Back in November of 2022, Tigers Inc (the student-led non-profit organization at LHS) introduced two very unique project opportunities for their members through the Cincinnati Reds. On April 18th, 2023, these groups presented their findings to the Reds front office leadership.
The first of these projects was the Reds Performance Analytics Project, where a team of Tigers Inc. students, Ben Svitkovich (12), Joey Combs (12), and Chase Gibson (11), were given thousands of pieces of data from the past five years of the performances of each Reds’ defender. With brand new MLB guidelines regarding the shift, the Reds are looking for new ways to position their players. Starting this year, a change has been made where, in
the infield, two defensive players must be to the left of second base and two players must be to the right. They used this data to find trends and determine which player is likely to perform the best for each defensive position on the field with the change. They made these conclusions by finding the ranges of each defensive player to the left of the field, to the right, diagonal towards 3rd base, and diagonal to first base. Not only were they able to calculate these ranges, but they also created scale models of Great American Ball Park through a graphing program called Desmos to give their audience, the Reds front office, a better visual of the ranges they found. Using the graphs and ranges, they determined which players on the Reds roster fit best in each position, based on past data.
The next project focused on business analytics of the Cincinnati Reds, rather than performance analytics. The members of this group, Will Gerstemeier (12), Elena Hentz (12), Alex Saletta (12), and Sam Anness (12), received the ticket sales surrounding different marketing promotions. First, they spent time going through this data to calculate, approximately, how many additional tickets were sold due to certain promos, such as fireworks, military appreciation, bobbleheads, post-game concerts, and more. Then, they determined which promos have been successful and have increased attendance throughout the past five years. They found that the Reds should rethink bringing back Bark in the Park, Senior Day, Run the Bases, Business Day Special, and Ticket Package in future years because they have noticed increased additional ticket sales because of those events in the past. Not only did this group look at previous promos, they also came up with promo ideas of their own for the Reds to consider. The frist one is straight A nights, where straight-A students with tickets are rewarded for their hard work with a free wristband and sundae bar. The next idea they had was a “Best of Cincy” game, where local restaurants and breweries can cater to Great American for the night and each fan can enjoy the best food Cincinnati has to offer. Their final idea was giveback nights, where a portion of the tickets sold go towards a non-profit that typically partners with the Reds.
Before this year, Tigers Inc. has already provided its members with unique opportunities, such as working with local businesses in Loveland, but adding two projects working directly with the Cincinnati Reds, a professional sports team, heightens just how special the class is.