When looking to keep things simple, Emilee Fragapane likens her role with the Dodgers to something out of “Moneyball.”
Of course, as a senior data analyst, she’s become accustomed to finding the easiest way to describe to others what she does and how things work, in a way they can understand. Those kinds of translations also tidily sum up one piece of her vast role of duties with the team.
With a background in econometrics and statistics, and experience in all areas of the game, Fragapane is currently in her ninth season with the Dodgers. Over that time, she has transitioned into more of a coach- and player-facing role than ever before, translating and communicating the applications of big data to answer baseball questions for the people who need to use it on the field.
“Ten years ago, when I first started in baseball, analytics was the next big thing,” Fragapane said. “It was a competitive advantage teams were just starting to look into, and at this point it’s required in a lot of ways. So the prevalence and amount of resources the team puts into analytics-type, “Moneyball”-type resources and different pathways, and using it for a competitive advantage, has increased a lot.”