Ben Zauzmer, Photo by Connie Yan of the Crimson
Early Monday night, Jon Heyman reported the Mets have promoted Ben Zauzmer to assistant general manager.
Zauzmer came to the Mets before the 2021 season from the Los Angeles Dodgers organization to be the team’s director of analytics. The Mets’ analytics department has expanded vastly under Zauzmer, up to north of 30 members.
During the season, Zauzmer’s impact was felt particularly on defense, where the team shifted more than they had ever before. They were on par with Zauzmer’s old team, the Dodgers, in terms of how frequently they shifted. That paid dividends in improvements in team defensive runs saved numbers. Defensive shifting also helped some of the Mets’ top pitchers pitch to better ERAs than their FIP may have indicated. Individual players like Brandon Nimmo saw benefit from Zauzmer’s input, who reportedly advised him to play deeper in center field. He had his best defensive season at that position yet.
Zuazmer graduated from Harvard in 2015, and was quickly scooped up by the Dodgers to work in their analytics department. Zuazmer fell in love with baseball after listening to an audio book on Moneyball, and soon realized that he wanted work in baseball. Before being hired by the Dodgers, he was an intern from the Phillies. Over the years Zauzmer, has also used analytical models to predict Academy Award winners.
The Mets have had quite the offseason, and Zauzmer being named the assistant GM is just the latest in smart hires by a team that hasn’t been known for that for quite some time. Learning under Billy Eppler and Sandy Alderson could do wonders for the young analytical genius.
