Buck Showalter is setting the record straight about his desire to embrace analytics.
The Mets introduced their new manager on Tuesday during a virtual press conference, and the 65-year-old said he’s “very excited” about the team’s analytical department, offering insight into how he blends advanced metrics with the human side of baseball.
“If somebody thinks that I’m gonna go back to the hotel or the house and think that maybe we got beat because somebody else had better or used information better than we did or used analytics, whatever you want to call it, you don’t know me very well,” Showalter said. “I’ve always been very spongeful with information to a fault.”
Showalter said he’s been drawn to the teams that have been able to win consistently and how those teams have adapted.
“We would’ve loved to have more analytics in Baltimore, we just didn’t have the funding,” said Showalter, who parted ways with the Orioles in 2018. “I’m looking forward to having them, to be honest with you.”
But he also did offer a simple assessment of the task at hand.
“There’s no magic sprinkle dust. It’s about winning baseball games,” Showalter said.
Showalter, who held up a No. 11 jersey and donned a Mets cap at the beginning of the call while sitting beside his wife Angela, said not having won a World Series isn’t going to “define” him, but he is motivated to win.
“It sounds selfish to say that’s the only reason and this is an avenue to that. I don’t look at it that way,” Showalter said. “I understand the job description … it’s to be the last team standing.”
General manager Billy Eppler shared what ultimately led the Mets to hiring Showalter over finalists Joe Espada and Matt Quatraro.
“It was Buck’s ability to connect to a wide range of people, his drive to compete, his curiosity blended with his experience and his overall adaptability that led us to naming him the manager of the New York Mets,” Eppler said.
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