Analytics Director for Professional Baseball Team
Determined to learn how to use statistics to help human decision making, he made humble but informed recommendations to earn the trust of his co-workers, leading to better and better career opportunities.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Ani Kilambi (AK) was born to parents who had emigrated to the U.S. from India.
CHILDHOOD
The father of AK, born in a country devoted to ‘Cricket’ – like baseball with a pitcher, batter, and bases – grew to love American baseball soon after the family’s arrival in California. His son, AK, grew to love baseball too, but in a different way.
AK loved to analyze. He enjoyed thinking about problems and how to solve them. When he was a teenager, he spent hours creating a statistical projection system that he ran out of an Excel document to evaluate free-agent contracts and team decisions. He called it “BEAnS” for Baseball Empirical Analysis System.
He had other related pet projects, making hundreds of spreadsheets to keep track of box scores, stats, and outcomes.
EDUCATION
Following high school graduation, AK enrolled at the University of California – Berkely. As he neared college graduation, AK began to track what pro baseball teams offered internships. He would find one on the opposite coast.
FIRST JOB TO BEGIN HIS CAREER JOURNEY
As the result of applying for every available internship, AK was hired by the Florida based Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, where he started as an intern, working there for the next seven years. By the time he left, he had earned promotions all the way to Assistant Director of R & D (Research and Development).
SEPARATING HIMSELF FROM ALL THE OTHER BEGINNERS
AK was smart and articulate, but so was every other Tamp Bay intern. What separated him from the pack was his thoroughness and humility. He wasn’t afraid to speak up in a room of seasoned baseball executives, but he also wasn’t afraid to listen to other opinions.
“He was receptive to the idea that he didn’t know everything,” said a co-worker who was later president of a competitor, the Florida Marlins. “It’s a very impressive skill – to admit you still have much to learn – for somebody who grew to know a lot.”
AK worked hard to fill in the gaps of what he didn’t know. He talked to scouts and player development officials – anyone and everyone – to better understand different perspectives. This led to better decision making – and better co-worker relationships. Another co-worker who later transferred to the Toronto Blue Jays organization, was impressed by AK’s ability to incorporate the human element into his decisions. “It was obvious that AK had the technical skills, but he also understood how they could be applied to the game. I think sometimes it can be easy to look at all this data that we have and think that you can just punch it in there and solve a problem. You forget that it’s a representation of human beings doing human things on the field. It’s conceptual. It is within the confines of the game of baseball. He understood that this reflected reality and was not a problem set. A lot of people, particularly undergrads, give you these very clean problem set answers. The real world isn’t like that. And you could tell that AK was somebody who understood that.”
Over time, AK became more and more involved in the Rays’ overarching baseball organization strategy. He helped shape decisions about contract structures, player development and player acquisitions. He quickly gained a reputation for finding diamond-in-the-rough bullpen arms, but co-workers said that AK’s impact went further than that.
“He showed a real aptitude for decision-making,” said his former coworker now with Toronto. “So, we started having him work more with the coaching staff and with our on-field baseball team manager. We thought he is really good at this. He could really help us out.”
Like he did with everyone else, AK brought humility and a willingness to listen to his interactions with the Rays’ coaches. It was a rewarding experience that equipped him with a skill set he still uses today.
The Rays vice president and assistant general manager talked about how the technical work in an analytics department is used. “It’s going to be used to either make a really difficult decision or used with a player directly. For example, ‘We think you should throw this pitch more’ or ‘You should throw this pitch less.’ Maybe you have a player who’s done something a certain way for most of their life, and what they’ve done has gotten them to the big leagues. To implement an outside-of-the-box suggestion, people need to trust you. People need to trust you as a person and that you really listen to what they have to say. Those personal relationships are the foundation for getting anything done. AK is awesome at all of that.”
CHALLENGES – YOUTH AND INEXPERIENCE
One time AK was out to lunch with his Tampa Bay Rays co-workers and someone else made a reference to the white Ford Bronco used by O.J. Simpson while being chased by police following a murder for which Simpson was soon arrested (though later found innocent when his defense counsel famously had OJ try on – in front of the jury – a glove allegedly used in the crime; OJ struggled to fit into the glove, upon which his lawyer later argued to the jury that ‘If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit!”
The entire US had been glued to the televised trial. AK asked what his co-workers were referring to, as he had no knowledge of the white Bronco or the Simpson trial. “When was that?” he asked. Upon being informed of the date, June, ‘94, AK said, to the amusement of his co-workers, “Oh, I was only born in May of ’94.”
Using that conversation exchange as the basis for polite teasing, AK’s co-workers often kidded him about his age and inexperience. AK’s willingness to not take himself so seriously is something that enabled him to work with just about anyone of any age and personality.
A GOOD REPUTATION MAY LEAD TO AN OFFER FROM A DIFFERENT EMPLOYER
When the Philadelphia Phillies were looking for a talented baseball analyst to upgrade their analytics department, news of AK’s excellent reputation had already spread from Tampa Bay within the network of other major league baseball teams.
When the Phillies asked if AK would be willing to consider renovating their analytics department literally from the ground floor up, with a significant pay increase and a job title as an Assistant General Manager, AK jumped at the opportunity to join a new organization which appeared sincere in its respect to utilize all his talents to improve based on his judgment.
Very quickly, using AK’s humble but experienced guidance, the Phillies nearly doubled the size of their R & D department. They’ve changed the way they evaluate and project player performance. They have more data at their disposal than ever before, and their departments are working more collaboratively to better use it.
When the Phillies General Manager, Sam Fuld (Dave Dombroski is Head of Baseball Operations), thinks of AK as a co-worker, one word comes to mind, “Obsessed,” he said. “AK is obsessed with baseball. He is obsessed with helping the Phillies to win. It just shows in the way he speaks about the game.”
One of the best examples of AK helping to foster communication among the various personnel involved in baseball administration (contracts and salaries), coaches and the analytics department, is AK’s relationship with Phillies’ pitching coach Caleb Cotham. They meet multiple times a week and have open-ended conversations. Cotham believes that AK has made him a better coach. “He does a fantastic job of providing resources to understand how we get the most out of our players,” Cotham said.” It could be pitch usage, it could be biomechanics, it could be how the analysts think. It’s about giving us, as coaches, more tools to make a connection with a pitcher.”
AK pushed for Jose Alvarado to increase his cutter usage and for Jeff Hoffman to throw his slider more. He has helped unearth a few under-the-radar players, like Andrew Bellatti, who was signed to a minor league contract in 2021 and ended up pitching for the Phillies in the 2022 World Series.
CAREER SATISFACTION
While AK’s career story is still being written, his biggest contribution to date has come in his consistent – and thorough – framework for decisions. As the pitching coach notes, “AK brings empathy to what happens in the dugout. It’s not just ‘Hey, use your best reliever all the time.’ There are times where you might have to deviate, but I think that’s where we’ve grown. We’re making better and better decisions for when we break the rules – rules like a lefty or a righty facing a certain batter. When we break them, it’s intentional and there’s a reason behind it. It’s not random. I think he’s really helped with that.”
“Sometimes, it’s almost like AK is a coach to me. Because some of these things – call it data, analytics, sabermetrics – can be used as a sword to be smacked over people’s heads. Like, ‘No, you should do this, that was dumb.’ But that’s not AK’s way. His healthy skepticism, his ability to sit and talk baseball, not just recruit everyone to a certain way of thinking – I really enjoy it. I leave our meetings as a better coach.”
AK’s impact is not limited to finding a previously unknown great player. “No,” said a former Rays coworker, “He came up with a great process for making decisions and it’s applicable throughout our organization.”
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This career story is based on a news article written by Alex Coffey, published by The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper on January 27, 2024, plus internet research.
