Astros Hire Baseball Prospectus Writer Colin Wyers

The Astros continue to be on the forefront of the baseball statistics revolution, as evidenced by their hire of Baseball Prospectus’ Colin Wyers. Wyers joins Mike Fast (analytics) and Kevin Goldstein (scouting) as the third former Prospectus writer to join the Astros front office. Wyers stated in his final article (which you can read HERE)  that he will be a “mathematic modeler” in his new role with Houston.

So what does that mean? Well, on the surface, it means that Wyers will be creating simulations and models for various things for the club. That could be anywhere from the probable W-L record for the entire 2014 season, or something like the how effective a defensive shift predicts to be.

Most importantly though, it shows that Jeff Luhnow, and with him the Astros, are taking the advanced metrics revolution in baseball seriously. They are proactive. They are actively looking to gain an edge on other teams, and they see the value in analyzing every single thing that they can.

Is this a monumental hiring? No. And I think that that speaks to the direction of the Astros. They hired a guy who worked for an independent baseball website to create models for them, and no one is giving them a hard time. In fact, it’s the opposite. People are praising the Astros for their forethought.

Congratulations to Colin, and here’s to hoping that he enjoys his new job and is here for many years to come.