Debunking the myth that Mets manager candidate Buck Showalter is anti-analytics

With Buck Showalter viewed as a strong candidate to become the next manager of the Mets, there are fans who strongly support his candidacy and fans who strongly oppose it.

The above is normal when any search for manager is ongoing. But with Showalter, it seems many in the camp who don't want Showalter are afraid that he's either too "old school" and/or afraid that he won't embrace analytics. 

Before diving into the "old school" and analytics debate, it's fair to ask just what kind of manager the Mets should be seeking.

Should the Mets be hiring a seasoned manager after going with first-time big league managers with their last two hires? Should they be valuing past success over all else? What about the ability to handle the scrutiny and pressure of New York? And how important is it that the new manager is willing to be collaborative with the front office on pretty much everything?

Regardless of who the Mets choose, that person will be managing a major league team in 2022. And with that will come an expectation of collaboration.

This is not 1992 or 2002 or even 2012.

The job of the field manager has changed a hell of a lot over the last 30 years or so, and there has been an even greater trend toward collaboration over the last decade as analytics departments across the game have grown.

For the Mets, their analytics department expanded under former GM Brodie Van Wagenen and has continued to grow the last few years under Sandy Alderson/Zack Scott and now Billy Eppler to the point where it is robust.

When it comes to the 65-year-old Showalter, the attachment of the term "old school" to him normally comes with the accusation that the game might have passed him by. And it often comes with concern over how he might fit working with an analytically-driven front office.

It should first be noted that to label someone simply because of his age is absurd.

Now, it should be pointed out that during Showalter's last managing job (with the Baltimore Orioles from 2010 to 2018), the O's had an analytics department that was woefully inadequate.

And yet, to hear Showalter discuss analytics in 2018 -- when the O's didn't even have the proper infrastructure in place -- was to hear someone who (strong personality or not) was ready to embrace it.

"I want to verify what my gut is telling me," Showalter told Jayson Stark. "The analytics and the statistics are great. I use 'em. We were using 'em back in 1985 in the Florida State League. ... they bring things that I can't bring. I don't have time, I can't. And we bring things that they can't bring.

"The best organizations are ones that mesh that and make sure that everybody feels comfortable bringing what they bring, and don't go 'wait a minute, that's something I don't understand.'"

Speaking about the situation with the Orioles in 2018, Showalter said that the team would have an analytics "course" of sorts each year to bring the more veteran people in the organization up to speed.

"Take the cloak off of it and let's embrace it instead of going 'wait a minute, that's not the way I was brought up,'" Showalter said about the message that was conveyed. "Learn from it. Also, I'd say 'Okay, tell me what this tells us and then tell me what it doesn't tell us. Tell me what WAR doesn't tell us. They perfected the defensive schemes to really trust them.

"And players can't feel like you're robotically evaluating them with a piece of paper. ... they need to know that they're more than just a robotic piece of meat. They're a human being, and sometimes that's the separator in this game."

Some might look at Showalter's comments above and recoil, especially at his mention of how players are "human beings" and how he wants his gut to be informed by analytics.

But players are human beings, and not everything can be done robotically.

And some players have started to push back a bit when it comes to just how robotic things have gotten.

One example of that was how some of the Mets -- including Pete Alonso -- reacted to the firing of hitting coach Chili Davis during the 2021 season, and complaints from some Mets players that they were being overloaded with information.

In addition to Alonso, Francisco Lindor was among the Mets players last season who seemed to be a bit overloaded and unhappy with how numbers-driven things have gotten. Lindor straight up said that analytics were "taking over the game too much."

There's also new Met Max Scherzer, who said after being signed by New York that the Los Angeles Dodgers limiting his workload actually led to his breaking down toward the end of their playoff run in October.

Players value analytics but also want to be treated like human beings. And that seems to be in lockstep with what Showalter's philosophy is.

To be clear, this is not an attack on analytics, which are an incredible tool and are here to stay.

Rather, it's a bit of a pumping of the brakes on what is sometimes a complete removal of factoring in what makes players tick. And it's a pumping of the brakes on what is sometimes a refusal of managers to let certain situations be at least partially influenced by what they're seeing with their eyes.

Showalter's first interview with the Mets was on Wednesday, and SNY's Andy Martino reported that it went well and that their impression was that Showalter was not "as resistant" to analytics as he has been stereotyped as being.

Getting away from the analytics for a second, Showalter would also bring a ton of other important elements to the table, including experience managing in New York and a reputation as an elite tactician.

Showalter has also gotten ringing endorsements from many in the industry, including Adam Jones, who played for Showalter with the Orioles.

Whether or not the Mets hire Showalter remains to be seen, but he really does seem to have a perfect blend of what they should be looking for. And any concern over a reluctance to embrace analytics should be thrown out the window.