BBD: McCracken: Talking to Brian Bannister

OMG!  A Voros and Bannister hook up! This is the greatest meeting of the minds since I vomighted between Tim Warren and Michael Weldon!

After the press got done, I introduced myself and he seemed genuinely surprised to so me there. It’s truly uncharted water for me. Previously the only big league player who I knew had heard of me was this classic response from Derek Lowe when a local Boston reporter asked him about DIPS. Nobody ever did point me out to Derek, and if he still wants to talk, he can e-mail me anytime.

Things changed this spring when I found out Royals pitcher Brian Bannister was actually familiar with DIPS type theories and knew of my existence. To make things even more improbable, he actually approved of them.

So I really wasn’t sure what exactly it is I’m supposed to say. He’s the one with all the talent, I’m just a guy who divided number A by number B once and managed to wrangle a few cool baseball jobs out of it. So I just introduced myself and got an odd response: “are you serious?” I pointed to the name on my press badge, and then we had a nice conversation. I really didn’t want to do an interview, so we just talked baseball a little. He talked about how he thinks he might give up more hits on balls in play this year but he’s also hoping to reduce his walks and strikeouts. I talked a little bit about my experiences in Boston. He has been surprised a bit by the attention his internet interviews have gotten him and mentioned something about doing some posts this year on the Royals website. He seems genuinely relieved that he’s not in a position where he has to fight for a job this year, and can concentrate on going about his business.