Home Book Reviews Nevermind the Bollocks, it’s Baseball Prospectus 2016

Nevermind the Bollocks, it’s Baseball Prospectus 2016

by Matt Smith

This past week has treated us all to sights of baseball’s return thanks to photos of teams taking part in their first days of Spring Training camps in Arizona and Florida.

It also treated me with a traditional ‘baseball is on its way’ sight of my own:

Bp2016

 

Yes, a copy of the Baseball Prospectus annual taking pride of place on my coffee table, with obligatory pencil for notes right beside it.

This has been a lapsed tradition in recent years. Living circumstances and regular travel meant that the convenience of a version on my Kindle made too much sense to ignore, yet in truth it was a compromise I was never completely happy with. After the initial week or two of reading, I found myself rarely delving into it because delving into an e-book just isn’t the same as flicking through a paper brick.

The whole point of the BP book is that it sits there close to hand when I’m watching or writing about baseball. If a recently promoted prospect is taking the field, or the TV coverage heads to a break with a low-profile reliever heading to the mound, I’ll be reaching for BP to find out more and inevitably reading about other players while I’m there.

My lack of e-book engagement has a bearing on it, but I have felt that the annual has taken a bit of a downturn in recent years in not quite being the essential resource it once was. Comments from regular readers about the 2016 edition were reassuringly positive and my first impressions are that this is a return to form.

The print layout is unquestionably improved from previous editions, with a better quality of paper being used and a nicely designed page that crams plenty of detail in without looking cluttered. Last year’s edition raised complaints about a small typeface and they’ve really focused on improving the layout, by all accounts. You can sample this thanks to the Philadelphia Phillies chapter being made available for free as a pdf.

Humour has always been a part of Baseball Prospectus, which can be difficult to get right as what’s funny to one person can be off-putting to another. The light-hearted asides often strike the right tone for my taste in this edition, although there’s one major exception to this.

The Houston Astros’ shortstop Carlos Correa made a big impression in his rookie season in 2015 and is rightly regarded as one of the most exciting young players in the Majors.

Sadly, BP decided that everyone knows Correa is an amazing talent and didn’t bother to try to give any insight about him, instead providing what can only be described as a load of aimless bollocks. It starts with “Correa is a Saturday morning, a cup of coffee and the second chapter of your new favourite book. He’s the 20 dollars you forgot to put in your winter coat ..” and goes on and on in the same vein for 10 whole lines.

It would have been fine starting that way, then saying ‘you get the picture’ and going on to put his rookie season in historical context or suchlike, but you’d expect a bit more from BP than thinking ‘errr, he’s really good isn’t he, let’s just write something silly’.

This is a rare exception among well over 1,000 player comments though, so don’t let that put you off from picking up a copy.

That also goes for the errors that do always creep into the book every year. They’ve got plenty of experience in producing this tome so it’s a bit frustrating (especially for the team themselves, I’m sure) that errors like mixing up charts, such as with the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox here, make their way into the published product. However, BP always hold their hands up to it and try to rectify things by maintaining an Errata list and make Premium subscriber details for affected players free to view. It’s not perfect, but not the end of the world either.

Even with the snags, I can already tell I’m going to enjoy reading through the team essays during Spring Training, consulting the comments and projections as part of my fantasy draft preparations, learning more about some of the best prospects in the Minors, and heaving it from the coffee table countless times during the season to look up a player or two.

You might need to make some logistical allowances for getting the print version, its size and weight don’t make it an ideal travel companion and you’ll need a bloody big letterbox if you don’t make other arrangements to receive it in the post, but I’d definitely recommend making the effort.

Flicking through the print version is so much more satisfying than searching the e-book (the presentation of the tables is a bit his-and-miss that way too), as is avoiding typing comments and instead using a pencil to scribble essential notes down.

Such as writing the word ‘BOLLOCKS!’ next to that maddening Carlos Correa capsule.

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9 comments

David February 21, 2016 - 10:07 pm

Nice review. There’s a book coming out in April called The Arm by Jeff Passan. Looks a interesting read. A bit pricey at £19 on Amazon though.

Reply
RPH February 21, 2016 - 11:05 pm

Do you know of a good source for the Lindy’s or Athlon season preview magazines? It’s nice to have something a bit lighter to flick through, but they are getting harder (and more expensive!) to track down in the UK.

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Matt Smith February 22, 2016 - 10:49 am

Hi – no, I don’t unfortunately. Certainly is nice to have something magazine-style to travel with and I used to buy them 6-7 years ago from a UK seller, but they don’t seem to be around any more. Hopefully someone will chip in with a recommendation

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mic February 28, 2016 - 12:37 am

hi
with regards magazines if you are happy to have digital versions you could try Zinio who
do many american magazines.They do many promo’s and i got sports illustrated for £10 for this years sub of 52 issues of which at least 4 are double previews one of which Mlb within the next few weeks (and can be purchased individually)but even the full price sub
i paid the year before was worth it.They also do Baseball digest,baseball america and Espn magazine among others.With regards the Lindys magazine it could be worth checking the Nfl uk forum pages as people were putting links to the lindys nfl guide earlier in the year.

Reply
mic February 28, 2016 - 12:44 am

hi
also noticed they now have the Baseball america fantasy season preview on there with what it says on the cover has 500 players write ups, so may be like the Lindys mag

Reply
Matt Smith February 28, 2016 - 9:02 am

Hi Mic. Thanks for sharing, useful info. Cheers

Reply
Roly February 28, 2016 - 9:21 pm

I use the Lindy’s app to download the previews. App is awful but nice content

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mic February 29, 2016 - 10:49 pm

hi
did not know about the Lindys app but why is it awful?on the Zinio app you have a text
feature on most mags for easier reading is it not the same on the Lindys app?.There is also pressreader app for newspapers and magazines from various american cities or regions(some used to be free last year like our version of the Metro but from Boston,New york etc every day)and also some sports papers.But any links to media would be welcome or recommendations ,shame they will still not give us Mlb network

Reply
Reviewing Baseball Prospectus 2017 and Ron Shandler’s 2017 Baseball Forecaster | BaseballGB March 15, 2017 - 8:57 pm

[…] to my taste, veers too far into the jokey rather than enlightening end of things (as I noted in my review of the 2016 edition), but generally you’ll find that the stats and comment will teach you […]

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