Last night I had an interesting talk with an professor of economics from UC Santa Cruz. He’s here teaching a summer class at a university in Seoul and was in Busan with a mutual friend. Economics and baseball cross paths often, something I realized a few years ago when economists like Andrew Zimbalist kept popping up in statistical analysis blogs. And of course, there’s Bill James’s list of degrees.

Much to Jackson’s chagrin, I used enjoy getting a little sabermeticalicious on East Windup Chronicle, but then something happened. I started scouting baseball in Asia. Scouts and stat guys don’t mesh very well anyway, but since there are no official statistics in Korean high school baseball, stats have more or less been relugated to my fantasy baseball and OOTP baseball simulation worlds. Plum out of my scouting life.

However, we got to talking and I asked him if he’d come across much baseball in his studies. As I suspcted he had, and he told me economics journals are filled with baseball statistical analysis, and that even he, as a Spaniard and an avid soccer fan, enjoyed reading about baseball. He also did his PhD at the University of Chicago, so we enjoyed a few minutes of some Go Cubs Go talk that I will spare you of. Unless you’re a Cubs fan in which case join me in the comments section per usual.

I told him about what I do in scouting, about the variety of ways we grade players and explained how very few of them are what one would call hard data — really just times on the bases and pitching velocities. The rest are subjective in nature, things like range, baserunning instincts, and statistician’s favorite — player makeup. I told him a quantitative scouting model would be nearly impossible.

But he disagreed and told me that one of the most popular subjects of economics journals is bank loans. Naturally there is hard data in loaning — who gives the money back and who doesn’t, but then there’s also a lot of subjectivity, a lot of gut calls, when it comes to awarding people money you’re hoping they’ll pay back.

I wish this were the introduction of a long article discussing the statistical scouting model the professor and I came up with, but it’s not.  In fact, our conversation ended when dinner did. However, he and I have been emailing a little and we’re going to see if anything comes of it. Stay tuned. Or if you hate baseball statistics, don’t.

And PS: the OOTP baseball league I play in is looking for new members. Go here and fill out the application if you’re interested.