Diego Alvarez, a high school junior from Veracruz, Mexico, has always been passionate about sports – he says his fandom is primarily focused on Chicago teams like the Cubs and Bulls, but that he’s developed a soft spot for Philadelphia teams, too. However, as he got older, Alvarez found himself increasingly drawn to numbers, data, and the world of statistics.

“I started playing sports when I was a little kid; my parents encouraged me,” he recalls. “I wanted to find a way to connect my interest in mathematics and statistics with sports, and that’s when I discovered sports analytics.” Through his brother, a current Wharton student, Alvarez got the chance to meet Adi Wyner, professor of statistics and data science at Wharton, and the faculty co-director of the Wharton Sports Analytics and Business Initiative (WSABI). It was during his conversation with Wyner that Alvarez learned about the Wharton Moneyball Academy, a three-week summer program available to high school students from around the globe.

Hosted on Wharton’s campus, the Wharton Moneyball Academy is a collaboration between WSABI and Wharton Global Youth that introduces students to the analytical side of sports, offers a deep dive into statistics, predictive modeling, and data analysis. At the end of the three weeks, student teams present findings from a research project of their own choosing.

Alvarez, eager for the chance to deepen his knowledge and gain hands-on experience in the world of sports analytics, applied for Moneyball Academy, and received a scholarship to attend.

He admits that, coming from Mexico, where advanced courses like AP Statistics aren’t readily available, he was a bit anxious about his ability to keep up with other students. “I knew I might not be at the same level as most students here. I don’t take AP stats or advanced courses, so I felt disadvantaged at times,” he shared. “There were moments in class when I didn’t fully understand what Professor Wyner was talking about, but my friends in the class helped me through.”

Despite the initial challenges, Alvarez quickly adapted, thanks to the support of his peers and the Academy’s various Teaching Assistants (TAs). He now feels confident in his ability to work with complex statistical models and analyze sports data in a way he never imagined before. “Before Moneyball Academy, I was just a casual sports fan. I knew some of the basic statistics and stats about players, but now I can safely say I can run different statistical models. I can have conversations with people in the analytics world and actually understand what they’re talking about,” he said.

One of the most memorable parts of the program for Alvarez was working on his research project, which required students to apply their newly acquired skills to a real-world sports analytics problem. “Baseball has a lot of data, but I wanted to look at something that people often overlook.”

Alvarez and his team set out to discover and recontextualize undervalued pitchers using new metrics, including a concept they called “nastiness.” This metric measured the effectiveness of a pitch by looking at factors such as whiff percentage (the rate at which batters swing and miss), pitch location in the strike zone, and the spin of the ball. “We found that Earned Run Average (ERA), the typical measure for pitchers, can be unfair to some pitchers, so we came up with metrics to evaluate efficiency and pitch nastiness,” he explained. The group’s project offered insights into how teams could make smarter decisions during trade deadlines and drafts by identifying underappreciated talent—an approach inspired by the legendary Billy Beane’s Moneyball strategy.

Watching his peers present their own projects was another eye-opening experience for Alvarez. “I was really impressed by the depth of knowledge some of my classmates had, especially when it came to advanced statistics like regression and coefficients,” he said. “Even though I didn’t include some of those techniques in my analysis, it was great to see a knowledge exchange where I learned so much from them.”

As the program ended, Alvarez left with a deep sense of gratitude and accomplishment. “If I had the opportunity, I would definitely come back,” he said. “Moneyball Academy has been one of the greatest opportunities of my life, and I’m just really thankful to have been a part of it.”

Alvarez and his team set out to discover and recontextualize undervalued pitchers using new metrics, including a concept they called “nastiness.” This metric measured the effectiveness of a pitch by looking at factors such as whiff percentage (the rate at which batters swing and miss), pitch location in the strike zone, and the spin of the ball. “We found that Earned Run Average (ERA), the typical measure for pitchers, can be unfair to some pitchers, so we came up with metrics to evaluate efficiency and pitch nastiness,” he explained. The group’s project offered insights into how teams could make smarter decisions during trade deadlines and drafts by identifying underappreciated talent—an approach inspired by the legendary Billy Beane’s Moneyball strategy.

Watching his peers present their own projects was another eye-opening experience for Alvarez. “I was really impressed by the depth of knowledge some of my classmates had, especially when it came to advanced statistics like regression and coefficients,” he said. “Even though I didn’t include some of those techniques in my analysis, it was great to see a knowledge exchange where I learned so much from them.”

As the program ended, Alvarez left with a deep sense of gratitude and accomplishment. “If I had the opportunity, I would definitely come back,” he said. “Moneyball Academy has been one of the greatest opportunities of my life, and I’m just really thankful to have been a part of it.”