MLB
Director of Front-End Software EngineeringAug 2018–Oct 2019Full-time
I led front-end engineering for MLB.com, the At Bat app, stats, scores and player pages.
- Led a long-tenured front-end team through a shift in technology, as the stack moved toward React and Next.js.
- Drove an MLB React component library for faster builds and a more cohesive design environment.
- Reviewed and mapped the data and API layer and proposed a path to modernize it.
Context#
Baseball has been part of my life since I was four. My father served as president of the league I grew up playing in, and I played through high school and later in adult leagues.
I had left eBay to work full time on my own startup when MLB reached out to me to interview in New York. I joined MLB Advanced Media in August 2018 as Director of Front-End Software Engineering, working from its offices at Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Avenue.
MLB had spun its streaming technology out as BAMTech. Disney bought a stake in BAMTech in 2016 and agreed to take majority ownership in 2017 (Disney, 2016; Disney, 2017). The baseball products stayed with MLB Advanced Media: MLB.com, the club sites, MLB.TV and baseball's mobile apps (Sports Business Journal, 2016).
The work#
My team was responsible for products that stayed with MLB: MLB.com, the At Bat app, stats, scores and player pages. I owned development planning and code review for the team and worked with stakeholders across the organization.
- I was brought in to lead a long-tenured front-end team through a shift in technology, as we prepared to move the front-end stack to React and Next.js.
- I drove an MLB React component library to speed up the build process and create a more cohesive design environment.
- I advocated for modernizing the relationship between the database and the API output. I was given read-only access, reviewed and mapped the data, and proposed a path forward.
- I sat in on early introductory meetings for new lidar-based tracking technology.
I left MLB in October 2019 and joined Rhombus as VP of Product in November.
Where it went#
- 2015: MLB introduced Statcast league-wide, using TrackMan radar to measure ball flight and ChyronHego cameras to track player positioning (Sports Business Journal).
- August 2016: Disney acquired a 33% stake in BAMTech, which was separated from MLB Advanced Media as part of the deal (Disney).
- August 2017: Disney agreed to pay $1.58 billion for an additional 42% of BAMTech from MLB Advanced Media, taking majority ownership (Disney).
- March 2019: MLB's baseball science team presented its lidar and ground-truth testing work at the SABR Analytics Conference (SABR).
- 2019 season: MLB installed Hawk-Eye optical tracking in all 30 ballparks during the first half of the season and ran comparison tests against the existing system (Sports Business Journal).
- January 2020: MLB brought its staff from 245 Park Avenue and Chelsea Market together at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown (Sports Business Journal; Rockefeller Group, 2016 lease).
- 2020 season: Hawk-Eye's optical tracking powered Statcast at all 30 ballparks (Hawk-Eye and MLB).