It's a guest-packed episode of The SIS Baseball Podcast as Mark Simon welcomed in Pirates coach and player development director Michael Chernow as well as three finalists for the SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards, Zach Crizer (The Bandwagon), Maddie Landis (Talk Sox), and Michael Rosen (FanGraphs).

Michael Chernow explained how his job compares to that of a farm director, and shared how the Pirates organization works to build good habits in players and good habits in its coaches, such that both can get promoted to the major league staff or (in the case of coaches) pursue other areas within their baseball interest.

Zach Crizer talked about his article for Opta Analyst, "Evolution in the Outfield: Is Center Fielder Morphing Into A Defensive Specialist Position" and cited the decline of center field OPS as players like Brenton Doyle, Kyle Isbel, and Tyrone Taylor become priorities for their teams. We also looked at his story from last season about right-handed batters and their lowered success vs left-handed pitching.

Maddie Landis shared her article on "Baseball's Gatekept Pitching Metric: Inside Vertical Approach Angle" and explained what can be learned from knowing the angle at which a pitch crosses home plate. She also discussed what she wrote about baseball player success by shoe type and which hitters are primed for breakout seasons in 2026 based on a stat she created.

Michael Rosen detailed what he learned from "How Much Do Trail Runners Matter? An Investigation" including which teams gained the most run expectancy from their successes. We also explored his articles on relief pitcher signings and also Wyatt Langford's defense.

Thanks as always for listening. Please check out the new-and-improved FieldingBible.com website, follow us on Bluesky at @sportsinfosolutions.com, and read our work at SportsInfoSolutions.com. You can e-mail us at Mark@sportsinfosolutions.com.

On our final episode of 2025 we're joined by Minnesota Twins pro personnel analyst Nihar Maskara (an SIS alumnus) to talk about what working in baseball analytics is like when working for an MLB team.

Nihar recounted his time as a student at Wake Forest volunteering for the baseball team's analytics department. He shared what goes into his work with the Twins and the things he learned by asking questions. He explained how the sport is evolving, what jobs he'd like to explore in the future, and provided tips for those just starting out for a team.

To close the episode we looked back at what advice the major leaguers we interviewed in 2025 had for aspiring baseball players.

Thanks as always for listening. Please check out the new-and-improved FieldingBible.com website, follow us on Bluesky at @sportsinfosolutions.com, and read our work at SportsInfoSolutions.com. You can e-mail us at Mark@sportsinfosolutions.com.

On this episode, Mark Simon was joined by former major leaguer and current Japanese baseball star Tyler Nevin, who won an NPB Fielding Bible Award for defensive excellence at first base.

Tyler talked about his overall experience in Japan (he loved it - he signed a 2-year contract extension with the Seibu Lions), and what it was like to be a former American player in a Japanese locker room.

He also told us the story of a one-of-a-kind defensive play and other unusual things he saw, and provided a scouting report of future MLB pitcher Tatsuya Imai, as well as one on Japan's best defensive player, 5-foot-2 Natsuo Takizawa.

Thanks as always for listening. Please check out the new-and-improved FieldingBible.com website, follow us on Bluesky at @sportsinfosolutions.com, and read our work at SportsInfoSolutions.com. You can e-mail us at Mark@sportsinfosolutions.com.