The stat vs. scouting debate, recently explored in a Baseball America article, has created a lot of ripples in the baseball community.
I think both sides have something to learn from each other and need to listen to what the other side is trying to say. This is easier said than done, due to human nature. Traditionalists are often very defensive and seem to have something of an inferiority complex, worried about the pencil-pushing pinhead intellectuals encroaching on their turf. There's a lot of the high schoolish jock-vs-nerd dynamic here. On the other hand, statheads often come across as arrogant, dismissive, and contemptous. A lot of this is just posturing from both sides, but at times it gets out of hand and creates unnecessary friction. In my view, there is a place for both the objective and the subjective. This is true in life, as well as in baseball.
Although I definitely lean to the stathead side in my own analysis, I try to use the best data and knowledge from both sides of the aisle. If you read my books, you can see an evolution of how I approach these issues through the years.
The key to good judgment about anything is avoiding hubris. Never assume you have all the answers. Never let your ideology, whatever it is, trump good judgment. Traditionalists need to be more open to new ideas, and statheads need to be more humble. I think this is already happening. There is certainly more communication than there was five years ago. Barriers between the sides are starting to break down, which is a good thing. Let's keep it up. I want MinorLeagueBall.com to be part of that process, a place where both statheads and traditionalists can come to share ideas and observations.
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