with can make you more productive or less productive,”
― Ben Reiter, Astroball: The New Way to Win It All

“In 2013, one of the Cardinals’ rival scouting departments commissioned a study that examined draft outcomes more deeply still. The study, which extended back to 1990, found that if a club’s draft produces nine players who appear in the majors for even a single game, it ranks in the 95th percentile. The 95th percentile for number of everyday players—defined as those who go on to accumulate 1,500 big league plate appearances or batters faced—is four. The 95th percentile for number of firmly above-average players—that is, those who produce a cumulative Wins Above Replacement above 6.0 in their six cost-controlled, pre–free agency seasons—is three.”
― Ben Reiter, Astroball: The New Way to Win It All

“Innovation, by definition, suggests change will be taking place,” Sig said. “If there’s change taking place, it’s not likely going to feel right. If it felt right, it would have been done a long time ago.”
― Ben Reiter, Astroball: The New Way to Win It All

“Slowing down, in all aspects, has helped me still play fast.”
― Ben Reiter, Astroball: The New Way to Win It All

“been one unexpected and wonderful experience after another, that has taken me all sorts of places and given me all sorts of experiences I never thought I would have.” He was playing with house money anyway, so why not let it ride? The second reason? He had loved every minute he spent with Jeff Luhnow. “By far, what I was going to miss most was working with him,” Sig said. “He’s been more than a boss for a long time. He’s as good a friend as I have. He’s been completely supportive of all things—baseball and personal—for a decade and a half now.”
― Ben Reiter, Astroball: The New Way to Win It All

“Jeff Luhnow and the Astros, although the focus on what they had inevitably lost was only a distraction from what they still had. That”
― Ben Reiter, Astroball: The New Way to Win It All