JotCast | Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat

Return to

Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat - 2/12/26

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

Dan Szymborski

1:01

I would hope so!

Guest

1:01

re: hamate. A doctor once told me if you scanned every 40+ year old man you'd find tears, strains, etc that baseball players go under surgery for and miss months, it's just we're not using those regularly so we don't feel them / need to intervene

Dan Szymborski

1:01

I think my hamate is fine

there's probalby something going on with my knee

1:03

I twisted my knee really badly crawling through a tube at the City Museum in St. Louis about 15 years ago

(If you've never been to the City Museum it's mostly a weird industrial obstacle course/kitsch depository)

1:04

1:05

SO my knee hurt for about a week and started popping every time i straighten it out if it's been bent for more than 10 seconds

My knee doesn't hurt, but fast forward to 2026 and my knee STILL pops every time I straighten it out if it's been bent for more than 10 seconds

Despite my fatassery, my knees seem to have taken the brunt pretty well generally

Guest

1:06

Favorite FG colleague to read?

Dan Szymborski

1:06

Probably Baumann since he's got that gene for troublemaking in his writing that I do

but I enjoy reading all my colleagues! They all do something I don't do, which is iwhat makes them interesting

1:06

DanDan has very good dan dan noodles! And is owned by two chefs named Dan. Works on multiple levels.

Guest

1:06

Yes, DanDan has dan dan, Dan

jman

1:06

does zips take into account what type of injury, or just how long someone would be out? like lindor will be back in 6ish weeks, but it looks like historically players have reduced power numbers when back from this type of injury. can zips take that into account

Dan Szymborski

1:07

On a season to season basis, yes, but in very generous terms

Phil

1:07

I've noticed that you anthropomorphize ZiPS a lot--"ZiPS thinks" and similar. Is this a conscious decision or just something you've fallen into? It does seem useful as a way to make clear that these aren't your opinions (and sometimes differ from your opinions), though it also makes it sound like you're the genial spokesman for a reclusive and cantankerous genius.

Dan Szymborski

1:07

Things just work out that way

Guest

1:07

AI is overstated, but its best public-facing baseball use will be whichever site incorporates natural language searching / analysis into its site first.

Key Flaw

1:07

What part of the old internet or peak internet (the late aughts) do you miss the most? Sports-wise, deadspin was fun (if a little bit cringey thinking back), but I sorely miss cracked.com. Both were bought out by venture capitalist places (well, one always had one and another lost a law suit) and are basically bot-filled shadows of their former selves. I think once comments and message boards started to die and get replaced by social media, things also got worse. (I realize nostalgia is a hell of a drug....)

Dan Szymborski

1:07

Honestly, it feels that everyone just hates each more than they did then

I'm still active on both twitter and bluesky, but the negativity really gets me down

Key Flaw

1:08

I'm in a nostalgia question mood, but do you miss the exploration and discovery that was the younger years of baseball analysis? Like when I read Bill James in high schoola and then Rob Neyer and Baseball Prospectus in college and beyond, I felt like I was unlocking a magical new view of things that most people (even IN baseball) didn't know. You were there doing things! You must have known it was something special and that it wouldn't last, right?

Dan Szymborski

1:08

I do miss that feeling that there were more discoveries were ahead than behind

Devil Ray Jay Johnson

1:08

Does ZiPS use high school stats for newly drafted high school players (with no minor league or college experience)?

Dan Szymborski

1:08

No. I don't even know HOW to get those consistently and they're probably awful predictively

1:09

on that question before, i'm grumpy and sarcastic, but I'm also fundamentally a pretty live and let live person and don't lose my temper easily

but the negativity of the various tribes on social media just really get to me.

TB or not TB

1:09

Just realized Taj Bradley is younger than Zebby Matthews...

Dan Szymborski

1:10

Anybody named Zebulon automatically starts at age 50

Devil Ray Jay Johnson

1:10

Which character from a baseball movie would have the best ZiPS projection? (Or one hitter and one pitcher)

Dan Szymborski

1:10

Babe Ruth, The Babe. Both hitter and pitcher :-)

mmddyyyy

1:10

Which team would you expect to be the first eliminated from playoff contention?

Dan Szymborski

1:10

Rockies

1:10

After the A's move to Las Vegas how long do you think it'll take to have reliable data regarding their park factors?

Dan Szymborski

1:10

Not super long

Key Flaw

1:11

My older kids are engineering and math majors and are true believers in linear algebra helping understand everything. The more I see math, the more I realize they might have a point (stats are so much linear algebra hidden behind the scenes!). Do you also see linear algebra as super useful, or are other types of math better if someone with only a calc in college background wants to learn on my own? (Please don't suggest set theory or something else that my son has tried to explain to me to no avail).

Connecting…

Message History

On Off

Your current subscriptions

None

E-mail Address	Chat Owner	Status	Remove

Enter your email address to be notified when Dan Szymborski hosts a chat