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Harvard Sabermetrics seminar bringing old, new together – Metro US

Harvard Sabermetrics seminar bringing old, new together

To the dedicated “Sabermetrician,” the conventional wisdom of baseball statistics is always being challenged and questioned.

But while the importance of the RBI or the stolen base can lead to heated debate between old- and new-school thinking, there’s one statistic all baseball fans agree on: When it comes to curing cancer in children, everyone wants the save.

This Saturday and Sunday, the best Sabermetric minds in the country will gather at Harvard University for a two-day seminar, “Sabermetrics, Scouting and the Science of Baseball,” spreading the gospel about modern statistical analysis while raising money for the Jimmy Fund.

Among those scheduled to appear at the Pfizer Lecture Hall are former Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette, author Jonah Keri, Red Sox assistant director of pro scouting Jared Porter and Tom Tippett, the Red Sox’s director of baseball information services.

“The goal of the seminars is to nurture a love of baseball,” event organizer Chuck Korb said. “To show that both the statistical side of the game and the play on the field are important when making assessments or decisions, and that neither, by itself, tell the whole story.”

Planned seminars will include a discussion of the competing philosophies of player scouting — the traditional method, which relies heavily on observational analysis of players and the Sabermetric approach, which focuses on sophisticated statistical formulas to project future performance.

There will also be an examination of baseball from the perspective of biology/kinesiology, neurology and physics.