An Introduction: Site Philosophy, Direction, and Focus

Many thanks to all for the warmest of welcomes, not the least of which include SBNation's Tyler Bleszinski and Eric Simon, our great writers, and most especially, our community. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the giants upon which I currently perch, including Marc Normandin, RJ Anderson, Sky Kalkman, Tommy Bennett, and Jeff Sullivan. To them I am most indebted for building Beyond the Box Score into its current stature, and to Sky I am most especially grateful for giving me my first real shot.   Thank you, Sky. It won't be forgotten. 

Philosophy

Sabermetrics is the tool, not the topic. Baseball is the topic. (or) We're a Saber-Slanted Baseball Community, not a Baseball-Slanted Saber Community.

Baseball is an intellectually, spiritually, artistically beautiful sport. It captures the imagination of the world because it represents overcoming obstacles, beating the odds, and triumphing in individual battles versus both yourself and your opponent. And sabermetrics makes it more beautiful, captivating, and compelling.

This is not a blog about sabermetrics. This is a blog about understanding and analyzing baseball through the sabermetric lens. At Beyond the Box Score, our goal is to build the community of baseball enthusiasts that understand and appreciate the game with an analytical eye. Show, rather than tell. Teach, rather than preach. We'll do that by building the bridge between the part of our community that wants to understand and analyze baseball through sabermetrics, and the part of our community that wants to expand the horizons of sabermetric research and the frontiers of sabermetric thought.

Direction & Focus

In the coming days and weeks, we look to both expand and focus our sabermetric attention. We are expanding coverage through daily columns devoted to specific aspects of baseball. If you look to the masthead, you'll notice our many great writers are in two columns: Columnists and Featured Writers. While our featured writers are working on pushing the boundaries of sabermetric research, our columnists will be providing you with new and interesting sabermetric content on a daily basis.

Tentative schedule and opening thoughts after the jump.

MONDAY
Minor League Mondays w/Satchel Price
Visuals Above Replacement w/Adam Darowski
High & Inside w/Justin Bopp

TUESDAY
Trade Talk Tuesdays w/Satchel Price
Baseball Infographics w/Justin Bopp

WEDNESDAY
Opinion/Commentary w/Walter Fulbright
Pitch F/X w/Jesse-Douglas Mathewson
High & Inside w/Justin Bopp

THURSDAY
Economics of Baseball w/Peter Hjort
BtB Mailbag w/Daniel Moroz
Primers w/Steve Slowinski

FRIDAY
Pitch F/X w/Joshua Smolow
High & Inside w/Justin Bopp

We'll supplement our daily sabermetric columns with our featured writers' research results and commentary; reaction to our favorite articles, quotes, tweets, and activity around the sabersphere; and with content submitted by you, our audience. Many of our writers started out as commenters, and if you're interested, that could be you as well. Simply look to the sidebar on the right (fanposts) and start submitting! The articles that receive the most recs and comments will be posted right to our front page.

We're fully aware that some stuff will work, and some won't. Some parts of our columns will evolve into something totally different, while others refine their focus and move around. Your feedback, comments, insults, ideas, suggestions, and general dialogue are all welcome and wanted at all times.

It is with you in mind that we move forward. Again, thank you all.

Justin Bopp
Manager | Beyond The Box Score